Chapter 8 - THE WAREHOUSE OF SINS
Dr. Aris’s shoes squeaked against the blood-stained linoleum as he approached Adrian. The doctor was trembling so violently the metal handcuffs rattled like wind chimes in his grip. Adrian didn't look at the doctor; his dark, obsidian eyes remained completely locked on Dante.
"You're a coward, Dante," Adrian said softly, his voice devoid of fear, laced only with utter contempt. "A real King doesn't hide behind a sick child and a terrified doctor. He fights his own battles."
"A real King survives," Dante snapped, pressing the barrel harder against Lucia's temple. The frail skin bruised instantly under the metal. "You became weak the second Emma was born. You put family above the syndicate. I'm just correcting your mistake. Cuff him, Aris!"
Dr. Aris reached out, grabbing Adrian’s thick wrist. Adrian didn't resist, but his intense gaze flickered, for a fraction of a second, toward me. It wasn't a look of defeat. It was a silent, commanding question. Are you ready?
I knew the layout of Dante’s body armor. I knew he was wearing a heavy Kevlar plate under his suit jacket. Shooting him in the chest would knock him down, but it wouldn't kill him instantly. His reflex would be to pull the trigger. I had to aim for the head. A headshot from a girl who had never fired a gun in her life, under extreme duress, with her sister in the line of fire.
My heart hammered a frantic, terrifying rhythm against my ribs.
Clack. Dr. Aris locked the first cuff around Adrian's right wrist, securing it to the heavy iron pipe of the wall radiator.
"Now the other hand," Dante ordered, his eyes gleaming with triumphant malice. "And then the girl comes with us. The maid, however, stays here to burn."
"Dante," I spoke up, my voice remarkably steady despite the terror eating me alive. I slowly stepped away from Lucia's head, moving slightly to the right, forcing Dante to shift his gaze and his weapon tracking my movement. "You don't need her. Lucia is dying anyway. The stress of the transfer... her heart monitor is slowing down."
It was a lie, but Dante wasn't a doctor. He glanced nervously at the green line on the monitor, the rhythmic beeping continuing steadily.
"She's a liability," I continued, taking another slow step, putting myself entirely in Dante's line of sight, creating space between his gun and Lucia. "Take me. Adrian cares more about me right now. I know where he hid the ledger for the legitimate shell companies. I copied the data from Karen’s phone. I have all his accounts."
Dante’s eyes narrowed. The greed momentarily overriding his caution. "You have the accounts?"
"Yes," I lied, slipping my right hand slowly into the deep pocket of the tactical jacket, my fingers wrapping tightly around the cold, textured grip of the Glock 19. "Take me as your hostage. Leave Lucia."
"Elena, no!" Adrian roared, straining violently against the handcuff, the iron pipe groaning under his immense strength.
"Shut up!" Dante yelled, leveling the gun at Adrian for a split second before swinging it back toward me. But in that split second, I moved.
I drew the Glock with desperate, terrifying speed, snapping my arm up just like Adrian had shown me in the armory. I didn't think. I didn't aim with the sights. I just pointed the barrel at Dante’s face and squeezed the trigger.
The gun bucked violently in my hand, the deafening roar of the shot echoing off the tiled walls.
I missed his head.
The bullet tore through Dante's right shoulder, shattering his collarbone in an explosion of blood and bone. He screamed, dropping the heavy magnum as his arm went entirely limp.
Total chaos erupted.
Dr. Aris screamed and threw himself under the operating table. Adrian, with a roar of pure, feral rage, violently yanked his cuffed arm. The rusted iron pipe of the radiator tore entirely out of the wall with a screech of tearing metal and a massive burst of scalding steam.
Free, dragging the broken pipe attached to his wrist, Adrian charged Dante like a freight train.
Dante scrambled backward, clutching his ruined shoulder, trying desperately to reach a backup weapon tucked in his waistband with his left hand. He pulled a sleek black pistol, raising it toward me.
Before he could fire, Adrian slammed into him. The sheer force of the impact lifted Dante completely off his feet, driving him brutally into the reinforced glass of the observation window. The glass shattered, raining down on them as they crashed to the floor.
"Get Lucia out of here!" Adrian bellowed over the hiss of the steam, pinning Dante to the floor and delivering a sickening, bone-crushing punch to the traitor's face.
Rocco and the enforcers surged forward, retrieving their weapons. Two men rushed to the operating table, carefully disconnecting the monitors and lifting Lucia gently into their arms.
"Aris!" I screamed, grabbing the cowering doctor by his collar and dragging him out from under the table. "You're coming with us. If her heart stops on the way back, I swear to God I will shoot you myself!"
The doctor sobbed, nodding frantically.
I looked back. Adrian had Dante pinned, his hands wrapped tightly around the man's throat. Dante was choking, his face turning a dark, bruised purple, his hands weakly clawing at Adrian's forearms.
"Adrian, stop!" I yelled, running over and grabbing his shoulder. "He's finished! Let the police have him! Let the syndicate see him broken in a cell! Don't be the monster they think you are!"
Adrian’s eyes were wild, consumed by bloodlust. He looked at me, his chest heaving, his hands still clamped like iron vises around Dante's throat.
"He touched my daughter," Adrian growled, his voice demonic. "He threatened your sister. Men like this do not go to prison, Elena. They go to hell."
With a sickening, violent twist, Adrian snapped Dante Moretti's neck.
The loud crack echoed loudly through the hissing steam of the room. Dante's body went entirely limp, falling lifeless to the bloody floor.
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Adrian stood up slowly, breathing heavily, his hands covered in blood. He looked down at the dead man, then slowly turned his gaze to me. The monster retreated, the cold, calculating King returning behind the mask.
"Let's go home," Adrian said softly.
