Chapter 18 - The Sovereign’s Judgment
The silence in the banquet hall was absolute, broken only by the hum of the red emergency strobes and the heavy, ragged breathing of the terrified men trapped at the table.
At the head of the table sat Victor Vance—no, not me, but a cartel lieutenant bearing the same name as the alias I had used for five years, a bitter little coincidence that made a dark, sardonic smile touch my lips. This man, Victor Delgado, fancied himself the supreme commander of the region. Right now, he looked like a cornered rat staring down a starving wolf.
"Who... who the hell are you?" Delgado stammered, gripping the edge of the mahogany table so hard his knuckles turned white. "Do you know who we are? We control this entire sector!"
I walked slowly down the center aisle of the hall, my boots clicking rhythmically against the stone floor. Kael and Thorne flanked me, their weapons trained on the shivering men around the table.
"You control nothing," I said calmly, stopping ten feet away from the head of the table. "You are squatting in a house of cards built on land I lease to the dead."
Delgado swallowed hard, trying to summon a shred of his former bravado. "If you kill us, the Vanguard will hunt you to the ends of the earth! We have thousands of soldiers!"
I let out a low, cold laugh, pulling out a small, encrypted tablet from my tactical vest. "Your soldiers surrendered twenty minutes ago, Delgado. Your accounts were drained while you were eating dinner. And your communications hub? It’s currently broadcasting a complete confession of your cartel's criminal operations straight to every federal law enforcement agency in the country."
Delgado’s jaw dropped. He realized, with sudden, crushing clarity, that he wasn't fighting a rival gang; he was standing before the executioner of an entire ecosystem.
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"What do you want?" Delgado whispered, his voice trembling uncontrollably. "Name your price. Money? Territory? Power?"
I stared at him, my eyes narrowing into a lethal glare. "I want what I've always wanted. Absolute order. And anyone who mistakes my peace for weakness learns the true cost of sovereign vengeance."
