Chapter 10 - The bloodline legacy
There was no chaotic struggle, no grand, theatrical fight. Adrian moved with the lethal, restrained precision of a man who had survived a violent world for forty years. Before Marcus could clear his weapon from his holster, Adrian had closed the distance, disarmed him, and forced him to his knees on the damp stone floor of the greenhouse.
The heavy, matte-black handgun in Adrian’s hand was pressed firmly against the back of Marcus’s head.
"Please," Marcus choked out, his voice cracking with terror. "Adrian, please, it was business. He was going to ruin me."
"He was my brother," Adrian whispered.
The sound was muffled by the thick glass and heavy foliage, handled quietly, mafia-style. When Adrian walked out of the greenhouse ten minutes later, his suit was still perfectly neat. His hands were steady. The heavy weight of his grief had not vanished, but the burning demand for vengeance had finally been extinguished.
He walked back into the main house, moving silently up the grand staircase. He stopped outside the door to the west wing bedroom and gently pushed it open. The room was bathed in the soft glow of a small nightlight. Claire was sitting in a rocking chair, wide awake, holding her breath as she looked up at him.
Adrian gave her a single, slow nod. It was over. The man who killed James was gone.
He walked over to the large bed where Nora was sleeping soundly. Her light-brown curls were spread across the white pillow, her small hands clutching the edge of the blanket. Adrian stood there for a long time, looking at the tiny, fearless girl who had marched into his foyer wearing his oversized tie.
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He reached into his pocket and pulled out the heavy silver pocket watch. He gently placed it on the nightstand beside her bed. He knew the truth now. The empire he had built, the blood he had spilled to secure the Connecticut territory, was no longer just his to carry. James had left him a legacy he never expected.
Adrian looked at Claire, his piercing blue eyes softening in the dim light. The war was over, but protecting this child was a lifelong sentence. He turned back to watch Nora sleep, realizing that their real story, the true rebuilding of the Cole family, was only just beginning.
