Chapter 8 - Nadia Walked Into the Warehouse WillinglyThe warehouse stood beside the river.
Of course it did.
Julian hated the symmetry.
Same industrial district.
Same black water.
Same kind of loading platform from which Adrian had fallen fourteen years earlier.
“He chose it deliberately,” Julian said.
Nadia adjusted the wire beneath her blouse.
“To get inside your head.”
“It’s working.”
She looked at him.
“Then get out of your head.”
Julian almost smiled.
Nadia touched his face.
It was the first affectionate gesture she had initiated since learning he had hidden her identity.
“You’re coming back,” he said.
“So are you.”
“I’m serious.”
“So am I.”
Evelyn approached.
She wore a transmitter too.
Rafael’s team surrounded the area.
Federal agents waited three blocks away.
That had been Evelyn’s condition.
No mafia solution.
No bodies disappearing.
Evidence.
Arrests.
Exposure.
Julian had agreed.
Reluctantly.
Nadia and Evelyn entered alone.
Claire sat tied to a chair.
Her son beside her.
And Adrian Voss stood beneath a hanging industrial lamp.
Seventy.
Maybe older.
Tall despite age.
Silver hair.
Julian’s eyes.
Nadia understood immediately why Julian had become still when he heard his father’s voice.
Adrian looked at Evelyn.
“Hello, Evie.”
Evelyn’s face filled with hatred.
“You should have drowned.”
“So should many men.”
He looked at Nadia.
“And there she is.”
Nadia said nothing.
“You’re prettier than Daniel.”
Her hands curled.
Adrian smiled.
“There.”
“What?”
“That anger.”
He approached.
“Your mother always had it too.”
“Release Claire and her son.”
“You think you’re negotiating?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because if you kill us, you never get the ledger.”
Adrian stopped.
Good.
Nadia continued.
“My mother doesn’t know the phrase.”
“I know.”
“But I do.”
Evelyn looked at her.
So did Adrian.
“You remember?”
“Yes.”
Nadia was lying.
She had fragments.
Nothing complete.
But Adrian didn’t know that.
“What is it?”
“Release them.”
Adrian laughed.
“You have courage.”
“I had an abusive boyfriend for three years. I learned that men who need to terrify women are usually less powerful than they pretend.”
Adrian’s smile vanished.
Claire stared.
Evelyn looked proud.
Adrian stepped close enough that Nadia smelled expensive cologne.
“You think I’m Colton Reeve?”
“No.”
Nadia held his gaze.
“Colton was stupid.”
A pause.
“You’re worse.”
Adrian struck her.
Hard.
Nadia fell.
Outside, Julian heard it through the wire.
He moved.
Rafael caught him.
“Not yet.”
“He touched her.”
“I know.”
“Move.”
“If you go now, Claire dies.”
Julian looked murderous.
Rafael tightened his grip.
“Nadia knew he might hit her.”
“That doesn’t mean I stand here.”
“It means you trust her.”
Inside, Nadia tasted blood.
She stood.
Adrian watched.
“You see?” he said. “Fear teaches.”
Nadia wiped her lip.
“No.”
She smiled.
“Fear reveals.”
Adrian frowned.
“It revealed where your second gun is.”
His hand moved instinctively toward his ankle.
The microphone caught everything.
Nadia continued.
“It revealed that the man behind Claire checks the eastern door every twenty seconds.”
The guard froze.
“And it revealed that you keep looking at the loading platform whenever Julian’s name comes up.”
Adrian’s face changed.
“You’re afraid of him.”
“I made him.”
“No.”
Nadia stepped closer.
“You hurt him.”
Outside, Julian stopped struggling.
He listened.
“There’s a difference,” Nadia said.
Adrian’s face darkened.
“You know nothing about my son.”
“I know he asks before touching me.”
Silence.
“I know he saved the family of a man who betrayed him.”
Paul.
“I know he had eighteen years to become you.”
Nadia stared directly into Adrian’s eyes.
“And failed.”
Adrian drew his gun.
That was the signal.
Lights died.
Gunfire erupted.
Not wild.
Controlled.
Rafael’s men breached the eastern door.
Federal agents entered from the south.
Nadia dropped.
Evelyn crawled toward Claire.
Julian came through darkness like something born inside it.
He found Nadia.
“Are you hit?”
“No.”
“Your face—”
“Later.”
A gunshot.
Adrian disappeared onto the loading platform.
Julian followed.
“Julian!”
Nadia ran after him.
Adrian stood at the edge.
Gun raised.
Julian faced him.
Fourteen years collapsed.
“Again?” Adrian laughed.
Julian lifted his weapon.
“Drop it.”
“You couldn’t kill me properly the first time.”
“I was twenty-six.”
“And weak.”
“No.”
Julian’s voice was calm.
“I was afraid.”
Adrian smiled.
“Same thing.”
“No.”
Julian lowered his gun.
Adrian blinked.
Julian continued.
“You taught me fear was weakness.”
He looked toward Nadia.
“You were wrong.”
Adrian aimed at Nadia.
Julian moved.
The shot fired.
Nadia screamed.
Julian hit the ground.
Adrian fired again.
Rafael returned fire.
Adrian staggered.
His heel slipped on the wet steel edge.
For one suspended second, he stood exactly where he had fourteen years earlier.
Then he fell.
This time, federal agents watched him hit the lower dock.
Alive.
Wounded.
Surrounded.
Nadia dropped beside Julian.
Blood spread across his shirt.
“No.”
He looked at her.
“Nadia.”
“No.”
“It’s my shoulder.”
She ripped his jacket open.
The bullet had passed through high.
Painful.
Bloody.
Not fatal.
She started laughing and crying simultaneously.
“You idiot.”
“I object.”
“You jumped in front of a bullet.”
“He aimed at you.”
“That doesn’t make it less idiotic.”
Julian smiled weakly.
“Can we argue after the ambulance?”
She kissed him.
Hard.
For the first time since everything began.
When she pulled away, Julian looked stunned.
“That wasn’t forgiveness,” she said.
“Understood.”
May you like
“Good.”
Then she kissed him again.
