Chapter 8 - The Chapel
“I’m going.”
“No.”
Elena glared at Cassian.
“He has Maria.”
“He wants you.”
“That’s exactly why I’m useful.”
“He’ll kill you.”
“He’ll kill her if I don’t move.”
Cassian blocked the library door.
“You said Viktor leaves no witnesses.”
“Yes.”
“So Maria is dead whether you surrender or not.”
Elena slapped him.
The sound cracked through the room.
Cassian stared.
Elena’s eyes filled with fury.
“Never say that to me again.”
For several seconds, neither moved.
Then Cassian stepped aside.
“But I’m coming.”
“Elena—”
“That wasn’t a question.”
They reached the old chapel through the underground corridor.
Elena entered first.
Viktor stood near the altar.
Silver-haired.
Immaculate suit.
Cold blue eyes.
Maria sat nearby.
Dante knelt beside her.
Julian stood near the far wall.
Viktor smiled.
“The famous ghost.”
Elena pointed her weapon at him.
“Release Maria.”
“Give me the ledger.”
“You know I don’t carry it.”
“Tell me where it is.”
“No.”
Viktor sighed.
“You haven’t changed.”
“I have.”
“You used to be more afraid.”
Elena’s voice dropped.
“I learned fear doesn’t make bullets miss.”
Viktor smiled.
Cassian appeared from behind a pillar.
Julian immediately raised his weapon.
“I told you to stay out of this.”
Cassian looked at his brother.
“You disappeared for twelve years and came back expecting obedience?”
“I came back to burn down what father built.”
“Then burn his memory. Not the people inside his house.”
Julian hesitated.
That hesitation mattered.
Viktor noticed it too.
His smile vanished.
“You’re becoming sentimental, Julian.”
Julian looked at him.
Viktor shot Dante.
Everything erupted.
Maria screamed.
Elena fired toward the chandelier chain.
The massive fixture crashed between Viktor’s men, scattering them.
Cassian grabbed Maria.
Julian turned his weapon on Viktor.
“Enough.”
Viktor stared at him.
“You think you can betray me now?”
“I learned from the best.”
Viktor smiled.
Then his men surrounded Julian.
Cassian tried to reach him.
Elena dragged Cassian behind the altar as shots tore through the wood.
“Your brother made his choice.”
“He’s still my brother!”
“You can’t save everyone!”
Cassian shouted:
“Maybe I’m tired of deciding who deserves saving!”
Elena froze.
Those words struck somewhere deep.
For years she had lived by calculations.
Who could be extracted.
Who couldn’t.
Who became a name on a report.
She looked at Julian.
Then Maria.
Then Cassian.
“Fine.”
She checked her last magazine.
“Then we save everyone.”
Cassian stared.
“How?”
Elena looked toward the ancient bell rope hanging beside the altar.
“I have a terrible idea.”
She fired at the rope.
The chapel bell crashed through the rotten upper platform.
Stone and wood collapsed.
Everyone dove for cover.
When the dust settled, Viktor had disappeared.
And so had Julian.
Only one thing remained where they had stood.
May you like
A trail of blood leading into the forest.
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