Chapter 38 - The Final Verdict for a Coward
Preston scrambled backward until his spine slammed hard against the cold, unyielding steel of the ship's bulkhead. He stared up at the towering, monolithic form of Marcus Reed, who blocked out the ambient light of the roaring deck fires. The federal commander looked down at his son-in-law with a profound, terrifying disgust. This was the man who had tortured his daughter, the parasite who had weaponized her trauma to strike a bargain with Director Vance, the coward who had signed his own mother's death warrant just to secure a forged passport.
"Marcus... please, let me explain," Preston babbled hysterically, tears and rain streaming down his bruised face. He held his trembling hands up in a pathetic gesture of surrender. "Vance forced me! I never wanted to hurt her! Please, I have the routing numbers to the cartel's European shell companies! I can testify! You're a federal agent, you have to arrest me! You have to follow the law!"
Marcus slowly unholstered his tactical sidearm. But he didn't aim it at Preston's head. With mechanical precision, Marcus ejected the magazine, pulled the slide back to eject the chambered round, and tossed the empty weapon clattering into the darkness. "In that ballroom, I let you live because I was going to put you in a federal cell," Marcus rumbled, his voice dropping to a lethal, gravelly whisper. "But Vance broke the law. There is no jurisdiction on this ocean, Preston. You aren't a human being anymore. You're a disease." Marcus leaned down, his massive, calloused hand gripping the fabric of Preston's ruined jumpsuit. With a terrifying display of raw strength, he lifted the younger man entirely off the deck. Preston thrashed wildly, clawing weakly at Marcus’s scarred forearms, but the commander's grip was iron. Marcus carried him to the edge of the ship, holding him suspended over the violent, crashing waves. Claire watched from the shadows, her hazel eyes completely devoid of pity. "Men like you don't get the mercy of a bullet," Marcus stated. Without another word, Marcus opened his hand. Preston Beaumont's hysterical scream was instantly swallowed by the roar of the storm as he plummeted into the black, unforgiving ocean, sinking into the abyss and ending the Beaumont legacy forever.
