Chapter 19 - The Price of a Blue Dress
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Before Marcus could dive behind the shipping container, Delaney snapped the pre-cut zip-ties around her wrists, closed the ten-foot gap in three explosive strides, and drove a spinning heel kick straight into the traitor’s jaw. Marcus slammed against the iron bollard at the edge of the pier and slumped unconscious into a puddle of oil and rainwater.
Preston shrieked in panic, backing toward the edge of the wharf while waving his chrome pistol wildly between Delaney and the dark mouth of the container alley.
Out of the fog stepped Dante Ferraro, flanked by six armed men in black overcoats. Dragged along beside them, pale and trembling in his tailored suit, was Vance Hollis.
"Preston, drop the gun!" Vance screamed, falling to his knees on the wet asphalt. "For God’s sake, son, drop it! Viktor didn't take his sister—you walked right into a setup!"
"Shut up!" Preston sobbed, his eyes wide and bloodshot as he aimed the shaking barrel at his own father’s chest, then swung it toward Delaney. "Nobody moves! I’ll shoot him! I’ll shoot her! Give me the keys to the boat!"
"You can't even pull a trigger with your left hand without flinching, Preston," Delaney said quietly, taking a single, unhurried step toward him. "Look at your fingers. You’re only good at hurting people when their backs are turned."
"Stay back!" Preston screamed, yanking the trigger.
Delaney was already inside his line of fire. She slapped the barrel outward as the shot discharged harmlessly into the harbor water, caught his unbroken left wrist, and twisted the gun out of his grip before driving her knee into his solar plexus. Preston folded onto the wet concrete beside his father, gasping for air and weeping into the dirt.
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Dante didn't even draw his weapon. He simply dropped a leather-bound folder and a gold pen into the puddle in front of Vance Hollis.
"Sign the remaining forty-nine percent of Hollis Logistics over to my sister’s music school, Vance," Dante said coldly. "And the police cruisers arriving at the gate right now will take your son to prison instead of the morgue."
