Chapter 8 - Justice in the Rain
We found Julian on the rear helipad. His escape route was blocked; Marco’s men had already disabled the helicopter's rotors.
Julian stood near the edge of the pad, drenched in rain, holding a briefcase packed with stolen bearer bonds and foreign currency. Surrounded on all sides by armed Valente enforcers, he had nowhere left to run.
Marco walked onto the pad slowly, deliberately, the rain plastering his hair to his forehead. I stood a few yards behind him, wrapped in a heavy tactical jacket one of Marco's men had provided.
"Thirty years, Julian," Marco said, his voice carrying clearly over the sound of wind and rain. "My father trusted you. I trusted you with my life. I trusted you with my children."
Julian backed away until his heels hit the low safety perimeter of the pad. His suave demeanor had completely shattered; his hair was disheveled, his eyes wild with desperation.
"She’s lying to you, Marco!" Julian shouted, pointing a trembling finger at me. "She’s a nobody! A gold-digger trying to divide this family! I built this empire with your father!"
"She didn't tell me, Julian," Marco said softly, raising his pistol with terrifying calm. "My six-year-old son did. He remembered your pin. He remembered you standing over his mother's sabotaged car."
Julian’s face went chalk-white. "Marco... please. It was business! Isabella was going to destroy everything! She was going to force you out of the syndicate!"
"She was my wife," Marco roared, his voice thunderous, echoing off the stone walls of the mansion. "She was the mother of my children!"
"If you kill me, Moretti will destroy you!" Julian begged, sinking to his knees on the wet concrete, dropping his briefcase. "I have the codes to the offshore accounts! You need me!"
Marco stepped up to Julian, placing the cold barrel of his gun directly against Julian’s forehead.
"I don't need a snake in my house," Marco said quietly.
BANG.
The gunshot echoed into the stormy night. Julian collapsed onto the helipad, motionless.
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Marco stood over the body for a long moment, his shoulders trembling slightly as the burden of an eighteen-month lie finally broke. He lowered his weapon, turned around, and walked toward me.
Without a word, I stepped forward and wrapped my arms around his waist. Marco closed his eyes, resting his forehead against my shoulder, letting out a long, shuddering breath as the rain washed away the blood and the shadows of the past.
