Chapter 8 - The Hunt in the Dark
The heavy oak doors of the penthouse burst open.
Three armed men clad in tactical gear, night-vision goggles strapped to their helmets, slipped silently into the darkened foyer. They moved with professional precision, weapons raised, checking corners.
“Target is in the master suite,” the team leader whispered into his comms. “Capture the woman alive. Eliminate the husband if necessary.”
Suddenly, the middle mercenary dropped without a sound.
A dark figure emerged from the shadows behind him, a monomolecular blade sliding through the neck joint of his body armor. Before the man could even scream, Daniel twisted the blade and eased the corpse down to the marble floor without making a sound.
The team leader turned around, sensing a shift in the air. “Vance! Report!”
Silence greeted him.
“Vance?”
From the pitch-black hallway, Daniel’s voice drifted out, low, terrifying, echoing off the high ceilings like a phantom.
“Sterling sent boys to do a monster’s job,” Daniel purred from the dark.
The two remaining mercenaries opened fire into the hallway, muzzle flashes illuminating the luxurious artwork and furniture in bursts of bright white light. Bullets tore into the drywall, but Daniel was already gone, moving through his own home with absolute familiarity.
Daniel reappeared behind the second mercenary, grabbing the barrel of his rifle, wrenching it upward, and firing three quick shots from his sidearm directly under the man’s chin.
The team leader spun around, panic taking over his disciplined training. He raised his weapon, but Daniel was already upon him.
Daniel slammed the leader into the heavy marble pillar, shattering the man’s tactical visor. He grabbed the mercenary by the throat—the exact same way Liam Mercer had grabbed Kara six months prior—and lifted him off his feet, pinning him against the cold stone.
“Who ordered this?” Daniel growled, his grip tightening until the man’s face turned purple.
“S-Sterling!” the man gasped, choking for air. “Old man Sterling! He paid us five million!”
Daniel looked into the mercenary’s terrified eyes. “Tell him in hell that New York belongs to me.”
With a swift twist, Daniel broke the man’s neck and dropped the body to the floor.
Seconds later, the emergency lights flickered back on, flooding the penthouse with bright white light. The heavy reinforced stairwell door opened, and Marcus rushed in with four heavily armed guards, weapons raised.
They stopped dead in their tracks.
The living room was silent. Three mercenaries lay dead on the floor. Daniel stood in the center of the room, adjusting his cuffs, his shirt completely spotless, not a single drop of blood on his clothes.
“Clean this up, Marcus,” Daniel said calmly, tossing his sidearm onto the sofa. “And tell my legal team to initiate the total liquidation of the Sterling family assets by sunrise. I want old man Sterling bankrupt, homeless, and in federal prison by noon.”
“Yes, Mr. Rourke,” Marcus said, bowing his head in absolute respect.
Daniel walked over to the safe room, entering the master code into the panel. The heavy steel door slid open with a soft hiss.
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Kara was waiting inside. The moment she saw Daniel standing there, safe and unhurt, she threw herself into his arms, weeping with relief.
“It’s over, my love,” Daniel whispered, wrapping his arms tightly around her and her growing belly. “The shadows are clear.”
