Chapter 14 - One Bullet Left
Edmund wanted federal agents to handle it.
Vivian wanted answers.
They compromised.
Which meant twenty agents surrounded the hotel while Vivian and Edmund entered together.
The ballroom looked like a corpse of their wedding.
Broken crystal.
Abandoned flowers.
Blood cleaned but not forgotten.
Their first dance had ended here.
Now a single chandelier remained lit.
Music played softly.
The same song.
Vivian’s skin prickled.
“Someone has a disturbing sense of theater.”
Edmund drew his gun.
“You’re making jokes.”
“I learned from you.”
They walked toward the center.
A red dot appeared.
On Vivian’s chest.
Edmund immediately stepped in front of her.
The dot moved onto him.
Exactly as it had the night before.
Vivian whispered, “East windows.”
“I know.”
A voice came from the balcony.
“Put the weapon down.”
Edmund recognized it.
Salvatore.
Impossible.
He was in federal custody.
Then the figure stepped forward.
Not Salvatore.
A recording had played.
The man holding the rifle was Charles Mercer.
Bandaged.
Wounded.
Escaped.
Vivian stared.
“You should be in a hospital.”
“I owned the hospital.”
Edmund’s weapon remained raised.
“You lost.”
Mercer laughed.
“Do you know how many politicians will fall because of your files?”
“Hopefully all the guilty ones,” Vivian said.
“You sound like Evelyn.”
“I’ll take that as a compliment.”
Mercer aimed.
“Your mother ruined fifteen years of work.”
“No. You ruined lives.”
“History doesn’t care.”
“Courts might.”
Mercer smiled.
“I won’t see one.”
He raised the rifle toward Edmund.
Vivian saw the red dot reach his forehead again.
Same dance.
Same man beside her.
But she was not the terrified bride from yesterday.
“Dance with me,” she whispered.
Edmund looked at her.
“What?”
“Trust me.”
She wrapped her arms around his neck.
Mercer laughed.
“How sentimental.”
Vivian whispered into Edmund’s ear.
“Three steps. Pillar.”
His eyes changed.
He remembered.
“One.”
They moved.
“Two.”
Mercer adjusted his aim.
“Three.”
Vivian pulled Edmund sideways.
Mercer fired.
The bullet struck stone.
Federal tactical teams stormed the balcony.
Mercer fired again.
Edmund pushed Vivian down.
Agents returned fire.
Mercer stumbled.
His rifle fell.
He reached for a pistol.
Then stopped.
Evelyn stood behind him.
Her gun trained on him.
“You.”
Mercer smiled.
“Hello, Evelyn.”
She could have killed him.
Vivian saw fifteen years of pain in her mother’s face.
Then Evelyn lowered the gun.
“No.”
Mercer frowned.
“You don’t get to become my last crime.”
Agents tackled him.
Handcuffs clicked.
This time there would be no escape.
Vivian stood.
Edmund brushed dust from her gown.
She laughed.
“You’re fixing my dress?”
“You’re very particular.”
“This dress is ruined.”
“I’ll buy another.”
“Do you solve everything with money?”
“Most things.”
“Not me.”
His expression softened.
“No.”
Federal agents led Mercer past them.
He stopped beside Vivian.
“You think this ends because I’m arrested?”
She said nothing.
“There are others.”
“I know.”
“They’ll come for you.”
“Then they’ll find me.”
Mercer studied her.
For the first time, he seemed uncertain.
Vivian smiled slightly.
“That scares you, doesn’t it?”
He was taken away.
Edmund looked around the ballroom.
“We never finished our dance.”
Vivian heard the music.
“No.”
He offered his hand.
She stared at it.
“This is ridiculous.”
“Probably.”
“There are federal agents everywhere.”
“They attended the first one too.”
She laughed.
Then took his hand.
They danced.
No audience mattered.
No alliance.
No contract.
Just two people standing in the wreckage of decisions other people had made for them.
Edmund held her gently.
“What happens tomorrow?” he asked.
“My father wakes up.”
“Hopefully.”
“My mother starts explaining fifteen years of terrible choices.”
“That could take a while.”
“Gabriel learns how to be alive again.”
“And us?”
Vivian looked into his eyes.
“I haven’t decided.”
He nodded.
“I’ll wait.”
That answer mattered.
Then the ballroom doors opened.
Gabriel entered.
His face was pale.
“What?”
He held up his phone.
“Mercer wasn’t bluffing.”
“About what?”
“The others.”
Vivian released Edmund.
Gabriel showed them a message intercepted from the network.
Every remaining cell had received the same instruction.
BURN EVERYTHING.
Edmund read further.
His face changed.
Vivian saw one final line beneath it.
ONE BULLET REMAINS.
TARGET AUTHORIZED.
May you like
And beside the words was a photograph of Vivian standing in the ballroom at that exact moment.
Someone was still watching them.
