Chapter 18
The battle on the lawns was fierce and bloody. The Chicago mercenaries, realizing they were trapped, fought back with desperate ferocity. Bullets shattered the stained-glass windows of the grand foyer, raining colorful shards of amber and rose across the marble floors.
Inside the fortified east wing suite, Emma held Nora tightly in her arms. They were barricaded behind the heavy oak wardrobe. Nora clutched her cream stuffed rabbit, her bright blue eyes wide but remarkably devoid of tears. She was James Cole's daughter, and fear was not in her blood.
"Mommy, Uncle Adrian is handling it, right?" Nora whispered, her sweet toddler voice replaced by the steady tone of a growing child.
"He is handling it, baby," Emma promised, her hands trembling slightly against her daughter’s back.
Outside, Adrian reached the commander of the Chicago strike team. The man was massive, wielding a heavy shotgun. He aimed at Marcus, but Adrian intervened with fluid speed. He grabbed the barrel of the shotgun with his bare, tattooed hand, twisting it violently out of the man's grip, and delivered a devastating blow to the commander's jaw.
The commander crashed into the muddy ground. Adrian stood over him, breathing heavily, the rain beginning to fall once more, slicking his thick dark hair against his forehead.
"Tell the Chicago Commission," Adrian growled, his voice a low, terrifying rumble, "that the Cole family ledger is being sent to the federal authorities as we speak. Their empire is already dead."
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The commander’s eyes widened in horror. Adrian had never intended to negotiate or hoard the drive. While the battle raged outside, Adrian’s technical experts in the basement had transmitted every file on James's hidden microchip directly to the FBI. Adrian had used the tactical assault as a distraction to execute the ultimate strategic victory.
Adrian raised his weapon, ending the threat permanently. Silence slowly returned to the estate, broken only by the sound of the rain and the groans of the defeated intruders. The northern border was secure. The ghost of James Cole had finally been avenged.
