Chapter 9 - The Reckoning
Brielle cornered Julian Vance at the edge of the storm-swept wooden dock.
Behind him, the dark, churning waters of the Calumet River washed against the timber posts. Rain drenched her clothes, plastering her hair to her face, but her grip on her weapon remained rock-solid.
Julian backed away until his heels hit the edge of the pier. He drew a long hunting knife with his left hand, his face twisted in a mask of bloody, desperation-driven rage.
"You think you're a hero, girl?" Julian spat, coughing up blood. "You're nothing! Just a gutter rat who got lucky!"
"Where is Lily?" Brielle walked toward him step by step, her voice dropping into a register colder than the freezing rain. "Tell me where my sister is, or you don't leave this dock alive."
Julian laughed—a harsh, wet, hysterical sound. "Lily? The girl from Ashland Avenue? I sold her to a wealthy family in Canada eleven years ago! She was raised in luxury while you rotted in the dirt! She doesn't even remember your name!"
The words hit Brielle like a physical blow, but instead of breaking her, they shattered the final chains of her trauma. She was alive. Lily hadn't been murdered in the dark; she had been taken, but she was alive out there somewhere in the world.
"Thank you," Brielle whispered.
Julian lunged forward, swinging his hunting knife in a deadly arc aimed at her throat.
Brielle didn't back down. She stepped inside his guard, using the exact joint-lock technique Viktor had taught her. She caught his wrist, twisted it until the bone snapped, and slammed her knee directly into his chest.
As Julian gasped for air, Brielle disarmed him, spun him around, and forced him onto his knees at the edge of the dock.
She pressed the barrel of her gun against the base of his skull.
"Please!" Julian whimpered, his bravado instantly evaporating as he felt the cold steel against his skin. "I can give you names! I can give you the adoption papers! Don't kill me!"
Heavy footsteps sounded behind her. Matteo emerged from the dark tunnel, leaning heavily on a steel support post, bleeding but alive. He watched her silently, leaving the judgment entirely in her hands.
Brielle looked down at the trembling man who had caused eleven years of nightmare and agony. Her finger rested on the trigger. She had the power to end him right here, to wash away her blood debt in the dark river water.
Slowly, Brielle lowered her weapon.
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"Death is too quick for you, Julian," Brielle said quietly. "You're going to spend the rest of your life in a supermax prison cell, watching Matteo dismantle every single piece of your legacy."
She brought the butt of her pistol down hard behind his ear, knocking him cold into the rain-slicked wood.
