Chapter 14 - THE CHOICE
The warehouse became chaos.
Bullets hit steel.
Glass rained from broken windows.
Gabriel moved with frightening precision.
This was the man Claire had heard stories about.
Not the exhausted father.
Not the grieving husband.
The other Gabriel.
Tomas flanked right.
Vincent dragged Price’s son—found tied in a back room—toward safety.
Claire stayed behind cover.
Until she saw Anna.
The former nanny emerged above them on a metal catwalk.
Gun in hand.
“Gabriel!”
He looked up.
Anna held a detonator.
“One click.”
Gabriel froze.
“There are charges in the penthouse?”
Anna smiled.
“Ask your security team.”
Claire’s stomach dropped.
Lily.
Anna held out her hand.
“The drive.”
Gabriel looked at the flash drive.
It contained enough evidence to ruin him.
Destroy Kane.
Expose public officials.
Possibly send Gabriel to prison for decades.
Anna smiled.
“You can keep your empire or your daughter.”
Gabriel didn’t hesitate.
He threw the drive onto the open floor.
Claire stared.
Anna descended slowly.
“Kick it over.”
Gabriel did.
Anna picked it up.
Then laughed.
“You really have changed.”
“No.”
Gabriel raised his gun.
“I just finally figured out what matters.”
Anna held up the detonator.
“Careful.”
Claire noticed something.
Anna’s thumb wasn’t on a switch.
It was covering a cracked battery compartment.
The detonator was dead.
Claire shouted, “She’s bluffing!”
Anna turned.
Gabriel fired.
The bullet struck Anna’s shoulder.
She fell.
The drive skidded across the floor.
Suddenly another man appeared from the shadows.
Marcus Kane.
Gold lion ring.
He shot Gabriel.
Claire screamed.
Gabriel collapsed.
Kane grabbed the drive.
Anna cried, “You promised me!”
Kane looked down at her.
“You sold a child.”
Anna froze.
Even Kane sounded disgusted.
“You thought I trusted you?”
He shot her.
Claire covered her mouth.
Kane turned toward Gabriel.
“You should’ve stayed dead six years ago.”
Gabriel struggled to reach his weapon.
Kane kicked it away.
Then Claire saw the metal pipe beside her.
She grabbed it.
Ran.
And swung with everything she had.
The pipe struck Kane’s wrist.
The gun dropped.
Kane spun and hit Claire across the face.
She fell.
He raised the weapon again.
Then Gabriel tackled him.
They crashed onto the concrete.
Kane punched the gunshot wound in Gabriel’s side.
Gabriel roared.
Claire grabbed Kane’s dropped pistol.
Hands shaking.
“Stop!”
Neither man listened.
Then Kane pulled a knife.
Gabriel caught his wrist.
The blade hovered inches from his throat.
Claire aimed.
She couldn’t get a clear shot.
Then someone fired.
Kane went limp.
Gabriel shoved him aside.
Tomas stood behind them.
Smoke curled from his gun.
“Boss?”
Gabriel pressed one hand against his bleeding side.
“Penthouse.”
Tomas grabbed his radio.
A voice answered.
“All clear. No explosives.”
Gabriel closed his eyes.
Claire crawled beside him.
“Stay awake.”
He looked at her.
“You sound bossy.”
“You’re bleeding on my shoes.”
“You took them off.”
“Not tonight.”
He laughed.
May you like
Then his eyes rolled back.
And Gabriel Varrick stopped moving.
