Chapter 5 - The Bloodline Broken
Dominic’s jaw clenched so hard the muscles jumped beneath his skin. "You touch my son, and I will tear your heart out with my bare hands."
"You don't have a choice, Mercer!" Gideon sneered. "Hand Seraphina over NOW, or I press the button!"
I stepped out from behind Dominic.
I pulled down my hood, letting the dim yellow warehouse light catch my face. I looked directly at my cousin—the boy I had grown up with in the cold training halls of Zurich, the monster who had spent his life serving a cruel father.
"Gideon," I said softly, stepping toward him with my hands held open.
"Seraphina! STOP!" Dominic bellowed behind me, trying to grab my arm, but I pushed his hand away.
"It’s okay, Dominic," I whispered, glancing back at him with a calm, reassuring smile. "It ends tonight."
I took three slow steps toward Gideon.
Gideon’s grin widened in absolute triumph. "That's a good girl. Come back to the family, Seraphina. You were never meant to clean floors for a common thug."
"You're right, Gideon," I said, stopping five feet away from him. "I was never meant to clean floors. But you made one critical mistake."
Gideon’s brow furrowed. "What mistake?"
"You assumed I was the asset," I whispered.
I raised my right hand, lifting my thumb to press a tiny wireless transmitter hidden inside my black glove.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Four sudden, synchronized gunshots shattered the night air from the surrounding rooftops!
The four red laser sights painted across Dominic’s chest vanished instantly. High above the warehouse rafters, four bodies crashed through the glass skylights, falling fifty feet to the concrete floor below!
Gideon’s snipers were dead.
Gideon stared in absolute, paralyzing horror at the fallen bodies of his men. "WHAT?! HOW?!"
"Dominic didn't come here to negotiate, Gideon," I said, my voice turning into razor-sharp steel. "And my team spent the last three hours sweeping Blackthorne House. Your thermite team was eliminated forty minutes ago."
Before Gideon could process the betrayal, I lunged forward!
In one fluid, deadly movement I had practiced ten thousand times as a child, I whipped the 9mm pistol from my shoulder holster!
CRACK!
I shot the detonator straight out of Gideon’s hand! The plastic device shattered into a hundred harmless pieces against the concrete!
"FIRE!" Gideon screamed frantically to his mercenaries!
A chaotic, deafening firefight erupted inside the warehouse! Dominic and his ten security officers opened fire with heavy assault rifles, tearing through Gideon’s mercenary squad in a hail of lead!
Gideon turned and sprinted toward his black sedan, pulling his own pistol from his coat.
I ran after him, stepping through the gunfire with absolute, cold focus.
Gideon reached his car door, turning around to fire at me, but I slid across the hood of a nearby vehicle, kicking his wrist with brutal force! His gun flew across the floor.
Gideon spun, drawing a combat knife, slashing wildly at my face! "YOU TRAITOROUS BITCH!"
I leaned back, dodging the blade by inches. I grabbed his forearm, twisted his wrist until the bone popped, and smashed my elbow directly into his nose!
Gideon crashed onto his back, gasping for air, blood pouring from his shattered face.
I stepped over him, holding my 9mm pistol aimed directly between his cold steel-blue eyes.
"Seraphina... please..." Gideon choked out, his arrogance completely gone, replaced by frantic, weeping terror. "We're family... we share the same blood... Uncle Vance will forgive you... just let me go..."
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"The Vance bloodline died eight years ago, Gideon," I said quietly, my finger tightening on the trigger. "My name is Mara Ellis. And I belong to Blackthorne House."
BANG.
