Chapter 15 - The Unbroken Circle
Julian’s hand froze an inch before dropping the hammer.
Through the roaring adrenaline in his ears, Elena’s voice cut through the intercom like cold water. He slowly shifted his gaze upward, looking into the wide-angle camera lens mounted beneath the smoke detector.
He saw the tiny reflection of his daughter’s eyes staring back at him through the lens.
Salvatore lay shivering on the floor beneath him, sobbing, bleeding onto the white carpet. The silence in the ruined living room stretched for ten agonizing seconds, broken only by the hum of the ventilation fans clearing the gunpowder smoke.
Julian slowly, deliberately eased the hammer of the revolver back down.
He didn't lower the gun, but he stepped back, letting out a long, ragged breath that misted in the cold air entering through the bullet perforations in the shutters.
""Get up, Salvatore,"" Julian rasped, his voice hollow with exhaustion.
Salvatore blinked through his bloodied eyes, stunned to still be breathing. ""What?""
""Get up, take your dead, and leave this state,"" Julian said, throwing the empty revolver onto the floor beside the enforcer. ""Tell the families that Julian Vance is dead. Tell them I burned in this house. Take the docks. Take the shipping lines. Take every rusted warehouse from here to Boston.""
Salvatore stared at him, bewildered. ""You're... giving it up?""
Julian turned his back on him, walking toward the concealed elevator that led down to the subterranean vault. ""If I ever see your face, or the face of anyone who knows my name, within a hundred miles of this river, I won't just kill you, Salvatore. I will tear down everything you love while you watch. Now get out.""
Julian didn't look back to see if Salvatore complied. He hit the access code on the elevator pad, descending into the belly of the earth.
When the elevator doors slid open into the reinforced safe room, Julian stood leaning against the wall, his face pale from blood loss, his left arm hanging limp at his side. He looked stripped of all power, stripped of his empire, stripped of his name.
Elena walked slowly toward him. She didn't shout. She didn't cry. She reached out, taking his cold, trembling right hand into hers.
Lily peeked around her mother's hip, her thumb tucked into her mouth, looking up at the towering man whose charcoal coat was ruined and gone.
""Are you staying now?"" Lily whispered.
Julian sank to his knees on the rubber floor, his eyes watering as he looked up at the tiny girl with his mother’s eyes.
""If your mama lets me,"" Julian choked out, his voice breaking entirely.
May you like
Elena looked down at him, her fingers tightening around his scarred knuckles, the weight of the last five years finally lifting like morning fog over the Hudson.
""Only,"" Elena said softly, a tired, beautiful smile breaking across her lips, ""if you learn how to wash dishes."""
