Chapter 10 - THE SHOT
Eleanor fell first.
The bullet struck her shoulder and spun her against the wall. Her revolver slid across the stone floor.
Adrian stared at the smoking shotgun in his hands.
He had fired too quickly, surprised by his own choice.
Charles charged him.
They crashed into a rack of wine bottles. Glass burst around them. Maya grabbed her daughter and ran toward the stairs.
Claire helped Rebecca stand.
Behind them, Adrian shouted, “You were supposed to give me the company!”
Charles drove him into the wall. “You could not even control your wife.”
That sentence broke something inside Adrian.
He struck Charles with the shotgun stock again and again until Claire yelled for him to stop.
He turned toward her, breathing hard.
Blood streaked his cuff.
“This is your fault,” he said.
Claire almost laughed.
“My fault?”
“You made one phone call and destroyed everything.”
“No, Adrian. I made one phone call and stopped pretending your violence was normal.”
Police boots thundered above them.
Adrian lifted the shotgun.
Claire stepped in front of Rebecca.
For the first time since the plate struck her head, she was not afraid of him.
“You need me alive,” she said. “Without my signature, the Harbor Crown deal dies.”
His eyes flickered.
That hesitation was enough.
Rebecca kicked the revolver toward Claire. Claire caught it, aimed low, and ordered Adrian to drop the weapon.
He smiled.
“You won’t shoot me.”
A red laser dot appeared on his chest.
Officer Ramirez’s voice echoed through the tunnel.
“But I will.”
May you like
Adrian lowered the shotgun.
Then Charles reached beneath his jacket and pulled out a detonator.
