Chapter 7 - The Choice
Harper gasped in pain as Derek twisted her hair tightly around his thick fingers.
He slammed her brutally against the cold steel of a shipping container.
Noah screamed for his sister, refusing to run through the exit door without her.
Derek ordered the little boy to shut up or he would put a bullet in his sister’s skull.
Harper stared into the eyes of the monster who had terrorized her for three agonizing years.
She expected to feel the familiar, paralyzing dread that always accompanied his violence.
Instead, she only felt a burning, absolute hatred for the man holding the gun.
She realized she was entirely done being afraid of Derek Lawson.
Across the warehouse, Gabriel was pinned down behind the concrete pillar by heavy suppressive fire.
He risked glancing around the edge and saw Derek holding Harper hostage.
Gabriel’s eyes darkened with a murderous rage that completely erased his usual icy control.
He stepped entirely out from behind his cover, ignoring the bullets whizzing past his head.
He raised his empty hands and shouted at Derek to let the woman and the child go.
Gabriel offered to surrender himself entirely to the Russians in exchange for their safe passage.
Derek laughed cruelly, pressing the gun harder into the soft skin of Harper’s throat.
He told Gabriel that he was going to kill Harper first, just to watch the great mafia boss suffer.
Derek proudly announced that nobody ever walked away from him.
He cocked the hammer of his revolver, his finger tightening slowly on the trigger.
Harper looked at Gabriel, seeing the absolute terror in his eyes for her safety.
She knew Gabriel could not shoot Derek without risking a fatal crossfire.
She realized she had to be the one to end her own nightmare.
Harper slowly lowered her right hand toward the deep pocket of her maid's uniform.
Her fingers wrapped tightly around the grip of the sleek, compact pistol Gabriel had given her.
Without hesitating for a single second, she pulled the gun from her pocket and aimed it at Derek's stomach.
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Derek’s eyes widened in absolute shock as he realized she was armed.
Harper pulled the trigger just as the warehouse doors violently burst open.
