Chapter 7 - The Price of a Brother
The airfield smelled of rain and jet fuel.
At 11:58 p.m., Ava walked across the runway alone.
At least, that was what Marcus was supposed to believe.
A microphone was sewn into her coat.
Gabriel’s men occupied three positions beyond the hangars.
Elias was among them.
Gabriel hated allowing him anywhere near the operation.
But Elias knew Marcus.
Tonight, that mattered more than trust.
Dylan sat inside Hangar Four.
Marcus stood behind him.
Robert Kelly paced beside a private jet.
“You came,” Dylan said.
Ava smiled despite the terror squeezing her chest.
“Obviously.”
“You shouldn’t have.”
“You say that like you’ve ever listened to me.”
Marcus smiled.
“Touching.”
Ava stopped ten feet away.
“Let him go.”
“The evidence.”
“I know where the original backup is.”
Marcus’s expression sharpened.
“What backup?”
“The one my mother never told Daniel Reed about.”
It was a lie.
Hopefully a convincing one.
Robert approached.
“Where?”
“Dylan first.”
Kelly slapped Dylan.
Ava flinched.
Gabriel watched through binoculars from the darkness.
His finger tightened beside the trigger of his radio.
Elias whispered, “Wait.”
Gabriel wanted to break every bone in Robert Kelly’s body.
Instead, he waited.
Ava stared at Robert.
“You do that again, and whatever my mother hid disappears forever.”
Robert smiled.
“You really are Mei’s daughter.”
“Thank you.”
“It wasn’t a compliment.”
“I know.”
Marcus untied Dylan’s ankles but left his wrists bound.
“Tell us.”
Ava shook her head.
“Send him across.”
Marcus pushed Dylan forward.
Dylan walked toward Ava.
Ten feet.
Eight.
Six.
Robert suddenly raised his gun.
Elias’s voice snapped through Gabriel’s earpiece.
“Now.”
Lights exploded.
Gunfire cracked.
Dylan threw himself down.
Ava ran.
Gabriel’s men poured from both sides of the runway.
Marcus grabbed Ava around the waist.
A pistol pressed against her neck.
Gabriel emerged from the darkness.
Everything stopped.
Marcus smiled.
“There’s my nephew.”
Gabriel aimed at him.
“Let her go.”
“You’re predictable around women.”
“Maybe.”
“You know what destroyed your father?”
Gabriel said nothing.
“Love.”
Marcus tightened his grip on Ava.
“He loved your mother. He loved you. He loved the idea that he could become a better man.”
Marcus laughed.
“Love made him weak.”
Ava felt his breathing against her ear.
Gabriel’s gun remained perfectly steady.
“No,” Gabriel said.
Marcus frowned.
“My father trusted you.”
“So?”
“That made him wrong about you.”
Gabriel’s eyes found Ava’s.
“But loving people wasn’t the mistake.”
Ava understood.
She dropped.
Gabriel fired.
The bullet struck Marcus’s shoulder.
Ava rolled away.
Elias tackled Robert as he aimed at Dylan.
Within seconds it was over.
Marcus lay bleeding but alive.
Robert was handcuffed.
Dylan ran to Ava.
She wrapped herself around him.
“You idiot,” he whispered.
“You’re welcome.”
“You could’ve died.”
“So could you.”
“I’m telling Mom.”
Ava laughed and cried at the same time.
Gabriel approached.
Dylan released her.
Ava looked at Gabriel.
For several seconds they simply stared.
Then she crossed the distance and hugged him.
Gabriel froze.
The most feared man in the city apparently had no idea what to do with his arms.
Ava pulled back.
“You’re terrible at hugging.”
“I don’t practice.”
“You should.”
He kissed her.
It was not polished or careful.
It was relief.
Fear.
Weeks of tension condensed into one reckless moment beneath runway lights.
When they separated, Dylan groaned.
“Seriously?”
Ava laughed.
Gabriel almost did.
Then Elias shouted.
“Gabriel!”
Robert Kelly had slipped one hand free.
A hidden pistol appeared from his ankle holster.
The shot echoed.
Gabriel jerked.
Ava screamed.
He fell against her.
Blood spread across his shirt.
Robert was tackled again.
This time, he did not escape.
Ava dropped beside Gabriel.
“No. No, no, no.”
Gabriel looked strangely calm.
“Ava.”
“Don’t talk.”
“You always talk.”
“Shut up.”
“That’s hypocritical.”
Her hands pressed against the wound.
“Gabriel.”
His face was losing color.
“Ava.”
“What?”
“If this goes badly—”
“It won’t.”
“Listen.”
“No.”
He touched her wrist.
“Take care of Dylan.”
She stared at him through tears.
“He already has someone.”
Gabriel managed the faintest smile.
“You.”
Sirens approached.
His eyes closed.
Ava slapped his cheek lightly.
“Gabriel Reed.”
Nothing.
She slapped him harder.
His eyes opened.
“That,” he whispered, “seems to be your solution to everything.”
Ava laughed through her tears.
“Stay awake.”
The ambulance reached them.
Paramedics pulled her away.
Gabriel disappeared behind closing doors.
For the first time since the Gilded Rose, Ava had nothing to fight.
Nothing to hit.
Nothing to solve.
May you like
She stood on the runway covered in Gabriel’s blood.
And realized she had fallen in love with him.
