Chapter 2 - The Blood in the CourtyardAt 2:15 AM, a heavy, freezing rain swept across the concrete towers of Manhattan, battering the high glass walls of the Vance Estate in Upper East Side.
Inside the private, cobblestone courtyard below the penthouse, three black SUVs belonging to Julian Miller screeched to a stop near the fountain.
Julian Miller stepped out of the lead vehicle wearing an expensive leather coat, holding a heavy silver revolver. His face was flushed with frantic, arrogant rage, his eyes wild as he looked up at the towering penthouse where I was being kept. Flanking him were eighteen armed mercenaries wearing Moretti syndicate colors.
"Vance!" Julian roared into the night air, his voice echoing off the stone walls. "Bring my wife and my daughters down here! You have no legal standing to hold my family! I am taking what is mine!"
The heavy iron security gates at the rear of the courtyard slammed shut with a thunderous, mechanical CLANG!
The high-power halogen floodlights mounted around the perimeter snapped on simultaneously, blinding Julian and his eighteen mercenaries in a sea of brilliant white light.
Standing near the marble fountain, completely unbothered by the freezing rain, wearing his dark charcoal suit, flanked by thirty heavily armed Vance operators carrying suppressed weapons, was Elias.
Julian froze, his jaw sagging open as the reality of his trap clicked inside his mind. "Vance...! This is a domestic matter! She is my legal wife! Under the city charter—"
"You left a mother and two newborn infants to freeze under a river overpass in ten-degree weather, Julian," Elias interrupted.
His baritone was smooth, cool, and dropped into an octave so terrifyingly quiet that even the rain seemed to fall softer around him.
Elias took three slow, deliberate steps toward Julian, his hands tucked casually into his suit coat pockets, his posture relaxed and completely devoid of fear.
"You called two innocent baby girls a curse," Elias continued, stopping five feet from the barrel of Julian's shaking revolver. "You let your men strike her back with leather belts until her skin tore. And then you walked back into your heated apartment to drink scotch."
Julian’s hand trembled violently, the silver revolver shaking against the cold rain. "She... she failed her duty! She was supposed to give me a son to secure my corporate seat! She was worthless!"
THWIP!
A single muffled shot rang out from the shadow of the second-floor balcony.
The silver revolver in Julian’s hand exploded into a shower of twisted metal and sparks, severing his right index finger. Julian let out a high-pitched, pathetic shriek, collapsing onto his knees flat on the wet cobblestones, clutching his bloody hand against his chest.
The eighteen Moretti mercenaries instantly dropped their weapons to the pavement, raising their hands in total, terrified surrender as thirty red laser sights locked onto their chests.
Elias walked up to Julian, looking down at his groveling, weeping frame with a look of chilling, absolute disdain. He reached into his coat, pulled out a thick legal document, and tossed it flat onto the wet pavement in front of Julian’s face.
"That is an irrevocable emergency divorce petition and full parental surrender agreement, Julian," Elias revealed deadpan. "You are signing over every legal, personal, and financial claim to Ava and her daughters. And if your pen hesitates for even one second..."
May you like
Elias leaned down until his dark eyes were inches from Julian’s pale, sweat-streaked face.
"...my operators will turn you over to the federal prosecutors waiting outside with the financial ledger Ava left in my safe."
Related Stories
