Chapter 15 - The UnravelingJulian caught up to her on the narrow, metal fire escape outside her third-floor window.
Despite his shoulder injury, his brute strength overwhelmed her. He grabbed her by her hair, slamming her back against the cold iron railing. Maya gasped as a sharp spike of agony flared through her healing ribs, dropping her knife, which clattered down three stories into the dark alley below.
"You should have stayed in the hospital, little girl," Julian sneered, pressing the hot barrel of his gun directly against her temple.
"If you kill me, Derrick will hunt you to the ends of the earth," Maya choked out, glaring up at him through her pain. "You know he won't stop."
"He won't get the chance," Julian growled, pulling her up by her coat collar and shoving her toward the service stairs leading up to the roof. "Because he's already watching us."
Julian raised his eyes toward the half-finished, 40-story concrete tower of the 4th Avenue project visible across the rooftops three blocks away.
A single green laser sight flickered across the dark concrete framework of the high-rise's top floor.
Derrick was there.
He had known Julian's psychological profile better than anyone. He knew Julian wouldn't run until he settled his score. Derrick had drawn Julian to the one place where their entire war had started: the open, unfinished top floor of the 4th Avenue glass tower.
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Julian shoved Maya ahead of him up the metal stairs toward the waiting vehicle in the alley.
"We're going to the top floor, Maya," Julian whispered maliciously into her ear. "And you're going to have a front-row seat to watch your protector die."
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