Chapter 13 - The Ghost of Pier 44
Hudson Point was an abandoned industrial graveyard on the edge of the river, where rotting wood met oily black water beneath a torrential downpour. Rain pelted relentlessly against the metal roof of Pier 44, churning the dark waters below into foaming eddies.
Inside the cavernous warehouse, shadows stretched like claws across rusted shipping containers.
A single black sedan rolled silently through the rusted iron gates, its headlights piercing the gloom. The engine purred to a halt, and the driver's door swung open.
Rose stepped out into the rain.
She wore a dark coat, soaked through within seconds by the biting gale. Her hair was plastered to her temples, but her hazel eyes were locked straight ahead. She carried no weapons in her bare hands—hands scarred with the marks of past survival.
"I'm here, Victoria!" Rose shouted, her voice echoing off the corrugated steel walls. "Let Leo go!"
A slow, mocking clap resounded from the catwalk above.
Victoria Thorne emerged from the shadows. She looked ravishing and utterly deranged, dressed in a crimson trench coat, her blond hair pulled tight. Beside her stood two hulking men with automatic weapons.
Down below, tied to a wooden pillar directly over an open, churning water chute, was fifteen-year-old Leo. A gag covered his mouth, his eyes wide with terror, bruises purpling his cheek.
"Rose!" Leo muffled out through the cloth, struggling frantically against the coarse rope.
"Leo!" Rose lunged forward, but the laser sight of a rifle instantly burned against her chest, stopping her in her tracks.
"Tsk, tsk, Rose," Victoria said smoothly, descending the metal stairs, her heels clicking like gunshots on the rusted treads. "Look at you. Still playing the brave big sister. Did you really think you could wear my clothes, sleep in my bed, marry *my* billionaire, and not pay for it in blood?"
"Nathaniel never loved you, Victoria," Rose said coldly, not flinching from the red dot on her heart. "He was a business merger to you. You pushed his mother off a roof like she was garbage. You're not a queen. You're just a spoiled, murderous sociopath who can't stand being told *no*."
Victoria's face twisted into an ugly, psychotic snarl. She pulled a nickel-plated revolver from her coat pocket, cocking the hammer back with an audible *snap*.
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"You ruined me!" Victoria screamed, the veneer of sophistication shattering completely. "My father is ruined! The Thorne name is destroyed! And for what? For a maid who scrubs toilets!"
Victoria leveled the gun straight between Rose's eyes.
