Chapter 5 - The Devil at the Door
The corridor fell momentarily silent except for the crackle of fire alarms and the dripping of broken water pipes.
"I know you're in there, Adrian!" Volkov’s smooth, icy voice called out from the hallway. "And I know who you're hiding with! A charming little family! How touching! The grand Don of New York, playing daddy in a cheap apartment!"
Adrian leaned heavily against the hallway wall, his breath coming in ragged, shallow gasps. His sight was failing, spots of black dancing before his eyes.
Sarah was huddled in the bathroom with Lily, holding the little girl tight as she sobbed into her mother's chest.
"He knows about Lily," Adrian whispered to Vincent, his voice dangerously low. "There’s a mole in our inner circle. Nobody else knew about this location."
Vincent’s eyes darkened. "I’ll kill whoever spoke, boss. But right now, we need to get you three out. My secondary team is setting up a ladder truck near the alley fire escape."
"Listen to me, Volkov!" Adrian yelled toward the doorway, his voice commanding despite his failing body. "You want me! Leave the woman and the child out of this! Walk away, and I will give you the Red Hook docks tomorrow morning!"
A cruel, booming laughter echoed down the hallway.
"The Red Hook docks?" Volkov mocked. "Adrian, my dear friend... I don't want your docks. I want your empire. And to take an empire, one must completely eradicate the bloodline. Leave no heirs to seek vengeance."
Heavy footsteps echoed. Volkov stepped into the ruined doorway, flanked by four heavily armed mercenaries carrying tactical shields.
Dimitri Volkov was a massive man in his late forties, wearing an expensive grey trench coat over bulletproof armor. His icy blue eyes swept over the blood-soaked carpet and landed on Adrian, who was standing in the doorway of the inner hallway, holding his gun with a single hand.
"Look at you," Volkov sneered, holding a gold-engraved pistol. "You look like a corpse already. My men told me you were in the hospital. What’s the matter, Adrian? The great Moretti heart finally giving out?"
"Try me," Adrian growled, raising his weapon.
"No, I don't think I will," Volkov smiled viciously. He gestured to his men. "Bring out the heavy ordnance. Burn the apartment down. Let his little princess burn with him."
"NO!" Adrian roared.
Ignoring his racing heart and the agonizing pain in his chest, Adrian fired two rounds directly at Volkov’s head. The bullets slammed harmlessly into the ballistic shields held by the mercenaries.
"Flash out!" a mercenary shouted.
A stun grenade rolled across the carpet, landing right at Vincent's feet.
BOOM!
The concussion wave threw Vincent against the wall, knocking him unconscious. Adrian was thrown backward into the interior hallway, his head slamming hard against the floorboards.
His gun slid out of his hand, rolling toward the bathroom door.
Through a haze of smoke and flashing vision, Adrian saw Volkov step over Vincent’s body and enter the inner hallway. Volkov raised his heavy leather boot and kicked open the bathroom door.
Sarah screamed.
"Well, well, well," Volkov chuckled softly, grabbing Sarah by her hair and hauling her out into the hallway, throwing her onto the ground. He then reached inside and grabbed five-year-old Lily by her arm, lifting her off her feet like a ragdoll.
"Mommy! Daddy!" Lily shrieked, kicking her tiny legs in terror.
"Let her go, Volkov!" Adrian gasped from the floor, his vision fading to gray. He tried to push himself up, but his muscles refused to obey. His heart was fluttering wildly in arrhythmia—he was going into cardiac arrest.
"Such a pity," Volkov said, holding Lily up while drawing his pistol, pointing the cold barrel directly at the little girl's forehead. "She has your eyes, Moretti. Too bad she won't live to grow up."
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Lily looked past the barrel of the gun, staring directly at Adrian lying helpless on the floor.
"Daddy..." she sobbed, stretching out her small, trembling right hand toward him. "Hold my hand... please..."
