Chapter 9 - The Edge of the Abyss
Luca moved with terrifying, lethal grace.
As Russian mercenaries leaned over the ship's railing to fire, Luca fired two double-taps in rapid succession. Two men collapsed, tumbling over the railing and splashing into the freezing harbor waters below.
Dante and the Castellano strike team pushed forward under the cover of smoke grenades, overwhelming Petrov’s security detail on the dock. Sergei Petrov tried to scramble toward a forklift; Dante caught him by the throat, slamming him face-first into the concrete and securing him in zip-ties.
The pier was won.
Only the ship remained.
I ignored Luca’s order to stay behind. I couldn't sit in the dark while the man who had tormented my life escaped onto a foreign vessel. Limping, breathing through the pain in my chest, I followed Luca up the metal gangway of the Severodvinsk.
The deck of the freighter was slick with sea spray and engine oil. Cargo containers towered three stories high, creating a labyrinth of rusted metal canyons.
“Jake!” Luca’s voice echoed off the steel walls, carrying the weight of a death sentence. “Come out, brother! Let’s finish what we started in Naples!”
Silence answered. Only the creak of the ship against its moorings and the distant hum of the diesel generators.
Suddenly, a shadow lunged from behind a blue container.
Jake, wielding a heavy iron pipe with his good arm, swung it with vicious force. The pipe struck Luca across the ribs, knocking the pistols from his hands.
Luca stumbled, but didn't fall. He spun, catching Jake by the throat, slamming him violently against the corrugated steel wall of a container.
The two men crashed onto the wet deck, rolling in a tangle of limbs, blood, and hatred.
Jake was desperate, fighting like a cornered animal. He drove his thumb into the bullet wound on Luca’s shoulder. Luca grunted in agony, but his grip never faltered. He delivered a brutal headbutt that shattered Jake’s nose in an explosion of red.
Jake screamed, scrambling backward toward the stern of the ship, clutching his broken face.
Luca rose slowly to his feet, wiping blood from his mouth, breathing heavily. He retrieved a combat knife from his boot.
“It’s over, Jake,” Luca said, stepping forward.
Jake backed up until his spine hit the safety railing at the very edge of the ship’s stern. Below him, forty feet down, the black, churning waters of Puget Sound swirled violently between the ship’s hull and the concrete pilings.
“You think you won, Luca?” Jake wheezed, blood pouring down his chin, his crooked smile returning like a grotesque mask. “You think because you took Ava into your bed you’re better than me?”
Luca stopped three paces away.
“I didn't take her,” Luca said coldly. “I protected her from you.”
“She’s a waitress!” Jake spat, laughing hysterically. “She’s nothing! A weak, pitiful little girl who cried every time I didn't come home! And you… the great Luca Castellano… brought down your entire empire for her? Look at you! Bleeding on a Russian garbage scow!”
“Jake,” I called out, stepping onto the open deck.
Jake’s eyes darted to me.
“I was weak,” I said, walking steadily toward him, stopping beside Luca. Luca reached out, his hand finding mine, our fingers interlocking tightly. “I was broken, terrified, and poor. But I loved you once, Jake. And that love was the biggest mistake of my life.”
Jake looked at our joined hands. A flash of pure, unadulterated hatred twisted his features.
“You think he loves you, Ava?” Jake sneered. “Ask him about your father!”
The words hung in the freezing air, sharp and poisonous.
I frowned, looking at Luca.
Luca’s expression went completely rigid. His hand in mine stiffened.
“What are you talking about?” I whispered.
Jake laughed—a wet, hacking sound. “Ask him, Ava! Ask him why your father’s software company went bankrupt eight years ago! Ask him who pressured the banks to call in your father’s loans! It wasn't me! I was just a twenty-year-old kid in his firm!”
My heart stopped beating. The world seemed to drop out from beneath my feet.
Slowly, I turned my head to look at Luca.
Luca didn't look at me. His eyes remained fixed on Jake, his jaw clenched so tightly the muscles bulged against his skin.
“Luca…?” my voice was barely an exhale. “Is that… is that true?”
“Your father refused to sell his encryption protocols to the Castellano family,” Jake sneered, savoring the destruction of the moment. “Luca’s father destroyed his credit, froze his assets, and drove him into a massive heart attack! Luca didn't rescue you out of charity, Ava! He’s drowning in guilt! You’re his penance!”
“Shut up,” Luca growled, stepping forward with the knife.
“He killed your father, Ava!” Jake screamed, leaning backward over the rail. “And now he owns you, just like he owns this city!”
Before Luca could grab him, Jake reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a small black remote detonator.
“If I’m going down,” Jake roared, his eyes wild with madness, “we all go together!”
“AVA, RUN!” Luca yelled.
Luca didn't lunge for safety. He threw himself forward, tackling Jake over the railing.
The two men tumbled over the edge.
“LUCA!” I screamed, lunging toward the rail.
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Below, two bodies hit the icy black waters with a violent splash.
A second later, a deafening explosion ripped through the engine room beneath the deck. The ship violently shuddered, metal buckling, fire erupting into the night sky, throwing me backward onto the burning steel deck.
