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The silent tension in the parlor was so dense it could be cut with a blade. My guards stood like marble statues, their hands hovering over hidden holsters, waiting for the explosive fury that usually followed any sign of disrespect toward Adrian Romano. / Chapter 5 / 8

Chapter 5 - THE SIEGE OF WAREHOUSE 14

I didn't detonate the car to kill Julian; I detonated the secondary fuel tank I had intentionally rigged in the trunk before leaving the estate.

BOOM!

The explosive shockwave blew out every window along the western wall of the warehouse. The massive iron catwalk violently shuddered, sending two of Julian's Vanguard mercenaries tumbling thirty feet down onto the concrete floor.

In the chaos, the lights went dead.

I moved.

Before the smoke could clear, I drew my Kimber .45 and vaulted over a stack of wooden crates, firing three shots upward through the iron grating of the walkway. A Vanguard sniper shrieked as he fell backward, dropping his rifle.

"Kill him!" Julian screamed into the darkness, his voice cracking with hysteria. "Kill him now!"

Muzzle flashes illuminated the pitch-black warehouse like strobe lights. I moved like a phantom—a product of fifteen years surviving the brutal Chicago underworld. I slid under an industrial forklift, reloading my magazine by muscle memory alone, and executed two mercenaries as they swept the aisle with night-vision goggles.

They had tech, but I had the dark.

Above me, I heard Elena screaming through her gag as Julian dragged her toward the rear exit of the catwalk.

I sprinted up the iron staircase, taking three steps at a time. A mercenary lunged at me from behind a steel pillar with a combat knife. I caught his wrist, twisted it until the bone snapped through the skin, drove my elbow into his sternum, and threw him over the railing.

When I reached the top platform, Julian was dragging Elena by her hair toward an exterior fire escape, holding Lily by the collar of her jacket.

"It's over, Julian!" I yelled, bringing my gun up, aligning the front sight directly between his eyes.

"Shoot me and you shoot the kid!" Julian yelled, pulling Lily in front of his chest as a human shield.

The rain was pouring in through the shattered roof now, soaking us all. Lily was shivering, but her eyes were fixed on me.

"Mister Big House," Lily whimpered. "He's hurt my mommy."

"I know, baby," I said, keeping my voice utterly calm despite the blood pumping like a war drum in my ears. "Close your eyes, Lily."

"What?" Julian sneered. "You think she's gonna close her eyes while I paint this wall with your—"

"Lily," I repeated, my voice steady. "Close your eyes and count to three. Like we do when we play hide and seek."

Lily squeezed her eyes shut tightly. "One..." she piped up in her small, clear voice.

Julian raised his gun to aim at my chest.

"Two..." Lily counted.

In a fraction of a second, I didn't shoot Julian. I shot the rusted support cable holding the heavy iron crane hook directly above Julian's head.

The half-ton steel hook snapped free, plunging down like a pendulum of judgment. It didn't hit Julian—it struck the metal railing right beside him with the force of a train wreck, shearing the steel like paper.

The shockwave knocked Julian off his feet, sending his gun flying into the dark abyss below. He tumbled backward over the edge of the catwalk, catching himself by a single hand on the broken grating, dangling sixty feet above the concrete floor.

"Three!" Lily finished, opening her eyes.

I sprinted forward, grabbed Elena and Lily, and pulled them safely away from the edge.

I walked to the railing and looked down at Julian, who was desperately trying to get a grip with his rain-slicked fingers.

"Adrian! Please!" Julian choked out, his eyes wide with genuine terror. "I'm your brother! Isabella's brother! You can't let me fall!"

I looked down at him, my expression unreadable.

"Isabella died because of your greed, Julian," I said softly. "You stopped being my brother the night you set that fire."

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I didn't push him. I didn't kick his hand. I simply stood there as his grip failed him.

With a final, desperate scream, Julian Vance slipped into the shadows below.

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