Chapter 7 - Blood and Justice
The silence inside the destroyed penthouse was deafening.
Out of the fifty men who had gathered to celebrate Victor’s rise, thirty lay wounded or unconscious on the floor, while the rest had thrown their weapons away, kneeling against the far walls with their hands behind their heads, terrified of the giant dog and the icy little girl who guarded the exits.
Victor crawled backward on his hands and knees until his back hit the base of the broken bar.
"Marcus... please," Victor begged, his voice high, thin, and pathetic. "I'm your family! Your own blood! You can't kill me!"
"You called me to an alley to bleed out in a ditch, Victor," Marcus said, his voice quiet, flat, and colder than the rain outside. "You didn't think about blood then."
"It was Ray! It was Delgado's idea!" Victor pointed a trembling, bloody finger at Ray, who lay groaning near the doorway. "He pushed me into it! He wanted the territory!"
Marcus didn't even look at Ray. He stepped closer, placing the cold steel barrel of his weapon against Victor’s forehead.
"You took my empire," Marcus whispered. "That was business. I could have forgiven that."
Marcus gestured toward Lily standing behind him.
"But you killed her father," Marcus continued, his eyes burning with an ancient, deadly fury. "A good man. An innocent man who worked sixteen hours a day to build a honest life. That wasn't business, Victor. That was cruelty."
Victor looked past the gun at the nine-year-old girl. "Kid... please... tell him! Tell him to stop! I'll give you millions! Whatever you want!"
Lily walked forward slowly, her small sneakers crunching on the shattered crystal from the fallen chandelier. She stopped beside Marcus, looking down at the man who had destroyed her world three months ago.
She didn't cry. She didn't rage.
She reached inside her hoodie pocket, pulled out the black USB drive containing her father's ledger, and dropped it onto Victor's lap.
"I don't want your money, Victor," Lily said softly. "I wanted you to know who came for you."
Lily turned her back, walking toward the exit. "Bear. Come."
The dog gave Victor one final, low growl before turning smoothly and following the girl toward the doors.
Victor closed his eyes, weeping softly against the ruined bar. "Marcus... please..."
May you like
BANG.
A single shot echoed through the high ceilings of the Grand Hotel.
