Chapter 3 - Blood on the Porch
The amber light from inside the cabin spilled out across the wet wooden deck, illuminating the dark silhouette of Marcus Vance.
Marcus stood at the top of the steps, an expensive black umbrella in one hand and a silenced pistol in the other. Two masked enforcers flanked him on either side, their rifles leveled at the doorway. Marcus’s smile was wide and sickeningly smug.
"Well, well," Marcus purred, stepping forward. "Look at you, Orion. Reduced to hiding in a woodcutter's shack like a whipped dog. Where's your almighty empire now?"
"It's right here, Marcus," Orion replied, his voice dead calm, masking the lethal fury boiling beneath his skin. "And you just signed your death warrant by stepping onto this porch."
Marcus chuckled, shaking his head. "You always were arrogant. But—"
Before Marcus could finish his sentence, a massive gray blur rocketed out from the dark cabin doorway.
Caesar didn't bark. He launched his one-hundred-fifty-pound frame straight across the porch like a furry missile. The sheer kinetic force caught the enforcer on the right completely off guard, slamming him backward off the wooden deck into the muddy brush below with a sickening crunch.
"Shoot the damn dog!" Marcus shrieked, panic breaking through his cool facade.
The second enforcer raised his rifle, but Orion was faster. Pfft-pfft. Two suppressed shots cracked through the rain. The enforcer dropped his weapon, clutching his shoulder as he stumbled backward down the steps.
Marcus scrambled to raise his pistol, but Caesar was already pivoting, his massive jaws snapping inches from Marcus’s throat. Marcus dropped his umbrella, stumbling backward in terror, tripping over the porch railing and tumbling headfirst into the mud.
"Get this beast off me!" Marcus screamed, thrashing wildly as Caesar planted a massive paw squarely on his chest, pinning him to the earth with terrifying ease.
Orion stepped out onto the porch, the rain plastering his dark hair to his forehead, his pistol locked steadily on Marcus's face.
"You thought you could betray my father, take the throne, and walk away," Orion said quietly, walking down the steps until he stood over his former chief of operations.
"Orion—wait—we can talk about this!" Marcus gasped, spitting mud and rain from his mouth. "Fifty-fifty split! The shipping routes, the downtown clubs—it's all yours!"
"I already have everything I need," Orion replied coldly.
May you like
He raised the butt of his pistol and brought it down hard across Marcus’s temple. The man went limp instantly, tumbling into unconsciousness in the mud.
Silence descended on the clearing, save for the patter of rain and the heavy breathing of the mastiff.
