Chapter 15 - The Reckoning
The abandoned shipyard was bathed in cold, blue moonlight. The salt air whipped off the Hudson River as Julian was thrown onto the rusted steel deck of an empty dry dock. He crawled backward, weeping openly, as Gabriel and Elena approached.
Dante and Silas stood guard by the SUV.
"Gabriel, please! The cartel will kill me in prison! You know they will!" Julian begged, his hands clasped together. "I’ll give you everything! I’ll sign over the company!"
Gabriel looked down at the pathetic creature before him. "I don't want your company, Julian. You broke the fundamental rule of our world. You involved an innocent. You hurt her."
Gabriel drew his heavy, black pistol. He didn't aim it at Julian. He offered it to Elena.
"He is yours," Gabriel said quietly. "If you want to pull the trigger, I will bury him where no one will ever find him. The choice is yours."
Julian stared at the gun in Elena’s hand. "Elena... Elena, you couldn't. You're not a killer. You're not like him!"
Elena looked at the heavy weapon. She felt the cold steel against her palm. She thought of her father’s burning car. She thought of the nights she spent curled on the granite floor, praying to die. She raised the gun, aiming it directly at the space between Julian’s eyes.
Julian squeezed his eyes shut, sobbing violently.
For ten seconds, the only sound was the crashing of the waves.
Then, Elena slowly lowered the gun.
"You're right, Julian," Elena whispered. "I'm not like him. And I'm not like you. A bullet in the dark is too good for you."
She handed the gun back to Gabriel.
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"I want him in the light," Elena declared. "I want him in a concrete cell, stripped of his wealth, his suits, and his pride. I want him to spend fifty years looking over his shoulder, waiting for the cartel to finish him. Let him live in fear, exactly as I did."
Gabriel looked at her, a profound, overwhelming respect burning in his eyes. He smiled softly. "As you wish, my queen."
