CHAPTER 22
The tension in the hallway was suffocating, the air thick with unspoken emotions and unrelenting rage. I stood frozen, caught between three paths, each with a face and a history.
To my left was Marco Salvani, my ex- husband, the man whose family destroyed mine. His father took my mother’s life, and though I had ended his father’s reign of terror, the wounds Marco left in my heart still festered. His dark eyes locked on mine, unreadable but unrelenting.
To my right, Gregor Fitzburg. The man was a monster, a corrupt businessman who didn’t hesitate to crush lives under the weight of his greed. He was also the one who had hurt Blake. The thought of Blake lying in a pool of his own blood because of this man made my vision blur with rage.
And then, in the corner of my eye, Daniel. My closest ally, the man who always had
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my back. For a moment, as our eyes met, no words were spoken, but something passed between us–an understanding, a plan.
I knew what I had to do.
I moved quickly, instinct taking over as I aimed and fired at Gregor Fitzburg. The shot was clean, hitting him square in the chest. He stumbled back, his body collapsing to the floor, lifeless.
At the same moment, Daniel sprang into action, tackling Marco Salvani to the ground. Marco struggled, his strength formidable, but Daniel was faster. Before Marco could make another move, Daniel had him handcuffed, his wrists bound tightly behind his back.
“Not so untouchable now, are we, Salvani?” Daniel sneered, keeping a firm grip on Marco’s shoulder.
I turned to Marco, my heart pounding as I approached him. The sight of him.
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subdued, vulnerable, only fueled my anger.
“You always thought you were above it all,” I said, my voice steady but cold. “But look at you now. You‘ re just as pathetic as your father.”
Marcos lips twisted into a smirk. “And you think you‘ re any better? You‘ re no different from us, Daphne. A killer hiding
behind excuses.”
I leaned closed, my gaze never wavering. “I’m not like you. I don’t kill for power or greed. I kill for justice, for the people destroyed by your father and the cruel men like him.”
Marco chuckled, shaking his head.
“Justice? You‘ re delusional. Keep telling yourself that if it helps you sleep at night.”
I didn’t respond. Instead, I dipped my fingers into Gregor‘ s blood pooling on the floor. Slowly, deliberately, I scrawled three. words on the wall.
*JUSTICE. HONOR. PROTECTION*
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Marco watched me with a mixture of amusement and disdain. “Dramatic, as always,” he said.
1 ignored him and turned to Daniel. “We’re done here. Let’s go.”
Daniel nodded, pulling Marco to his feet. I took one last look at the chaos we’d left behind, then followed Daniel out of the bar.
The ride back to headquarters was silent, tension hanging in the air like a storm cloud. When we arrived, the atmosphere was no less volatile.
Sue was waiting for us. The moment I stepped through the door, she slapped me hard across the face.
“What the hell were you thinking,
Daphne?” she shouted, her voice trembling with anger. “You and your personal vendettas have put us all in danger! Blake is fighting for his life because of you!”
I pressed a hand to my stinging cheek, guilt
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washing over me as I glanced at Blake. He lay on a makeshift operating table, his face. pale, his chest heaving with shallow breaths. Calix, our resident medic, worked frantically to remove the bullet lodged in
his chest.
“I’m sorry,” I whispered, my voice barely audible.
“Sorry? Sorry doesn‘ t cut it!” Sue’s voice cracked. “He trusted you, we trusted you, and you-”
“Enough, Sue,” Daniel barked, his tone sharp.
Sue turned on him, her eyes blazing. “Don’t you dare defend her! She’s reckless, and you keep enabling her! Someone has to hold her accountable!”
“And yelling at her while Blake is bleeding out is helping how, exactly?” Daniel shot
back.
The two of them continued to argue, their
voices echoed in the hall with their
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slela isations and defenses, I couldn’t take
operatamore.
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“I shouted, silencing the room. I ed my back on them, my shoulders. y with the weight of my choices. “I
to be alone.”
ve thee the
iel
spettespere reached for my arm, but I pulled
‘Please, Daniel. Let me go.”
moesn‘ to
ed usted you
ctantly, he nodded, and I walked out, fing the fact that I was a wanted
ian stepping into the open.
Daniel be
le aimlessly, the cool night air biting at
kin. I didn’t know where I was going, n him. heidn’t care. I needed to escape the dare defend to find a moment of peace amidst 1 you keeperm I had created.
s to hold her
tually, I found myself at an old
at her whitinent park. The once–bright lights. g how, extimmed, the laughter of families.
d by an eerie silence. I parked the and wandered through the empty s, memories of my childhood
hern continu
ed in the hai
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flashing before me.
I sat on a bench near the carousel, the faint melody of its music box playing in the distance. My mother used to bring me to amusement parks in Edinburgh, where life had been simpler, happier.
I closed my eyes, letting the memories wash over me. For a moment, I wished I could turn back time, to a world where innocence wasn‘ t shattered and justice. didn’t come with blood.
But wishes didn’t change reality.
As the first hint of dawn painted the sky, I knew I couldn’t stay here forever. There was still work to be done, battles to fight, and lives to protect.
I stood, steeling myself for what lay ahead.
