Chapter 7 - The Blood on the Cold Stone
The gunshot was deafening inside the metal warehouse.
Lily screamed, her voice tearing through her throat as she watched Adrian stumble backward, his hand clamping over his chest as dark red blood began to bloom through his white shirt.
"Adrian!" Lily cried, fighting against the heavy ropes that bound her wrists to the iron chair, her fingers bleeding as she scraped against the rough hemp.
Serena let out a manic, hysterical laugh, raising the gun to fire a second time. "I killed the king! I killed the—"
Before she could finish the sentence, a sharp, single crack from a sniper rifle echoed from the high glass skylight of the warehouse. A red dot had appeared on Serena’s forehead a millisecond before the round struck. She fell instantly, her revolver clattering against the concrete, her eyes wide and empty as she joined the dust of the old rail yard.
Don Moretti was already on his knees, his hands behind his head as Marcus pressed the barrel of a shotgun against the back of his neck. The Moretti invasion was over in less than four minutes.
Adrian fell to one knee, his breathing ragged, his face turning pale as blood poured through his fingers. He didn't look at his wound; he dragged himself forward across the concrete floor, his knees scraping against the gravel until he reached Lily’s chair.
With a small tactical knife he kept in his boot, his hands shaking violently, Adrian sliced through the ropes binding her wrists.
The moment her hands were free, Lily threw herself out of the chair and onto the floor beside him, her hands pressing over his chest, trying to stop the bright red flow. "No, no, no! Adrian, look at me! Stay with me! You can't leave me here!"
Adrian let out a weak, coughing laugh, his hand reaching up to touch her face, his bloody thumb leaving a dark smear against her skin. "I told you... you don't owe me a dime, Lily... you're free..."
"I don't want to be free!" Lily sobbed, her tears falling onto his chest, mixing with his blood. "I want you! Please, Adrian, stay!"
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Marcus rushed over, his tactical medic kit already open. "Adrian, hold on! The ambulance is two minutes out! Don't you dare close your eyes!"
As the flashing red lights of the emergency vehicles filled the warehouse, reflecting off the rusted iron and the cold stone, Lily held Adrian’s head in her lap, her voice a continuous, desperate prayer against the Chicago night.
