Chapter 6 - The Fatal Trigger
Evelyn stood her ground, her fingers tightening around the cold metal drive. “You lied to me. You manufactured Daniel’s debts. You framed him.”
Julian stopped three feet away, his smile vanishing, replaced by a mask of cold contempt. “Did you really think a billionaire’s secretary and an addict brother could outsmart the system? Calder is an obstacle to progress. He wouldn't sell his docks, so I had to take them. Now give me the damn drive before I put a bullet in your chest and take it from your corpse.”
He reached into his coat and produced a silenced automatic pistol.
“Now, Vincent!” Evelyn screamed, diving onto the wet asphalt.
A deafening crack shattered the night air. The glass from the SUV’s windshield exploded in a shower of sparks as a high-caliber round took out the engine block.
Julian’s guards drew their weapons, but before they could fire, shadows erupted from the surrounding shipping containers. Marco and a tactical strike team swept into the yard with overwhelming force, flash-bang grenades turning the mist into blinding, roaring daylight. Gunshots echoed off the steel containers as the two thugs were swiftly neutralized and pinned to the ground.
Julian spun around, panicked, his pistol swinging wildly toward Evelyn.
Out of the darkness, a figure moved with the terrifying speed of a stalking panther. Vincent Calder materialized through the smoke, his bare hand clamping onto Julian’s wrist with bone-crushing force.
A sharp snap echoed through the yard as Julian screamed in agony, his pistol dropping harmlessly to the ground. Vincent didn’t stop. He drove Julian backward against the hood of the SUV, his fingers wrapping around the investigator’s throat, lifting him until his polished shoes dangled inches off the ground.
“You came into my city,” Vincent growled, his voice a low, terrifying rumble that vibrated with lethal fury. “You threatened my empire. But your fatal mistake, Julian, was putting your filthy hands on my woman.”
Julian choked, his eyes bulging with terror as Vincent’s grip tightened. “Calder... you... you can’t kill me... the department...”
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“The department is currently executing a raid on your townhouse,” Vincent snarled. “Federal agents are confiscating your private servers right now, thanks to the data packet we uploaded through your personal network five minutes ago. You aren’t going to prison as a heroic investigator, Mercer. You’re going to ADX Florence as a disgraced cartel traitor.”
Vincent threw Julian violently onto the cold pavement, signaling Marco to cuff him. Then, without sparing another glance at his defeated enemy, Vincent turned toward Evelyn, his cold rage instantly melting into raw desperation.
