Chapter 8 - The Price of Loyalty
The drive to Long Island was a blur of high speeds and cold calculations.
I didn't take an army.
I took three men I knew were willing to die for me.
The clinic was a sterile,
white building overlooking the Atlantic,
hidden behind a high fence and a wall of security cameras.
We didn't sneak in.
We drove the SUV through the front gate,
the sound of crashing metal our only announcement.
Guards poured out of the building,
but they were no match for men with a purpose.
We moved through the lobby like a scythe through wheat,
the air filling with the smell of cordite and the screams of the wounded.
I found Halloran in his private office,
packing a suitcase full of cash and diamonds.
He looked up,
his face turning a sickly shade of gray when he saw me.
"Lorenzo,"
he stammered,
reaching for a gun on the desk.
I shot him in the hand before he could touch it.
He screamed,
clutching his bleeding fingers to his chest.
"You killed her,"
I said,
walking toward him with the slow,
deliberate pace of a nightmare.
"She was my friend,"
he gasped,
tears of pain streaming down his face.
"I didn't want to do it!"
"But she was going to ruin everything!"
"You murdered a pregnant woman because you wanted to keep stealing,"
I said,
standing over him.
"You tried to kill my son because he was a witness to your greed."
I didn't kill him then.
I wanted him to suffer.
I kicked him in the ribs,
listening to the satisfying crack of bone.
"Moretti didn't help you because he liked you,"
I said,
pulling him up by his collar.
"He helped you because he knew you'd eventually destroy me from the inside."
"But you forgot one thing,
Julian."
"I'm not a businessman."
"I'm a Rossi."
I dragged him out to the balcony,
the cold wind from the ocean whipping around us.
"This is for Sophia,"
I said,
and I threw him over the railing.
He didn't scream as he fell.
The sound of him hitting the rocks below was muffled by the roar of the waves.
It was over.
The man who had destroyed my life was gone.
But as I looked out at the ocean,
I didn't feel the satisfaction I expected.
I felt empty.
Until I thought of the cabin.
Until I thought of Hunter.
I walked back inside,
stepping over the wreckage of my past,
May you like
and headed for the car.
I was going home.
