Chapter 24 - THE SHADOW COUNCIL’S FINAL AMBUSH
With Lyra safe, the fury that had been suppressed inside my chest exploded into absolute darkness.
I stripped off my bloody surgical gown, threw a tactical Kevlar vest over my dark silk tunic, and retrieved twin silver pistols from Dante’s private armory.
I stepped out onto the grand balcony overlooking the courtyard. Valentina’s main breach team had blown through the iron gates. Armed mercenaries were pouring across the lawn, forcing Dante’s men into a defensive perimeter around the central fountain.
Valentina herself stepped through the shattered front entrance, holding an automatic rifle, a sneer plastered across her face. “Where is the waitress?” she shouted over the gunfire. “Did she bleed out over her precious bastard?”
“Looking for me?” I called down from the balcony, my voice cutting through the roar of the assault rifles.
Valentina looked up, her eyes widening in shock as she saw me standing above her, unharmed, holding two heavy caliber pistols.
“Impossible! The chip—”
“The chip is dust,” I stated coldly.
Before Valentina’s guards could raise their rifles, I vaulted over the stone balcony railing, dropping twenty feet straight down onto the roof of an armored SUV, using the momentum to roll onto the marble courtyard.
I fired as I hit the ground. Four shots, four headshots. Valentina’s forward guards dropped like lead weights before they could even rack their slides.
Dante breached the side doors with his heavy shotgun, firing rhythmically alongside me. We moved in terrifying, perfect synchronization—a king and queen of the underworld laying waste to everyone who had dared threaten our home.
Valentina scrambled backward, her weapon jammed, her arrogance turning into sheer terror as she backed against the cold marble fountain.
I stepped through the smoke, my black boots crunching over spent shell casings. I placed the warm silver barrel of my pistol directly against the center of Valentina’s forehead.
“Please... Maya...” Valentina gasped, her hands shaking as she held them up. “We’re family... Elena was my sister...”
“Elena died a long time ago,” I said, my voice empty of all emotion. “And you threatened my children.”
May you like
BANG.
Valentina’s body fell backward into the water of the fountain, her blood turning the clear water into a deep, crimson red.
