Chapter 9 - The Ghost Returns
Inside the pitch-black warehouse, Julian and Clara caught their breath. Julian checked his weapon—only one magazine left. He pulled out his radio, but the signal was completely jammed.
“We can't hold them off forever,” Julian muttered, peering through a crack in the boarded window.
Suddenly, a flashlight clicked on at the far end of the warehouse. A figure stepped out of the shadows. Clara’s blood ran completely cold.
It was a man in a tailored suit, holding a pistol. He smiled, a sickening, familiar smile that haunted Clara’s nightmares.
“Hello, Clara,” the man said smoothly.
“David?” Clara gasped, stumbling backward. “You’re dead. The police said you crashed into the river.”
David Hayes laughed, stepping into the dim light. “I faked it, sweetheart. I owed Romanov a million dollars. He said if I gave him the kid and played dead, he’d wipe the slate clean and make me a capo in his organization. I couldn't pass that up.”
Clara felt the room spin. The man she had loved, the father of her child, had orchestrated this entire nightmare.
“You sold our daughter,” Clara whispered, her voice shaking with a rage she didn't know she possessed.
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“She’s a commodity,” David shrugged, raising his gun toward Julian. “And right now, handing Romanov the head of Julian Moretti is my ticket to the top. Drop the gun, Julian.”
Julian didn't drop the gun. He stepped in front of Clara, shielding her entirely. “You are the lowest form of scum on this earth. And you are going to die today.”
