Chapter 8 - Fire and Blood
Cold water splashed against Emma’s face, snapping her back into reality.
She gasped, coughing violently as the stinging water filled her nose. She was tied tightly to a heavy metal chair in the center of an empty, damp warehouse. Rain slammed against the rusted tin roof above.
Standing before her was Mateo Moretti, holding an empty bucket, surrounded by a dozen heavily armed mercenaries.
"Wake up, little baker," Mateo sneered, slapping her across the cheek. Pain flared through her jaw, but Emma didn't cry out. She glared at him with unyielding defiance.
"He will kill you for this," Emma said, her voice steady despite her trembling body.
"He won't get the chance," Mateo laughed wickedly. "This entire warehouse is rigged with explosives. The moment Vance steps through that door, I press this button. He dies, you die, and I take over New York."
Emma’s heart sank. It was a trap. Lucian was walking directly into a massacre because of her.
Suddenly, the heavy iron doors of the warehouse were blown completely off their hinges in a massive explosion of smoke and fire.
The sound of relentless heavy gunfire erupted through the fog. Lucian didn't come alone, nor did he come quietly. He tore through the warehouse like an unstoppable force of nature, flanked by scores of loyal soldiers. Bullets whistled through the air, tearing through concrete and steel.
Mateo panicked, scrambling back toward the rear exit, pulling the detonator out of his pocket. "Kill them! Kill them all!" he screamed to his remaining men.
Through the swirling smoke, Lucian appeared. He was bleeding from a graze on his forehead, his dark eyes fixed entirely on Emma.
A mercenary lunged at Lucian with a combat knife, but Lucian caught the man’s wrist, breaking it instantly with an audible snap, before throwing him through a wooden crate. He didn't stop moving until he reached Emma’s side.
"Lucian! The building is rigged! He has a detonator!" Emma screamed over the din of gunfire.
Lucian didn't hesitate. He pulled a combat knife from his belt and sliced through the thick ropes binding Emma’s wrists and ankles in a single, fluid motion. He pulled her up into his arms, checking her face frantically.
"Are you hurt? Did he touch you?" he demanded, his voice thick with raw emotion.
"I'm fine! We have to get out!"
Mateo was standing by the emergency exit, his thumb hovering right over the red button of the detonator. "Go to hell, Vance!" he shrieked.
Before Mateo could press the switch, a small, dark shadow lunged from behind a pile of crates near the door.
It was Victor. Wracked with guilt over his betrayal, Victor had followed the convoy to make things right. He tackled Mateo to the ground, slamming the villain’s wrist against the concrete until the detonator flew out of his hand, rolling across the floor.
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Mateo pulled a sidearm and fired point-blank into Victor’s chest. Victor collapsed, but he managed to kick the detonator away, shouting with his final breath: "Get her out, Boss!"
Lucian grabbed Emma, lifting her into his arms, and sprinted toward the main entrance just as Mateo’s men fired frantically after them. They burst through the doors into the pouring rain outside, throwing themselves behind Lucian’s armored SUV just as a secondary gas line exploded inside the warehouse, engulfing the rear section of the building in a roaring inferno.
