Chapter 6 - The Ultimatum
The threat hung in the luxurious penthouse air like a toxic cloud.
Gabriel stared at the encrypted phone in his hand, his jaw clenched so tightly it looked like it might shatter.
“You do not dictate terms to me, Sterling,” Gabriel growled, his voice vibrating with lethal intent.
“I have the ledgers Vincent Russo stole, and they clearly outline every illegal bribe your family has paid for a decade,” Sterling laughed harshly.
Mia stepped forward, her hands trembling slightly but her voice remaining completely steady.
“Those ledgers are heavily encrypted, and I am the only person who knows the master decryption key,” she stated loudly toward the phone.
The line went completely silent for five heavy, agonizing seconds.
“Then you are highly valuable alive, Ms. Carver,” Sterling finally replied, his tone dripping with cruel amusement.
“Bring her to the old rail yard in exactly one hour, Gabriel, or the FBI gets an anonymous package in the morning.”
Sterling hung up, leaving the dial tone echoing in the massive living room.
Gabriel threw the phone onto the expensive glass coffee table and turned to Marco.
“Lock her and the baby in the reinforced vault immediately,” Gabriel ordered.
“You cannot just go to the rail yard alone, it is an obvious suicide trap!” Mia protested, grabbing Gabriel’s thick arm.
“I am not going to negotiate with him, Mia, I am going to slaughter every single man in that building,” Gabriel said coldly.
“If you die, Sterling will just keep hunting us forever,” she argued fiercely.
Gabriel looked down at her small hand gripping his bloody sleeve, his expression softening just a fraction.
“I promised my dead brother I would keep this child safe, and I will die before I break that promise,” he whispered.
He pulled away from her grasp, checking the loaded magazines in his tactical vest.
Marco escorted a highly reluctant Mia and a crying Leo into the massive steel vault hidden behind the library bookshelves.
The heavy steel door clicked shut, sealing them in absolute, terrifying darkness.
Gabriel rode the elevator down to the garage, his mind completely focused on the impending violence.
He drove a heavily armored sports car through the flooded streets, heading straight for the industrial rail yard.
He parked entirely in the shadows, drawing his weapons as he approached the rusted warehouse doors.
Gabriel kicked the heavy door open, stepping into the massive, dimly lit building with his rifle raised.
The warehouse was completely empty, echoing with nothing but the sound of dripping rainwater.
Suddenly, Gabriel’s radio buzzed with a frantic, static-filled transmission from Marco.
“Boss, they are not at the rail yard, it was a massive diversion!” Marco yelled over the radio.
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Before Gabriel could even respond, Marco screamed.
“They are breaching the penthouse vault right now!”
