Chapter 9 - The Last Stand at the Shore
The battle for the Romano estate lasted twenty brutal minutes.
Down in the subterranean vault beneath the archive, Evelyn sat on the cold floor beside the white marble memorial of Clara Romano, her hands wrapped around Titan’s thick neck. Above them, the heavy thud of explosions and muffled gunfire echoed through the stone ceiling like distant thunder.
Titan remained standing by the heavy iron door, his posture rigid, his dark eyes glowing in the faint red emergency light.
Gradually, the gunfire slowed, then stopped completely.
A deep, suffocating silence settled over the cellar.
Evelyn held her breath, her heart pounding so loud she thought her ribs would crack. She picked up a heavy iron fireplace poker from the hearth, standing beside Titan near the door.
Click.
The heavy brass latch on the iron door turned slowly from the outside.
The door swung open six inches.
Gabriel stood in the doorway. His dark shirt was torn at the shoulder, covered in plaster dust and dark rain silt, a small line of blood running down his left temple, but he was standing on his own two feet. Behind him, Victor and three security operatives were zip-tying five wounded syndicate enforcers on the gallery floor.
"Gabriel!" Evelyn cried out, dropping the iron poker and throwing herself into his arms.
Gabriel caught her effortlessly, pulling her tight against his chest, burying his face in her soft hair, his broad shoulders trembling with a deep, violent relief.
"It's over, Evelyn," he rasped into her ear, his hand cradling the back of her head. "It's all over. The syndicate team has been neutralized. The federal marshals are securing the perimeter."
Titan nudged his heavy snout between their legs, letting out a deep, satisfied huff of air that made them both laugh through their tears.
Gabriel pulled back slightly, looking down into Evelyn's pale, beautiful face, his thumbs gently wiping away her tears.
"When I heard the glass break in your room tonight..." Gabriel whispered, his dark eyes shining with an absolute, unshakeable truth, "I realized something that scared me far more than any bullet."
May you like
"What?" she whispered back.
"I spent four years living for a dead girl," Gabriel said, glancing briefly at his sister's photograph on the marble table, then back into Evelyn's eyes. "Tonight... I realized I want to live for you."
