Chapter 14 - The Queen’s Gambit and the River of Fire
The shipyard was a desolate landscape of rusting metal and the smell of salt and rot.
The wind whistled through the empty containers,
a low,
mourning sound that made the hair on my arms stand up.
I stood in the center of a cleared circle,
the moonlight reflecting off the black silk of my coat.
Beside me,
Dominic stood like a gargoyle,
his hand resting near his holster.
The headlights of three black sedans cut through the darkness,
the engines growling like beasts.
The cars stopped twenty feet away,
and a man stepped out of the middle vehicle.
Viktor Volkov.
He was a man of sixty,
his face a map of scars and tattoos,
his eyes as cold as a Siberian winter.
"The Moretti girl,"
Viktor said,
his voice a low,
gravelly rumble.
"I expected a broken thing.
But you look...
intact."
"I’m more than intact,
Viktor,"
I said,
holding up the leather folder.
"I’m the owner of every contract your family has been trying to steal for a decade."
Viktor laughed,
a dry,
hacking sound.
"And you think you can just sell them back to us?
After your brothers humiliated the Coles?"
"I’m not selling them back,"
I said,
dropping the folder into the dirt.
"I’m giving you a choice.
Leave this city tonight,
or burn with it."
Viktor’s eyes narrowed.
"You have a lot of courage for a woman who was hanging from a ceiling three weeks ago."
"That's the thing about being broken,
Viktor,"
I said,
signaling the tactical teams.
"You get to choose how you put the pieces back together."
The shipyard erupted into a symphony of gunfire and shouts.
The Moretti teams poured out of the containers,
their suppressed weapons spitting fire into the darkness.
Viktor tried to reach for his gun,
but I was faster.
I pulled the pistol from my coat and fired a single shot,
the bullet grazing his shoulder and knocking him to the ground.
Dominic moved like a blur,
pinning Viktor’s men before they could even draw their weapons.
It was a slaughter.
The Volkovs had expected a negotiation;
they hadn't expected an execution.
I walked over to Viktor,
who was clutching his shoulder,
his eyes wide with a sudden,
stark realization.
"The Morettis didn't save me,"
I told him,
leaning down so he could see the lack of mercy in my eyes.
"They just woke me up."
I looked at Dominic,
who was watching me with a strange,
almost reverent expression.
"Burn the cars,"
I commanded.
"And leave him on the pier as a warning."
As we drove away from the shipyard,
the flames reflecting in the rearview mirror,
I felt a cold,
hard satisfaction.
May you like
The debt was being paid.
One family at a time.
