Chapter 8 - The Price of Redemption
BANG!
The shot echoed through the warehouse like a cannon blast!
Damian didn't flinch. He took the bullet directly in his shoulder, the heavy impact throwing him back a step, blood erupting over his white shirt!
"Damian!" Clara screamed in agony!
Thomas raised the gun again, aiming for Damian’s head with a crazed smile. "Goodbye, Conti—"
Before Thomas could pull the trigger a second time, Damian lunged forward with inhuman speed!
Ignoring the bullet in his shoulder, Damian closed the distance in a fraction of a second, grabbing Thomas’s wrist and snapping it back with a violent CRACK!
Thomas screamed as the revolver clattered to the floor!
Damian grabbed Thomas by his throat, lifting the grown man three feet off the ground with one arm, his eyes burning with a terrifying, demonic fury!
"You threatened my daughter," Damian growled into Thomas’s face.
With a powerful, violent heave, Damian threw Thomas through the rusted railing of the terrace, sending the traitor plummeting fifty feet down into the dark, churning waters of the Hudson River below!
Silence returned to the warehouse.
Damian swayed on his feet, holding his bleeding shoulder, his breathing heavy and ragged.
Clara broke free of her ropes, rushing across the concrete floor, catching Damian just as his knees buckled!
"Damian! Oh God, Damian!" Clara sobbed, pressing her hands over his bleeding wound, pulling his head into her lap.
Little Maya ran up, her boots squeaking on the wet concrete, dropping to her knees beside him, wrapping her tiny arms around his neck. "Mister Damian! Don't sleep! Please don't sleep!"
Damian looked up at Clara, then at Maya. He reached into his breast pocket with his uninjured hand, pulling out the small, wet yellow rubber glove he had rescued from the storm drain.
He placed it gently into Maya’s tiny hands.
"I promised... I’d bring it back..." Damian rasped out, a soft, beautiful smile touching his lips despite the pain.
"You saved us," Clara sobbed, kissing his forehead, his cheeks, his lips. "You saved us, my love."
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Damian reached up, gently wiping a tear from Clara’s face. "I didn't save you, Clara... you saved me."
Nico and the medics burst through the side doors, rushing toward them with stretchers, but for Damian, sitting on the cold concrete surrounded by the rain and the river, he was already completely safe. He was home.
