Chapter 7 - The Final Confrontation
Panicked and desperate, Marcus lunged forward, snatching Genevieve by the neck and pressing his gun against her temple, using her as a human shield as he backed away toward the side corridor leading toward the library.
"Back off! All of you, back off!" Marcus screamed, his eyes wild with terror. "If anyone shoots, her brains are on the wall!"
Genevieve shrieked in horror, her expensive makeup ruined by tears. "Marcus! What are you doing?! I helped you!"
"Shut up, you idiot! You're my ticket out of here!" Marcus yelled, dragging her down the hall.
Inside the panic room, Rebecca watched the security monitors with bated breath. Her heart stopped when she saw Marcus dragging Genevieve directly toward the library door.
Marcus kicked the library door open, dragging Genevieve inside. "I know she's in here!" Marcus yelled toward the walls. "Adriano! Open this panic room or I execute your wife right here!"
Adriano walked into the library, his face calm, followed closely by his armed men. "Genevieve was never my wife in spirit, Marcus. Threatening her doesn't give you leverage."
"Then maybe this will!" Marcus reached into his coat and pulled out a remote detonator. "I placed explosives along the perimeter pillars! If I press this, the whole west wing collapses, including that panic room!"
A silent terror filled the room. Adriano stopped in his tracks, his eyes narrowing. He couldn't risk the structural integrity of the room where Rebecca and Clementine were hiding.
Suddenly, the panic room door clicked open.
Rebecca stepped out into the library. She was pale, but her eyes held a fierce, unyielding light.
"Rebecca, no! Get back inside!" Adriano shouted.
"No," Rebecca said, her voice steady as she looked directly at Marcus. "You killed my husband, Marcus. You took Thomas away from a four-year-old girl. You turned my life into a nightmare and forced me to scrub your floors while you lived off blood money."
Marcus laughed hysterically. "Get back, girl, or I'll blow us all to hell!"
"You won't," Rebecca said coldly. She held up her right hand, revealing a small black wireless receiver. "Because when I walked out of that room, I manually overridden the mansion's main signal jammer. Your detonator is dead, Marcus."
Marcus looked down at the detonator in panic, frantically pressing the button. Nothing happened.
Before Marcus could pull the trigger on his pistol, Adriano moved like a strike of lightning. He closed the distance in a fraction of a second, grabbing Marcus’s wrist and twisting it upward. A sharp crack echoed as Marcus’s wrist broke, the gun dropping to the floor. Adriano delivered a devastating blow to Marcus’s jaw, sending him crashing into the heavy mahogany desk, unconscious and bleeding.
Genevieve collapsed to the floor, sobbing uncontrollably.
Adriano didn't look at Marcus or Genevieve. He stepped over the fallen traitor, walking directly to Rebecca. He pulled her into his arms, holding her tightly against his chest as if she might vanish into thin air.
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"You were brilliant," Adriano whispered into her hair, his heart pounding against hers.
"I had to protect us," Rebecca murmured, burying her face in his chest. "I had to protect our family."
