Chapter 4 - The Fall and the Flare
Lightning split the black sky over the metropolis, turning the night blindingly white for half a second. In that fraction of light, Lily saw the reflection in the balcony glass behind Roman.
The bedroom wasn't empty.
A shadow moved through the rain-slicked room like an apparition of pure vengeance. Marcus Vance had not taken the elevator; he had bypassed the penthouse security elevator and scaled the emergency access fire stairs. He stepped onto the balcony without a sound, drenched in rain, his eyes wild with primal fury. In his left hand, he held a heavy steel tire iron retrieved from his trunk.
"Hey," Marcus said softly over the roar of the wind.
Roman turned around, his eyes widening through the mask, but Marcus was already mid-swing. The steel slammed into Roman’s forearm, snapping the firearm away into the abyss below. Roman roared, charging Marcus with his massive bulk, slamming the businessman against the exterior stone pillar.
Lily screamed, scrambling away on hands and knees. "Daddy!"
Marcus grunted, absorbing a brutal blow to the ribs, but twisted his body, driving his thumb directly into the man’s exposed eye socket through the eye-slit of the mask. Roman howled in agony, stumbling backward toward the low balcony ledge. Marcus didn't hesitate; using the intruder's own momentum, he grabbed Roman’s tactical collar and tipped him over the knee-high railing.
Roman's scream was swallowed whole by the roaring storm as he plummeted into the concrete canyon below.
Marcus fell to his knees, panting, blood dripping from his split lip. Lily launched herself across the wet tiles, throwing her arms around his neck. "Daddy! Daddy!"
May you like
"I have you, baby. I have you," Marcus choked out, burying his face in her wet hair.
Then, the sharp click of a revolver hammer cocking broke the rain's rhythm. Clara stood in the doorway of the balcony, aiming a snub-nosed .38 directly between Marcus’s eyes.
