Chapter 9 - The Final Strike
Everything happened in a fraction of a second.
Marcus Vance raised his weapon, aiming directly at Ethan’s chest.
"NO!" Grace shrieked, throwing her body in front of her son.
Before Vance’s finger could pull the trigger, Adrian moved with terrifying, superhuman speed. He didn't just step in front of Grace and Ethan; he launched himself off the dais like a black panther.
CRACK!
A shot rang out, but the bullet didn't hit Grace or Ethan. It slammed into the heavy oak wall behind the throne.
Adrian tackled Marcus Vance to the polished marble floor with a deafening crash.
Vance’s revolver skidded across the floor, stopping right at Julian’s feet.
The entire hall erupted into chaos. Vance’s four enforcers drew their weapons, but within two seconds, twenty red laser dots appeared on their chests as Adrian’s tactical guards trained their rifles on them from the upper balconies.
"DON'T MOVE!" Julian bellowed, his gun pressed against the head of Vance’s lead enforcer.
On the floor, Adrian stood up slowly. He pulled Marcus Vance up by his collar with one arm, slamming him violently against a stone pillar.
Vance gasped for air, his face turning purple, his feet dangling two inches off the ground.
"You... you can't... kill me here..." Vance choked out, blood trickling from his lip. "The Council... the Council won't allow—"
"The Council doesn't run this house, Marcus," Adrian whispered, his voice dropping into a register of pure, unadulterated death. "I do."
Adrian turned his head slightly, looking at Julian. "Take Mr. Vance and his men down to the wine cellar. Ensure they are handed over to the Federal Bureau of Investigation alongside the financial ledgers detailing their human trafficking network in Miami."
Vance’s eyes went wide with pure terror. "The FBI?! You're giving me to the feds?!"
"Death is too clean for you, Marcus," Adrian said coldly, dropping Vance onto the floor like a sack of trash. "You will spend the rest of your natural life in a supermax prison cell in Colorado, watching my son inherit everything you tried to steal."
Tactical guards dragged the screaming, cursing Vance out of the hall, followed by his disarmed enforcers.
The Great Hall fell completely silent once more.
Adrian turned around, adjusting his cuffs, his breathing completely calm. He walked back to the dais where Grace was holding a trembling Ethan tightly in her arms.
Adrian knelt beside them, pulling both of them into his powerful arms.
"It's over," Adrian whispered, his voice trembling slightly with emotion as he held them close. "It's finally over."
Ethan looked up from Grace’s shoulder, his small hands clutching Adrian’s lapels. "Dad? Are we going to stay here now?"
Adrian looked at Grace, his silver eyes filled with an unspoken question, a plea for forgiveness, and a promise of a new future.
May you like
Grace looked around the grand hall, then at the man who had taken a bullet's path to protect her and her son. The terror that had ruled her life for seven years had finally dissolved into dust.
"Yes, Ethan," Grace whispered, a beautiful, genuine smile breaking across her face as she kissed Adrian’s cheek. "We're staying home."
