Chapter 7 - THE ULTIMATE BARGAIN"Drop it, Lorenzo!" Elena screamed, pressing the cold steel harder against my skin. "Drop the gun, or the brat and his wet-nurse get a matching set of bullet holes right here on the carpet!"

Lorenzo froze. He slowly lowered his shotgun, his chest heaving with ragged breaths. His dark eyes locked onto Elena, blazing with a fury so intense it looked like physical heat.

"Let her go, Elena," Lorenzo snarled. "This is between you and me."

"Oh, it was always between you and me," Elena laughed, a manic, breathless sound. She inched closer, pulling me backward toward the balcony doors that led out into the cool Tennessee night air. "Victor, grab his weapon!"

Victor Vance stepped forward, wiping blood from a graze on his cheek, and kicked Lorenzo’s shotgun away. He then slammed the butt of his pistol into Lorenzo’s temple, sending the mafia boss crashing hard to one knee.

"Lorenzo!" I gasped, trying to pull away, but Elena’s grip on my hair and the gun at my neck tightened mercilessly.

"Shut up, you bitch," Elena hissed. She looked down at Leo, who had finally woken up, letting out a soft, confused whimper against my chest. "And you... you just had to ruin everything by feeding him, didn't you? If you had just let him fade away like a good little ghost, none of this would have happened."

"You're a monster," I whispered, tears streaming down my face, not from fear, but from a burning, unquenchable anger. "You tried to kill an innocent baby just for money and power."

"Power isn't just everything, darling—it's the only thing," Elena smiled coldly, edging closer to the open balcony doors. The wind whipped her hair around her face. "Victor, get the chopper ready on the pad. We’re taking the heir and the boss’s new favorite toy to Chicago. Once Lorenzo signs over the shipping docks, we'll dispose of them."

Victor nodded, turning toward the balcony rail where a private helicopter was beginning to descend, its rotor blades kicking up a deafening gale of wind.

Elena backed up another step, dragging me with her toward the open drop.

Lorenzo was still on one knee, blood trickling down the side of his temple. But as Elena shifted her weight to step over the threshold, his eyes met mine.

There was no fear in them. Only absolute, cold calculation.

May you like

The heavy Amtrak doors hissed shut just as the conductor signaled the de...

Chapter 1 - The Three-Hundred-Mile ShieldThe heavy Amtrak doors hissed shut just as the conductor signaled the departure from Penn...

@The heavy oak floorboards groaned under the boots of the approaching ma...

Alexander Reed did not breathe. For three agonizing seconds, the air ins...

And a silent signal.

Now.