Chapter 6 - Mrs. Vance
Glass fell like rain from the skylights as eight tactical assault ropes dropped from the gloom above.
Before Moretti’s men could swing their rifles upward, flashbang grenades exploded in mid-air with blinding light and deafening booms. The warehouse descended into chaotic gunfire and smoke.
Elias didn't even flinch. Moving with terrifying precision, he drew his silver pistol from beneath his overcoat. Two swift shots echoed through the chaos; Moretti’s main bodyguards dropped to the floor before they could even draw their weapons.
Within thirty seconds, the smoke cleared.
Antonio and ten elite tactical guards, clad in unmarked black armor, held the perimeter with laser sights pinned to the remaining mercenaries, who instantly threw their weapons to the ground and raised their hands in terror.
Vincent Moretti sat sprawled on the concrete, his cane shattered, staring up at Elias in total disbelief.
“How... how did you bypass my perimeter guards?” Moretti gasped, blood leaking from a shrapnel wound on his shoulder.
“Your perimeter guards work for money, Vincent,” Elias said calmly, stepping over the fallen glass until he stood directly over the wounded mob boss. “My men work for me. I bought your security team three hours ago.”
Elias turned his gaze to the chair in the center of the room.
Marcus was cowering, weeping uncontrollably, soaking his pants in pure terror as the gunfire died down. He looked like a rat trapped in a spotlight.
Elias walked over, standing right in front of the man who had thrown me and my children into the freezing cold.
“Elias... please!” Marcus sobbed, reaching out with bound hands. “I was forced into this! Moretti made me do it! I love Ava! I love my daughters! I’ll be a good father, I swear to God—”
“Shut up,” Elias commanded softly.
The absolute coldness in Elias’s voice made Marcus snap his jaw shut instantly.
“You had a wife who survived a brutal labor to give you two healthy children,” Elias said, his dark eyes burning with deep disgust. “You had a woman who used her own body to keep them warm under a concrete bridge while you sat in a warm room counting your debts. You called them a curse.”
Elias reached down, taking Marcus by the collar of his shirt, pulling him up until their faces were inches apart.
“They are not a curse,” Elias whispered fiercely. “They are Vance’s children now. And you are nothing.”
Elias shoved him back onto the chair. He looked over at Antonio.
“Put Moretti and his men on a cargo ship bound for international waters. Strip them of every asset they own in New York.”
“And Marcus, boss?” Antonio asked, pointing his weapon at my ex-husband.
Marcus screamed, shaking violently. “No! Don't kill me! Please!”
Elias turned his back, walking slowly toward the warehouse exit.
“Death is too clean for him,” Elias said coldly. “Hand him over to Special Agent Richard at the FBI along with the signed confession of his domestic violence, child abandonment, and cartel collusion. Ensure he gets thirty years in federal prison without parole.”
“No! Elias! Ava!” Marcus shrieked as Antonio’s guards dragged him into the darkness. “Ava, tell him to stop! Ava!”
His pathetic screams faded into the cold night air as Elias stepped out of the warehouse into the falling snow.
He pulled out his phone, dialing the penthouse directly.
On the first ring, my anxious voice came through the speaker. “Elias? Are you okay?”
May you like
Hearing my voice brought a soft, genuine warmth to his hardened features.
“It’s done, Ava,” Elias said softly, watching his breath mist in the freezing night. “Moretti is gone. Marcus will never see the light of day again. I’m coming home.”
