Chapter 12 - THE MAN WHO CAME BACK
“You’re insane,” I whispered.
Adrian glanced at me.
“So I’ve been told.”
Victor laughed.
“You came for the ledger?”
“No.”
“For Thomas?”
“No.”
His eyes landed on me.
“I came for her.”
Something inside my chest broke open.
Victor noticed.
Of course he did.
“That’s your weakness, Adrian.”
“No.”
Adrian raised his gun.
“That’s yours.”
Gunfire erupted.
I hit the floor.
Thomas pulled me behind a storage cabinet.
Bullets tore through cardboard boxes.
Adrian fired from the doorway.
Victor’s men scattered.
One dropped.
Another ran.
The third rushed Adrian.
They crashed into the wall.
Adrian was still injured.
The other man wasn’t.
I saw him drive a fist into Adrian’s wound.
Adrian collapsed.
I grabbed a metal file box and slammed it into the attacker’s head.
He dropped.
Adrian looked up at me.
“Again?”
“What?”
“You keep saving me.”
“Try being less saveable.”
Victor ran.
With the ledger.
“No!”
I chased him.
“Emma!”
I ignored Adrian.
Again.
Victor reached the stairwell.
I followed.
He shoved open the roof door.
Rain hit my face.
He stood near the edge.
Ledger in one hand.
Gun in the other.
“You should have stayed invisible,” he said.
“I tried.”
“Your mother tried too.”
“You were afraid of her.”
His jaw tightened.
There.
A wound.
So I pushed.
“One accountant terrified you for sixteen years.”
“Shut up.”
“You killed your brother because he was stronger than you.”
“Shut up.”
“You kidnapped a child because you couldn’t beat his father.”
“Shut up!”
He pointed the gun at me.
Adrian stepped onto the roof.
“Victor.”
Victor turned.
Adrian stood unarmed.
He had left his gun below.
Smart.
Or suicidal.
“Let her go.”
“Why?”
“You want me.”
“I want everything.”
“You can have it.”
Victor blinked.
I did too.
Adrian continued.
“My shares. My companies. My properties. Everything.”
“Adrian, no.”
He didn’t look at me.
“Let Emma leave.”
Victor laughed.
“You’d give up your empire for a waitress?”
Adrian’s expression didn’t move.
“Yes.”
That single word hit harder than the gunfire.
Victor stared at him.
Then smiled.
“That sounds like your father.”
He raised the gun.
And fired at me.
Adrian moved first.
He slammed into me.
We hit the roof.
Victor’s bullet missed.
Thomas appeared in the doorway and fired once.
Victor staggered.
His foot slipped.
He went over the edge.
But his hand caught the railing.
The ledger fell beside him.
He screamed.
Adrian crawled toward him.
Victor looked up.
“Help me!”
Adrian stared at the man who murdered his father.
The man who kidnapped his son.
The man who had just tried to kill me.
For one horrible second, I thought Adrian would step on his fingers.
Instead, he reached down.
Victor stared in disbelief.
Adrian grabbed his wrist.
“I’m not you.”
May you like
Then Victor smiled.
And pulled a second gun from his ankle.
