Chapter 5 - The Reckoning
Before Daniel could push Caleb behind the safety of the shipping containers, the rear door of the armored SUV swung open.
Hannah stepped out into the freezing rain.
"Arthur!" she screamed, her voice carrying over the roar of the ocean.
Arthur’s eyes snapped to her, his grip on the shotgun wavering for a fraction of a second. "You... you're alive."
"You killed my husband," Hannah said, walking slowly toward him, her hands clasped over her belly. She did not look like a victim tonight; she looked like an avenging spirit, her short hair plastered to her forehead, her eyes reflecting the cold light of the harbor lamps. "You killed Aaron because he found your lies. But you won't kill my brother. And you won't touch my child."
"Hannah, get back!" Daniel yelled, his heart stopping as he realized she was directly in the line of fire.
But Arthur’s desperation had turned into a blind, wild panic. He raised the shotgun, aiming it straight at Hannah’s chest. "You're all going down with me!"
A shot echoed through the night, but it did not come from Arthur’s gun.
Daniel’s bullet struck Arthur’s shoulder, spinning him around and sending the shotgun clattering into the dark water below the pier. Arthur stumbled backward, his hands clutching his bleeding wound, before his heels caught the edge of the rotting timber.
With a final, terrified cry, the patriarch of the Whitlock shipping empire fell backward into the dark, churning waters of the Providence harbor.
The silence that followed was absolute.
Daniel ran to Hannah, his arms wrapping around her waist as her knees finally gave out. He pulled her against his chest, his heart hammering against her ribs like a wild animal trying to escape.
"I told you to stay in the car," he whispered, his voice shaking with a rare, terrifying emotion.
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"I couldn't," Hannah gasped, her tears finally mixing with the rain on her face. "He was going to shoot you."
Daniel looked down at her, his eyes dark and burning. He did not say anything, but he held her tighter, as if he would never let her go.
