Payment confirmed. DeLuca will be at the old Boeing plant, Building 40-26, northeast entrance at midnight. He'll be armed. He knows you're coming. Good hunting.
Contract fulfilled.
I forwarded it to Matvey and my father. I looked at Angelina, still unconscious but safe, and felt something cold settle in my chest. I didn’t want to leave her, but I had to finish this.
"I have to go," I told her, bringing her hand to my lips. "I have to finish this. But I'll be back before you wake up. I promise."
I kissed her forehead and stood.
Marco was waiting outside. "Ready?"
"More than ready."
We took three cars, twelve men total, all armed, all ready for war.
The Boeing plant was massive, abandoned since the company moved operations. Building 40-26 was toward the back, partially collapsed, covered in graffiti and rust. Perfect place for an ambush. Or an execution. We parked a quarter mileaway and approached on foot, using night vision and thermal imaging to scan for threats.
"I've got one heat signature," Matvey reported. "Northeast entrance, just like they said. Solo. No backup that I can see."
"Could be a trap," Marco warned.
"Then we spring it." I checked my weapon. "Everyone else stays back. This one's mine."
"Dez." Marco looked at me.
"Mine," I repeated. "He tried to kill my wife. This doesn't end with a bullet to the head. This ends with me making him suffer."
No one argued. I approached the entrance alone, my weapon drawn but held low. Vincent stood in the doorway, illuminated by a single shaft of moonlight. He looked terrible. Unshaven, unwashed, wild-eyed. He had a gun in his hand but it was pointed at the ground.
"Moretti," he said when he saw me.
"DeLuca."
"I don't suppose you'd believe me if I said this was all a misunderstanding?"
I snorted. "No. You had plenty of time to come up with better bullshit than that."
"Yeah." He let out a bitter laugh. "Didn't think so."
"Put the gun down."
"Why? So you can kill me quick?" He shook his head. "I know how this ends, Moretti. I know what you're going to do to me. I'd rather not surrender so easily."
He raised the gun toward his own head. I shot it out of his hand before he could pull the trigger. He screamed, clutching his shattered hand to his chest.
"You don't get the easy way out," I said, holstering my weapon and pulling out a knife instead. "You tried to kill my wife. You planted bombs. You hired gunmen. You terrorized her for months."
I advanced on him slowly.
"And now you're going to pay for every single second of fear you caused her."
He backed up, stumbling. "Please…"
"Did Angelina beg? When you were planning to blow her up? When you had someone shoot at her outside a restaurant?" I grabbed him by the throat and slammed him against the wall. "Did you think about the baby you'd be killing?"
"I didn't know she was pregnant!"
"You didn'tcare." I punched him. Hard. Felt his nose break under my fist. "All you cared about was yourself. Your ego. Your greed."
