Chapter 8 - Fire and Vengeance
Before Ray's final syllable had fully echoed through the rafters, the darkness around the warehouse erupted. Four armed mercenaries hired by Howerin stepped out from behind stacks of shipping crates, weapons drawn.
"Get down!" August shouted.
In one fluid motion, August grabbed Willa by the waist, lifting her off her feet and diving behind a reinforced steel storage container just as a hail of gunfire shattered the projector, sending glass and sparks cascading across the table.
The council bosses scattered, ducking beneath tables and fleeing toward side exits as panic engulfed the warehouse. Luca and the loyal Sartori men returned fire, the deafening cracks of semi-automatic rifles reverberating against the metal roof.
August held Willa tightly against his chest, shielding her entire body with his own. She could feel the violent hammer of his heart, the fierce, unyielding heat of a man ready to tear the world apart to keep her breathing.
"Are you hit?" August asked, his hands rapidly checking her shoulders, her arms, his dark eyes ablaze with raw panic.
"I'm fine! I'm fine!" Willa shouted over the gunfire. "August, look out!"
A mercenary rounded the corner of the container, gun leveled at August's back. Without missing a beat, Willa reached down, grabbed a loose steel pipe from the rubble, and swung with everything she had, cracking the man across the knees. The gunman stumbled, and August’s fist landed like a sledgehammer, dropping him instantly to the floor.
August grabbed the fallen weapon, his gaze flicking back to Willa with a fierce, breathtaking grin. "Remind me never to get on your bad side, Miss Doyle."
"Focus, Sartori!" she yelled back, adrenaline surging through her veins.
Across the room, Ray Howerin was scrambling toward a waiting speed boat tied to the exterior slipway, dragging a terrified Gordon Pike with him.
"Luca, secure the perimeter!" August commanded. "No one leaves!"
August broke into a sprint through the smoke, pursuing Ray onto the icy wooden pier outside. Willa followed closely behind, refusing to be left in the dark. The freezing lake spray lashed at their skin.
Ray reached the end of the dock, turning with a revolver trembling in his hand. "Stay back, August! You ruined everything! We were supposed to rule this city together!"
"You tried to kill my mother for a twenty-percent margin," August said coldly, walking straight toward the gun without flinching. "You don't rule anything, Ray. You never did."
With a sudden lunge, August knocked the weapon from Ray's grip. The gun went spinning into the black, churning waters of Lake Michigan. Before Ray could scramble away, August grabbed him by the throat, hoisting him over the edge of the icy pier.
"August, don't!" Willa's voice cut through the howling gale.
August froze, his fingers digging into Ray's collar. He looked back at Willa, standing under the flickering pier light, the wind whipping her dark hair.
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"If you drop him in that water, you're just another killer," Willa said, her chest heaving as she stepped forward. "Let him face the courts. Let him watch his name, his money, and his freedom rot in a federal cell. That's real justice."
August stared at her for several agonizing seconds. Slowly, the murderous rage in his eyes dissolved into something profound and quiet. With a disdainful heave, he slammed Ray Howerin backward onto the frozen wood, where Luca promptly snapped steel handcuffs around his wrists.
