Chapter 4 - Fire and Ashes
Before Julian could pull the trigger, the windows of the abandoned warehouses along the street shattered simultaneously. Red laser dots suddenly covered the bodies of Julian’s men like a swarm of crimson hornets.
THWIP! THWIP! THWIP!
Suppressed gunfire cut through the winter air. Five of Julian’s guards collapsed onto the snow before they could even raise their weapons. Panic erupted in the square. Julian shrieked, dropping his gun, and lunged backward toward the chapel doors as his remaining men opened fire blindly into the darkness.
On the monitor, Elias didn't run. He drew his Sig Sauer with effortless precision, stepping behind the marble pillar of the chapel entrance as bullets chipped away at the stone.
"Take out the tires!" Elias’s voice roared over the comms. "Don't let Cross get to his car!"
Inside the panic room, I watched the chaotic firefight in sheer terror. "Marcus! Is Elias okay? He's hurt!"
I pointed at the screen. A dark stain was spreading across Elias’s left shoulder, where a stray bullet had grazed him, but he didn't even slow down. He kicked open the chapel doors, pursuing Julian into the dark sanctuary.
Inside the church, the camera feed switched to a night-vision angle. The ancient pews were shrouded in shadow. Julian was crawling behind the altar, frantically trying to reload a second weapon, his face slick with sweat and blood.
Elias walked down the central aisle, his heavy boots echoing off the vaulted ceilings.
"You took a whip to your wife's back, Julian," Elias’s voice echoed through the dark chapel like thunder. "You left two four-hour-old babies to freeze in the mud. Tell me... how does it feel to be the one bleeding now?"
"Stay away from me!" Julian screamed, firing two wild shots toward the aisle. The bullets shattered an ancient stained-glass window of the Virgin Mary, showering the altar with colored glass. "My father will destroy you! The Syndicate will wipe the Vance family off the map!"
Elias stepped out of the shadow right in front of the altar. He caught Julian by the throat, lifting the grown man off his feet with one hand and slamming him against the cold marble cross behind him.
Julian gagged, his legs kicking uselessly in the air, his fingers clawing frantically at Elias’s iron grip.
"Your father died twenty minutes ago, Julian," Elias whispered, his face inches from Julian’s. "Gabriel just confirmed it. And do you know what his last words were?"
Julian’s eyes widened in sheer horror.
"He disowned you," Elias lied masterfully, his voice dripping with venom. "He left everything to a charity in Pittsburgh. You lost it all, Julian. The throne, the money, and your life."
Elias threw Julian onto the marble floor. Julian lay there, weeping and panting, completely broken.
"I won't kill you tonight," Elias said, looking down at his former rival with utter contempt. "Because death is too easy for a coward like you. Gabriel!"
Gabriel stepped out from the sacristy shadows, holding heavy steel cuffs.
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"Take him to the basement facility in Brooklyn," Elias ordered. "Let him think about his daughters every single day until the state police come to pick him up for attempted murder and child endangerment. I want him to rot in a federal cell for the rest of his miserable life."
Elias turned his back on Julian and walked out of the chapel, pulling a white handkerchief from his pocket to wipe the glass dust from his hands.
