Chapter 9 - REPAYING THE DEBT
"Drop your weapons!" Marcus’s voice boomed down from the iron scaffolding above, amplified and terrifying.
Vincent’s face drained of color. He looked around wildly, realizing too late that his numbers were outmatched and his position was completely compromised. He reached inside his heavy wool coat, his hand clawing toward a concealed shoulder holster.
"Adrian, watch out!" Nora screamed.
Before Vincent could clear his weapon, Adrian moved with terrifying, blinding speed. He closed the distance between them in three strides, driving his fist directly into Vincent’s jaw with a sickening crunch.
Vincent crumpled to the concrete, his gun clattering across the wet pavement.
The mercenaries looked at their fallen boss, then up at the red laser dots dancing across their chests, and slowly dropped their weapons to the ground, raising their hands in surrender.
Marcus and the rest of the security detail swarmed the pier, zip-tying the guards and securing the perimeter in less than a minute.
Adrian stood over his uncle, his chest heaving slightly, his knuckles bruised and bleeding. He looked down at the old man who had tried to destroy his life for a decade and a half. There was no triumph in his eyes—only a cold, exhausted finality.
"Take him to the warehouse on the south side," Adrian ordered Marcus, his voice devoid of emotion. "Tell him he has twenty-four hours to sign over every asset he owns, or he spends the rest of his life in a hole where no one will ever hear him scream."
"Understood, Boss," Marcus replied, hauling the groaning old man to his feet by his collar.
As the guards dragged Vincent away into the darkness, the pier fell silent again, save for the rhythmic lapping of the dark harbor water against the wooden pilings.
Adrian turned around. His eyes found Nora standing by the edge of the light, her coat whipping around her legs in the cold wind.
He crossed the distance between them, his expression severe, but his hands—when they reached out to cup her face—were shaking.
Are you hurt? his fingers signed frantically, his lips forming the words without sound.
May you like
"I'm fine," Nora whispered, a tear finally breaking free and tracking down her cold cheek. "I'm completely fine."
Adrian pulled her against his chest, burying his face in her hair. He held her so tightly she could feel the heavy, racing thud of his heart against her ribs. For a man who had lived in total isolation for fifteen years, locked away behind walls of silence and suspicion, holding her was the only way he knew how to breathe.
