Chapter 12 - Bound by Steel and Love: Leah Faces the Mastermind in the Abandoned Docks
The rusty metal doors of Warehouse 42 creaked open, revealing a cavernous, echoing void lit only by a single hanging work light.
The smell of salt water, rust, and gasoline hung thick in the cold air.
High above on an iron gantry, Sable stood with four armed mercenaries. Below him, tied to a wooden chair near the edge of a deep concrete dry dock pit, was Matteo. The little boy was shivering uncontrollably, his lips turning a dangerous shade of blue from the cold and his failing heart.
"Auntie!" Matteo cried, his small voice echoing off the corrugated iron walls. "Auntie Leah!"
"Matteo!" Leah tried to run forward, but Julian held her firmly behind his back, shielding her body with his own.
"Let the boy go, Sable," Julian said, his voice terrifyingly calm, carrying across the warehouse like thunder. "Your fight is with me. You want the Vance syndicate? You want the territory? Sign the transfer papers. Let the child have his medicine."
Sable laughed hysterically, his scarred face twisting with malice. "You think I'm stupid, Julian?! If I let the kid go, you butcher me in ten seconds! No... the boy dies first, right in front of your precious new pet. Then she dies. And then I take my time putting you into the ground!"
Sable raised his gun, pointing it straight down at Matteo's chest.
"NO!" Leah screamed.
Using all her strength, Leah broke from Julian's grip and sprinted into the open. She didn't think about guns. She didn't think about death. A mother's primal instinct took over her entire body.
"Shoot her!" Sable yelled.
A mercenary on the lower level stepped out from behind a container, raising his rifle at Leah.
BANG!
May you like
A single shot rang out. Julian fired with impossible speed, his bullet hitting the mercenary squarely between the eyes before the man could pull the trigger.
"LEAH, DOWN!" Julian roared as the entire warehouse erupted into deafening gunfire.
