Chapter 15 - The Decree of the Innocent
The wind whipped across the exposed ridge, carrying the scent of smoke and burning pine. Clara backed toward the edge of the cliff, the drop below falling hundreds of feet into the raging mountain river. She had no weapon; the carbine had been lost in the tunnel collapse. There was only her body, shielding Leo against the cold steel of David's gun.
""You're a monster,"" Clara spat, her voice shaking with hatred. ""He trusted you. He called you dad.""
David smiled thinly, a grotesque imitation of the gentle suburban father he had played for a year. ""He's a corporate liability, Clara. Nothing personal. Marcus Reyes built his empire on corpses; it's only fitting it ends with one more. Put him on the ground and step away. I’ll make it quick for you.""
David raised the revolver, stepping forward, his finger tightening on the trigger.
In that instant, Leo did something that froze David in his tracks.
The ten-month-old child did not bury his head. He did not flinch. Leo pushed himself away from Clara’s shoulder, turning his small face directly toward the barrel of the gun. His eyes were wide, clear, and glowing with an impossible, icy focus.
Slowly, deliberately, Leo extended his tiny arm, pointing his small index finger directly at David’s forehead—the exact same gesture he had made at the milk on the kitchen counter. A single, low, authoritative vocalization rumbled from his throat.
David’s smile vanished, replaced by an irrational, creeping dread. ""What... what is he doing?""
Before David could squeeze the trigger, a blood-soaked hand erupted from the brush at the edge of the cliff behind him.
Jax—burned, bleeding, but unstoppable—locked his iron grip around David’s ankle, violently yanking him backward. David’s shot went wild into the night sky as he screamed, his balance lost. Jax pulled with the last ounce of his fading life, dragging David over the crumbling edge of the cliff into the churning abyss below.
A single sickening crash echoed from the gorge, followed by the eternal rush of the river.
Silence reclaimed the mountain.
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Clara fell to her knees at the edge of the trail, clutching Leo to her chest, sobbing uncontrollably into his hair. Through the smoke and mist, a heavy hand rested gently on her shoulder. Jax slumped beside her, barely conscious, his breathing shallow, but his pulse stubbornly beating against the tide of death.
Leo looked down at the dark road leading toward the valley below. His arm dropped. The six weeks of waiting had begun."
