Chapter 8 - CROSSFIRE AT PIER 42"They tracked the burner phone's signal!" Julian cursed, his eyes darting toward the open water where a sleek black speedboat bobbed against the wooden pylons. "Move, Hannah! Run for the boat!"
"I'm not going anywhere with you until you tell me the truth!" I shouted over the deafening roar of the helicopter blades.
"We don't have time for a family history lesson!" Julian barked, grabbing my arm and pulling me toward the edge of the pier as a hail of suppressed gunfire chewed up the wooden planks around our feet.
Splintered wood and metal rained down as sharpshooters from the choppers opened fire. Julian shoved me down behind a rusted cargo container, returning fire with a suppressed submachine gun he pulled from beneath his coat.
"Where is Victor?!" I screamed over the din.
"If he survived the vault collapse, he's already heading here," Julian yelled, reloading his weapon with lightning speed. "He knows that if Marcus captures Lily and me, his entire empire collapses!"
Suddenly, the engine of a high-speed cruiser roared from the opposite side of the pier. A second boat cut through the dark water, slamming its hull against the wooden pylons.
A figure in a blood-stained black suit leaped from the deck onto the pier, dual pistols flashing in the dark.
Victor Moretti.
"Julian!" Victor roared, his voice filled with murderous rage as he aimed his weapon straight at his supposed dead brother. "You treacherous bastard! You're the one who leaked the security database to Marcus!"
Julian shoved me behind the metal container, stepping out into the open to face Victor.
"You stole my throne, Victor! You tried to burn me alive!" Julian shouted back, firing a wild round that pinged off a steel beam inches from Victor's head. "And now you want to use Elena's granddaughter as a shield to keep your iron grip on the syndicate!"
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The two brothers—the two most feared men in the underworld—stood fifty feet apart on a freezing pier in the middle of the night, guns drawn, ready to tear each other apart while the sky above burned with police and mercenary spotlights.
And in the center of it all, my baby stirred in her blanket, completely unaware that her tiny heartbeat was the catalyst for a war that could burn New York to ashes.
