Chapter 9 - THE LAST DEBT
Damian survived surgery.
For eleven hours, Lily did not know whether he would.
She sat between Julian and Mrs. Alvarez beneath fluorescent hospital lights.
Victor Romano appeared once.
Nobody invited him.
He left coffee.
“Your boyfriend is irritatingly difficult to kill,” he told Lily.
“He isn’t my boyfriend.”
Victor raised an eyebrow.
Lily wiped her face.
“He’s my idiot.”
“Ah.”
Victor nodded solemnly.
“More serious.”
When Damian finally opened his eyes, Lily was asleep with her head beside his hand.
He moved one finger.
She woke instantly.
“You’re alive.”
“Disappointing several people.”
She began crying.
Damian’s weak smile vanished.
“Hey.”
She hit his uninjured shoulder.
“Ow.”
“That’s for getting shot.”
“I didn’t schedule it.”
Another hit.
“That’s for saying goodbye.”
“I wasn’t—”
Another.
“That’s for making me fall in love with you.”
Damian caught her wrist weakly.
“That one seems unfair.”
She laughed through tears.
Then kissed him.
Marcus remained missing.
But his network was collapsing.
Federal agents froze accounts.
His allies surrendered.
Victor supplied evidence.
Julian testified.
Within three days, Marcus had nowhere left to run.
Which made him more dangerous.
Lily realized where he would go.
The cafe.
It was where everything began.
More importantly, Ray had recently reopened after repairing the windows.
She called him.
No answer.
Her stomach dropped.
Damian saw her face.
“What?”
“Ray.”
Within minutes, Julian and federal agents were moving.
Damian tried to get out of bed.
Lily pushed him back.
“You have stitches.”
“He has Ray.”
“And if you tear yourself open, I’ll kill you before Marcus gets another chance.”
Julian smiled.
“I really like her.”
“Go,” Damian growled.
The cafe was empty when agents arrived.
A phone sat on the counter.
It rang.
Lily answered from the command vehicle.
Marcus spoke.
“You finally figured it out.”
“Where’s Ray?”
“Safe for now.”
“What do you want?”
“You.”
Damian grabbed for the phone.
Lily stopped him.
Marcus continued.
“Your father cost me six years. Damian cost me everything else. Seems appropriate that you pay the balance.”
Lily’s voice stayed calm.
“Where?”
Damian shook his head violently.
Marcus named an old roadside motel ten miles north.
Then disconnected.
“You’re not going,” Damian said.
Lily looked at the federal agent beside them.
“No. But Marcus needs to believe I am.”
They built a plan.
A vehicle matching Lily’s car approached the motel.
An agent drove.
Lily remained several miles away.
Marcus anticipated it.
The motel room was empty.
Only Ray’s jacket remained.
Then Damian received a message.
YOU TAUGHT HER TO THINK LIKE YOU.
I TAUGHT YOU TO THINK LIKE ME.
SEE YOU AT JULIAN’S GRAVE.
Damian went pale.
The cemetery.
The place where the Vale family had buried an empty coffin six years earlier.
Agents rushed there.
Damian refused to remain behind this time.
Lily stopped arguing.
They arrived at sunset.
Marcus stood beside Julian’s grave.
Ray was on his knees.
A pistol pressed against his head.
“Enough,” Damian said.
Marcus smiled.
“Finally.”
Federal agents surrounded the cemetery at a distance, but Marcus had positioned himself so any shot risked hitting Ray.
“Drop your weapon,” Damian said.
Marcus laughed.
“You came unarmed?”
“Yes.”
“Love made you stupid.”
“No.”
Damian looked toward Lily.
“It made me tired of becoming men like you.”
Marcus’s expression tightened.
“You think you’re better than me?”
“No.”
That surprised everyone.
“I spent years doing things I regret. I frightened people because fear was efficient. I protected a system that destroyed my brother.”
Damian stepped closer.
“The difference is I finally stopped pretending that surviving justified everything.”
Marcus aimed at him.
“You’re weak.”
“Maybe.”
Another step.
“But I’m free.”
Marcus fired.
The shot went wide as Ray suddenly threw himself sideways.
Agents moved.
Marcus grabbed Lily.
It happened in seconds.
He pressed the gun beneath her chin.
Damian froze.
“There,” Marcus whispered. “There’s the old Damian.”
Lily could see it too.
The rage.
The willingness to destroy everything.
She looked into Damian’s eyes.
“No.”
One word.
He understood.
Damian lowered his hands.
Marcus laughed.
“You won’t save her?”
Damian looked at Lily.
“I trust her.”
Lily slammed her heel onto Marcus’s foot and drove her elbow backward.
The gun shifted.
Agents fired a stun round.
Marcus collapsed.
Lily ran.
Damian caught her.
For several seconds, they simply held each other.
Marcus screamed as agents handcuffed him.
“You think this ends because I’m arrested?”
Damian looked over Lily’s shoulder.
“No.”
Marcus laughed.
Damian continued.
“It ends because nobody here belongs to you anymore.”
Ray was safe.
Julian was alive.
The evidence was secured.
And for the first time in generations, the Vale organization had no successor waiting to inherit its criminal throne.
Damian looked at his brother.
Julian nodded.
It was over.
But one problem remained.
Damian still had to answer for everything he had done before Lily entered his life.
And the next morning, his attorney delivered the news.
“The federal prosecutor wants a plea.”
Lily looked at Damian.
“What does that mean?”
His attorney hesitated.
May you like
Damian answered for him.
“It means I may be going to prison.”
