Chapter 7 - The Reckoning
Gunfire echoed like thunder beneath the vaulted ceiling, sending sparks flying off the iron beams and shattering old glass windows.
Sebastian didn't hesitate. Firing with cold, absolute precision, he neutralized two gunmen rushing the lower floor before they could even steady their sights. Footsteps thundered behind him as his backup—led by Mara and a heavily armed tactical unit—breached the front and rear loading bays, cutting off all avenues of escape for the Rossi loyalists.
On the catwalk, Dominic Rossi panicked, grabbing Valerie by the arm and dragging her toward the emergency metal stairs.
"Move, you little bitch!" Rossi snarled, pressing his own pistol to her temple.
Valerie struggled, kicking back against his shin, but he struck her across the face with the barrel of the gun, sending a sharp wave of dizziness through her.
"Dominic!" Sebastian’s voice boomed from below, bouncing off the steel walls like a death sentence.
Rossi looked down, freezing mid-step on the metal landing. Sebastian was standing at the base of the stairs, his pistol locked dead onto Rossi’s forehead. There was no emotion in Sebastian's eyes—only a bottomless, cold void.
"Let her go," Sebastian said, each word spaced out with terrifying deliberate calm. "And I might let you crawl out of here alive."
"I'll put a bullet in her brain before you can even pull the trigger, Ward!" Rossi screamed, his voice cracking with rising hysteria as he realized his men were all down, neutralized in less than sixty seconds.
Sebastian tilted his head slightly. "Try it."
The absolute confidence in Sebastian’s voice—the terrifying aura of a man who held absolute control over life and death—shattered Rossi’s nerve. In that fraction of a second of hesitation, Valerie threw her weight backward, slamming her heel down onto Rossi’s instep with all her remaining strength.
Rossi cursed, his grip loosening on her arm as he stumbled.
It was all the opening Sebastian needed.
Bang.
The silenced round caught Rossi squarely in the shoulder, spinning him around and knocking the weapon from his grip. He collapsed against the iron railing, gasping in agony as blood pooled onto the metal grating.
Sebastian sprinted up the stairs three at a time, shoved Rossi violently out of the way, and grabbed Valerie, pulling her tightly against his chest.
"Are you hurt?" he demanded, his hands trembling slightly as he checked her face, his voice rough and stripped of all armor.
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Valerie buried her face in his shoulder, gripping the lapels of his coat as the adrenaline finally crashed, leaving her shaking. "I'm okay. I'm okay."
Sebastian pulled her away just enough to look into her eyes, then pulled her back into a fierce, desperate embrace that left no room between them. Below them, Mara’s men secured the remaining conscious thugs, efficiently ending the war before dawn could even break.
