Chapter 79 Carter
Carter
My finger rested on the trigger, steady, unshaking. One squeeze and this bastard would drop. One squeeze and Harper’s face would never leave his mouth again.
Sable didn’t blink. His hands stayed clasped behind his back, calm as if he were standing in a boardroom instead of staring down the barrel of my rifle.
“You want to kill me. I can see it in your eyes. But if you do, the contracts multiply. My lieutenants will spread her name like fire. You’ll never keep her safe. ”
He wasn’t wrong. That was the hell of it.
Every part of me burned to pull the trigger—to end the threat, to silence his voice forever. But River’s words cut through the fire: We need him alive.
Alive meant intel. Alive meant routes, names, bank accounts, the rest of the syndicate. Alive meant I could carve Harper’s name off every damn list once and for all.
Dead meant one more body. And the war wouldn’t end with a body.
My jaw clenched, rage grinding my teeth. Slowly, I lowered the rifle just enough to shift my aim from his heart to his leg.
The shot cracked loud in the enclosed space. Sable went down hard, his howl tearing through the office as blood spread across the floor.
I closed the distance in two strides, boot slamming into his chest to keep him down. My rifle pressed to his temple now, the steel biting into his skin.
“You breathe her name again, I finish the job,” I growled, my voice shaking with fury. “But alive, you’re going to give me every account, every lieutenant, every shadow you hide behind. You’re going to burn your own empire down, piece by piece.”
River moved in, zip ties snapping around Sable’s wrists, his expression unreadable but his nod quick. “Smart call.”
I leaned down close enough for Sable to see the truth in my eyes. “You wanted Harper as a symbol? Then here’s one for you—she’s the reason I’m not killing you where you lie. And she’s the reason I’ll tear your whole world apart.”
The fear in his eyes then wasn’t for death. It was for me.
And that was exactly how I wanted it.