Chapter 14 - The Price of Survival
"We don't have much time," I said, keeping watch at the door. "The camera loop will reset in thirty seconds, and Vance's detail will realize their men aren't checking in."
Evelyn looked at me, then back at Leandro. "He... he has everything, Leandro. He made me sign false affidavits claiming Mateo was the one laundering money. He told me if I ever spoke to the press, he would kill my younger sister in Boston."
"Your sister is in a secure safe house in Zurich as of two hours ago," Leandro said gently. "My men extracted her yesterday. Julian Vance has no hold on you anymore."
Tears streamed down Evelyn's face as she threw her arms around Leandro’s neck. Watching them, an ache settled in my chest—not of jealousy, but of profound sorrow for what this family had endured. Leandro held her for a brief second, then helped her to her feet.
"Clare, take her through the service elevator," Leandro instructed, pulling an encrypted transponder from his pocket and handing it to me. "Dominic is waiting at the basement loading dock in an armored ambulance. Get in, lock the doors, and don't stop until you reach the safe house."
"What about you?" I asked, my heart seizing with dread. "Leandro, you can't stay here alone."
"Vance is going to announce his primary victory in twenty minutes," Leandro said, checking the magazine of a sleek Glock he pulled from the fallen guard's holster. "He invited the media. I'm going to make sure they get a real story."
"No," I insisted, grabbing his lapel. "You said it yourself—he wants you to play the monster! If you kill him on television, he becomes a martyr, and you spend the rest of your life on death row. We have the Aegis files. Let me leak them to the Department of Justice."
"The Department of Justice belongs to him, Clare!" Leandro shouted, his control fraying. "The Attorney General is his former law partner! The law won't touch Julian Vance. Only blood touches men like him."
"Then look at me," I pleaded, stepping directly into his line of fire, my voice trembling with raw emotion. "Look at me, Leandro. You dragged me out of that snow because you wanted to live. You didn't do it just for revenge. If you walk into that ballroom and pull that trigger, Vance wins. Because he will have turned you into exactly what he said you were."
Leandro froze. His hazel eye drilled into mine, searching for weakness, but finding only unbreakable devotion.
For five agonizing seconds, the only sound was the muffled applause drifting up from the ballroom below.
Finally, Leandro let out a ragged breath and lowered the weapon.
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"You have five minutes to get to the loading dock," he rasped, cupping the back of my neck and pulling me into a fierce, desperate kiss that tasted of danger, smoke, and promise. "Then we burn his empire together."
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