Chapter 10 - The Ash of Empires
A single gunshot cracked through the chapel, muffled by the torrential rain outside. Antonio Julian slumped sideways against the altar, his revolver slipping from lifeless fingers, his eyes staring blankly at the crossless wall.
Julian lowered his weapon, swaying slightly on his feet as blood pooled beneath his boots. The adrenaline was beginning to ebb, leaving behind the crushing weight of physical trauma. He dropped down on one knee by the jagged hole in the floorboards.
“Elena,” he called out, his voice hoarse, barely audible above the storm. “It’s over. Bring him up.”
A moment later, two tiny arms wrapped around Julian’s neck with desperate ferocity. Leo clutched his father, burying his tear-stained face into Julian’s bloody collar. Julian closed his eyes, his left arm wrapping tightly around the small boy, pressing him against his chest with a gentleness that seemed impossible for a man whose hands had just ended four lives.
“I’ve got you, Leo,” Julian murmured against the child’s hair, his voice cracking for the first time in his life. “You’re safe. I’ve got you.”
Elena climbed out of the cellar, her champagne silk dress now completely shredded, soaked in mud, black grease, and gunpowder residue. She collapsed onto the floor beside them, reaching out to stroke her son’s back, her breath hitching in ragged gasps. For a long, fragile moment, the three of them existed in an island of silence amidst the carnage.
Then, Elena looked up, her gaze fixing on Julian’s ruined shoulder and the puddle of dark blood spreading across his white shirt.
“Julian... you’re losing too much blood,” she whispered, panic creeping back into her voice.
“The ledger,” Julian said quietly, gesturing toward the leather-bound book lying near Vance’s corpse. “Pick it up, Elena.”
Elena hesitated, then crawled over the floorboards, picking up the blood-splattered notebook. “What do I do with it?”
“Burn it,” Julian coughed, a thin trickle of crimson appearing at the corner of his mouth. “The safe house in Montreal... coordinates are on the last page. Take Leo and leave tonight. Don’t look back.”
Elena stared at him, her chest tightening with an agony far worse than fear. “And what about you?”
May you like
Julian offered a faint, bitter smile. “The king stays with his dead, Elena. That was always the deal.”
Before she could scream at him, the distant wail of sirens began echoing through the mountain pass—not police, but the distinct, low thrum of military-grade helicopters approaching fast.
