Chapter 5 - The Riverfront Reckoning
“Shoot me then!” Marcus screamed, his finger tightening on the trigger. “If I go down, I’m taking you with me! We both die tonight, Adrian!”
Marcus fired.
The bullet grazed Adrian’s shoulder, tearing through the fabric of his suit.
Adrian didn’t even flinch.
He stepped forward.
Marcus fired again. Click.
The gun jammed.
Panic seized Marcus’s face. He scrambled backward, dropping the weapon and reaching for the backup knife strapped to his thigh.
Before he could draw it, Adrian was there.
Adrian moved with terrifying speed, grabbing Marcus by the throat and slamming him against a concrete pillar.
The impact knocked the breath out of Marcus.
Adrian pressed the barrel of his gun under Marcus’s chin.
The red light from the dying flares illuminated the stark terror in Marcus’s eyes.
“You missed the baby,” Adrian whispered, his face inches from Marcus’s.
Marcus gasped for air. “What?”
“Lily is alive.”
The revelation hit Marcus harder than a bullet. His eyes widened in disbelief.
“No... the fire... we checked...”
“You checked nothing. Thomas saved her. Thomas died keeping her away from you. And now, she’s safe. She’s going to grow up knowing exactly what her father is willing to do for her.”
“Adrian, please,” Marcus choked out, his arrogance crumbling into pathetic desperation. “We’re brothers. We built this together.”
“You killed my wife.”
“It was business!”
“No,” Adrian said, his voice dropping to a terrifying whisper. “This is business.”
He pulled the trigger.
The sound echoed through the empty construction site, a final punctuation mark on fifteen years of brotherhood.
Marcus’s body went limp, sliding down the concrete pillar and coming to rest in a pool of dark water.
Adrian stood over him for a long moment.
The rain continued to fall, washing the blood toward the edge of the river.
Elias stepped out from the shadows, lowering his rifle.
“It’s done, boss. The rest of his crew surrendered or ran.”
Adrian slowly lowered his gun.
He felt the sting in his shoulder, but it was distant. Everything felt distant except the thought of the yellow room.
“Burn this place down,” Adrian commanded.
Elias nodded. “What about the rest of the organization? The capos are waiting for your orders. They want to know who’s taking Marcus’s territory.”
Adrian turned his back on Marcus’s body.
He looked out at the city skyline, at the glittering lights of Chicago shining through the rain.
“No one is taking it,” Adrian said.
Elias frowned. “I don’t understand.”
“I’m dissolving the empire, Elias. Shut down the casinos. Liquidate the shell companies. Pay off the men who are loyal and tell the rest they are on their own.”
Elias stared at him in shock. “You’re walking away from everything? After we just won it back?”
Adrian reached into his pocket and touched a small, silver bracelet engraved with the name Lily.
“Evelyn asked me to decide what kind of man my daughter would see when she looked at me.”
May you like
Adrian walked toward the exit, stepping out into the pouring rain.
“I’m finally ready to show her.”
