Chapter 3 - The Secret in the SafeI stopped ten paces away, my Sig Sauer held low at my side, my posture broad, six-foot-four, and completely unyielding.
"Put the gun down, Victor," I commanded softly.
"Put the gun down?" Victor laughed—a dry, rasping sound that echoed through the empty warehouse. "Do you have any idea what this little girl is sitting on, Declan? Do you have any idea why your father kept her hidden in Queens for fifteen years while letting her work sixteen-hour shifts at a diner?!"
Clary looked up at Victor in pure, terrified confusion, tears tracking down her bruised cheeks. "What... what are you talking about? My mother was an accountant! She died in a car accident!"
"Your mother didn't die in a car accident, sweet pea," Victor sneered, tapping the gun barrel against her temple. "Your mother was shot in the back by your father’s orders because she refused to give up the encryption keys to the offshore bearer bonds! And your father... noble Don Declan Sr.... placed you in that Queens apartment to ensure the keys were never retrieved!"
"He's lying, Clary," I cut in, my baritone steady as iron, my eyes locked onto Victor's trigger finger. "Our father gave his life to protect you from him."
Victor’s smile vanished, replaced by an ugly, venomous scowl. "He died a coward! He hid forty million dollars in bearer bonds under this very floorboard, linked directly to her biometric print! All I need is her thumbprint on this scanner, and I walk away with the entire Knox fortune!"
Victor reached into his coat, pulling out a sleek, digital biometric reader wired to a portable satellite drive. He grabbed Clary's trembling, bruised right hand, forcing her thumb toward the glass scanner.
"Do it, girl!" Victor growled, pressing the revolver harder against her head. "Or I blow your brains across this concrete right in front of your big brother!"
Clary screamed, pulling her hand back with all her strength.
"VICTOR!" I roared.
In a fraction of a second, before Victor could react, I raised my Sig Sauer and fired two rapid shots.
CRACK! CRACK!
The heavy hollow-point rounds didn't hit Victor's head—they struck the steel suspension cable holding the five-hundred-pound halogen lamp directly above his head.
CREAK-SNAP!
May you like
The massive iron light fixture plummeted down, crashing flat onto the concrete floor with a deafening BOOM, showering the area in sparks, shattering glass, and heavy iron debris.
Victor shrieked in surprise, staggering backward as blinding white sparks exploded around him, losing his grip on Clary’s chair.
Related Stories
