Chapter 6 - THE CONFRONTATION
Julian let his gun drop to the Persian rug with a dull thud.
He didn't scream. He didn't beg. He slowly raised his hands, a bitter, vicious laugh rasping from his throat—the same laugh Mia had heard in the dark basement.
"You think you've won, Leo?" Julian sneered, kicking his gun toward the desk. "You think stopping me here changes anything? The Vance syndicate is already inside Pier 19. My men have control of the main gates right now!"
"Your men?" a sharp, clear voice spoke from the doorway.
The guards parted.
Elena walked into the study. She wore a tailored crimson suit, her head held high, her eyes burning with a fierce, unbreakable light. Behind her walked Mia, holding a tablet computer displaying live camera feeds from around the estate.
Julian’s jaw dropped. "You..."
"Your 'men' at the main gate were disarmed twenty minutes ago, Julian," Elena said coldly, stopping right beside me. "And the Vance lieutenants at Pier 19 were greeted by forty federal agents two hours ago, thanks to the wiretap logs Mia helped us record."
Julian’s eyes darted frantically between Elena and Mia. The arrogant puppet master was rapidly realizing that his entire network had been dismantled piece by piece while he was busy trying to force me to sign a piece of paper.
"You ruined everything," Julian snarled, his eyes locking onto Mia. "You stupid, dirty little maid! You should have starved in that hole!"
In a flash of desperate rage, Julian lunged forward.
He didn't reach for his gun—he reached for a heavy brass paperweight on my desk, intending to smash it into Mia’s face.
Before he could take two steps, I vaulted across the mahogany desk.
I grabbed Julian by his collar and drove him backward with full force. His back slammed into the floor-to-ceiling glass window, shattering the outer pane with a deafening crack.
I slammed him down onto the hardwood floor, my knee pinned against his chest, my hand clamped around his throat.
"You laid hands on a child's mother in my house," I growled, my voice vibrating with dark, furious rage. "You framed the woman I love. You sold out my brothers."
Julian gagged, clawing uselessly at my fingers, his eyes wide with the sudden realization that he was seconds away from death.
"Leo! Stop!"
Elena’s hand touched my shoulder, soft and warm.
"Don't kill him," she whispered gently. "He doesn't get a quick end in this room, Leo. Let him spend the rest of his life in a federal cell watching us rebuild everything he tried to destroy."
I looked down at Julian’s face—pale, terrified, pathetic.
Slowly, I eased my grip on his throat and stood up.
Marcus stepped forward with heavy steel handcuffs, dragging Julian to his feet and slamming him against the wall.
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"Take him away," I commanded. "Hand him over to the federal task force waiting at the bottom of the driveway."
As the guards dragged a cursing, furious Julian out of the room, the heavy mahogany doors clicked shut, leaving behind a profound, peaceful silence.
