Chapter 19 - Bloodlines and Bargains
I lowered the muzzle of my weapon three inches, keeping my eyes fixed on his trigger finger.
"You won't detonate it, Sterling," I said, my voice steady and cold as ice.
"A man like you loves his wealth too much to die in a pile of Georgia rust."
"You want this ledger because the offshore codes are the only thing stopping the Department of Justice from seizing your empire."
"Without it, you're just an old man waiting for a federal indictment."
Sterling’s confident facade cracked for a split second, a tremor of panic rippling across his wrinkled brow.
"Throw it across the floor," he ordered, his voice losing its aristocratic polish.
I reached into my vest with my left hand, pulling out the thick, leather-bound journal.
I held it up, watching his eyes follow the book like a starving wolf.
"Here is your empire, Senator," I whispered.
Instead of throwing it to his feet, I hurled the heavy book straight into the glowing embers of the auxiliary furnace next to him.
"No!" Sterling screamed, lunging forward with both hands to catch the burning pages.
The detonator slipped from his fingers, clattering onto the concrete floor.
I closed the distance in three violent strides, kicking the detonator into the deep drainage ditch.
Sterling spun around, raising his nickel-plated pistol, but I struck his wrist with the heavy barrel of my carbine.
The bone snapped with an audible crunch, the gun dropping into the dust.
I drove my palm into his jaw, sending him crashing backward against the steel console.
May you like
He lay there, gasping for breath, clutching his broken wrist as the fire consumed the ledger behind him.
"It’s over, Sterling," I said, cold fury pulsing in my veins. "The Vance family just closed your case."
