Chapter 19 - The Choice of Mercy
Adrian raised his own pistol, the laser sight resting perfectly between Caroline’s terrified, wide eyes.
All the pain of the last eight years—the sleepless nights, the phantom pain in his legs, the grief over a lost family—demanded that he pull the trigger.
He had built his entire underworld empire on the undeniable rule that betrayal was punishable by absolute, merciless death.
Caroline fell to her knees in the mud, sobbing pathetically and begging for the very mercy she had repeatedly denied her own daughter.
She swore that she could disappear forever, promising to never return or threaten the family again if he just let her get on the boat.
Adrian stared down at the trembling woman, the heavy, cold metal of the gun feeling like an anchor weighing down his soul.
He realized that if he executed her in cold blood on this cliff, he would be stepping right back into the darkness he had tried so hard to escape.
He would be proving to himself that he was nothing more than the ruthless monster Caroline always accused him of being.
Slowly, deliberately, Adrian lowered his pistol, the red laser sight dropping from her face into the deep mud.
He looked at her with a chilling, absolute emptiness, stating that she was already dead to him and he wouldn't stain his hands with a ghost.
He turned his back on her, walking away toward the extraction point where his true, chosen family was waiting for him.
Caroline stayed on her knees, her sobs turning into bitter, venomous laughter as she realized she had survived his legendary wrath.
She sneered at his retreating back, mocking his sudden morality and claiming that his weakness would eventually destroy him.
As she stood up to make her way down to the escape boat, a terrifying, massive shadow emerged from the dark tree line.
It was Julian Vance, bleeding heavily from his shattered jaw, holding a heavy cartel machete with a look of pure, psychopathic murder.
He had survived the vault and tracked the woman who had double-crossed him, leaving him to take the fall for the ruined operation.
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Caroline’s arrogant smile instantly vanished, replaced by a scream of absolute, blood-curdling terror that echoed over the roaring ocean.
Adrian heard the horrific scream behind him, but he did not stop walking, nor did he ever look back.
