Chapter 12 - Cornered in the Penthouse Suite
Before Sterling’s armed guards could raise their weapons, Detective Vance and her tactical unit breached the loading dock doors.
"GBI! DROP YOUR WEAPONS! GET ON THE GROUND NOW!" Elena’s voice cut through the rain like thunder.
Security Chief Arthur Vance drew his pistol, but Darius was faster. With a ferocious swing, Darius drove the steel base of the IV pole directly into Vance’s chest, sending the armed mercenary flying backward into the side of the bus, knocking him cold.
The remaining guards instantly threw their weapons to the ground and dropped to their knees with their hands raised.
Seeing his empire crumble in ten seconds, Sterling dropped his umbrella and bolted toward the private executive elevator leading to the hospital’s penthouse administrative offices.
"I’m going after him!" Marcus yelled, sprinting across the wet asphalt.
"Marcus, wait!" Elena shouted, securing the terrified nurses who were crying in relief and disbelief as they watched Darius—the man they had tended to for years—standing tall in the rain like a guardian angel.
Marcus leaped into the stairwell, taking the concrete steps four at a time, his adrenaline obliterating all fatigue. He burst onto the twelfth-floor executive suite just as Sterling was frantically stuffing offshore bank ledgers and encrypted hard drives into a leather briefcase.
"It’s over, Roger!" Marcus roared, blocking the only exit.
Sterling spun around, his face twisted in a feral, desperate snarl. He reached into his desk drawer and pulled a compact silver revolver, aiming it directly at Marcus’s chest.
"You arrogant fool," Sterling spat, his hands shaking with manic rage. "You have destroyed a multi-million-dollar advancement in human genetics! Those women were paid handsomely in bonuses they didn't even understand! I gave life to families who had no hope!"
"You violated their bodies, you poisoned their minds, and you treated human lives like cattle!" Marcus shouted, stepping forward without fear. "You are not a doctor. You are a monster."
"Then I’ll be a monster who walks away wealthy!" Sterling shrieked, pulling back the revolver’s hammer.
CRASH!
The reinforced glass double doors behind Sterling shattered into ten thousand glittering pieces.
Darius Williams, wrapped in a dark trauma blanket, stepped through the shattered frame like an unstoppable force of nature. His eyes burned with righteous judgment.
Sterling gasped, swinging the gun toward Darius. "STAY BACK! YOU’RE SUPPOSED TO BE DEAD!"
Darius didn't flinch. In one blindingly fast motion, the firefighter closed the distance, grabbed Sterling’s wrist with his left hand, and twisted it downward until the bone snapped with a loud POP. The revolver clattered harmlessly to the carpet.
Darius lifted the screaming surgeon by his pristine white coat with one arm and pinned him against the floor-to-ceiling panoramic glass overlooking the city.
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"You told me to keep sleeping," Darius rumbled, his voice deep, gravelly, and full of thunder. "I'm awake now."
Darius dropped Sterling to the floor like a sack of garbage just as Elena Vance and her team rushed in with rifles raised, cuffing the weeping, broken surgeon in iron restraints.
