Chapter 8 - The Battle for Pine Ridge
The nursery hallway was choked with tension, the air cold and thick with the metallic smell of danger.
Drew looked at the barrel of the revolver pointed at his heart, then down at Sarah, who was trembling violently in his arms, sobbing quietly.
"Okay, Kane," Drew said slowly, raising his free hand in a gesture of surrender, keeping his voice calm and low to stall for every precious second. "Just don't hurt the kids. Put the gun down, and I'll sign whatever you want."
Kane chuckled arrogantly, taking two steps forward, holding out the legal papers. "Smart man. I knew you were a businessman at heart."
As Kane stepped into arm's reach to hand over the pen, Drew executed a move he had learned years ago during his military service before taking over his family's company.
Instead of reaching for the pen, Drew dropped Sarah behind him, ducked beneath the gun barrel, and drove his shoulder hard into Marcus Kane’s midsection with explosive force.
BANG!
The revolver discharged into the ceiling, showering them in plaster and dust.
Kane slammed against the wall with a heavy thud, dropping the gun onto the carpeted floor.
"Get him!" Kane roared, clutching his ribs.
The three tactical thugs lunged forward at once. Drew spun around, driving a brutal right hook into the cheekbone of the first guard, sending him crashing into the decorative hallway table. The second guard tackled Drew around the waist, forcing him onto the floor, while the third guard reached for the fallen revolver.
"SARAH! RUN!" Drew shouted, struggling against the guard pinning his arms.
Sarah didn't run away. She saw the third guard reaching for the gun near the nursery door.
Driven by a sudden, fierce rush of bravery to protect her family, Sarah grabbed a heavy bronze vase from the hallway stand and slammed it with all her strength against the guard's knee.
The guard let out a howl of pain, dropping to his hands and knees.
That brief distraction gave Drew the split second he needed. He drove his elbow backward into the ribs of the guard pinning him, flipped over, and delivered a devastating kick to the man's jaw, knocking him cold.
Drew scrambled across the floor, reaching the revolver just as Marcus Kane lunged for it.
Drew grabbed the gun, rolled onto his back, and pointed the weapon straight at Marcus Kane’s forehead.
"DON'T MOVE!" Drew roared, his voice echoing through the mansion like thunder.
Kane froze, his face pale, sweating profusely, staring down the barrel of his own gun.
Behind them, the heavy thud of tactical boots echoed up the grand staircase.
"STATE POLICE! DROP YOUR WEAPONS!"
A dozen state troopers, led by Detective Miller and Julian Vance—who had realized the power outage was a security breach and alerted the state tactical unit via satellite phone—flooded the hallway, their assault rifles trained directly on Kane and his surviving guards.
Julian Vance rushed up the stairs, seeing Drew holding the gun on Kane, with Sarah standing heroically beside him.
"Drew!" Julian gasped, rushing over. "Are you alright?!"
"We're fine," Drew said, his voice cold as ice as he slowly stood up, keeping the weapon trained on Kane until the state troopers wrestled Kane to the floor and snapped heavy steel handcuffs around his wrists.
Marcus Kane lay on the floor, his face pressed against the carpet, screaming incoherently: "You can't do this to me! I am Marcus Kane! I own this city!"
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Drew looked down at the ruined, pathetic man with utter contempt.
"You don't own anything anymore, Kane," Drew said. "Take him away."
