Chapter 7 - The True Traitor
The final confrontation happened in the foyer. Sal was standing there, his gun aimed at my study door. He thought I was inside.
"Come out, Damon!" he shouted. "It’s over. Paige is gone, but she told us exactly where your assets are hidden. You’re done."
I stepped out of the shadows behind him, my own weapon leveled at his head. "You really should have checked the security logs, Sal. I knew you were coming before you even left your house."
Sal spun around, his eyes wide. "Damon... look, it’s just business."
"No," I said, pulling the trigger. The shot was muffled, precise. Sal dropped, defeated by his own hubris.
Paige emerged from the doorway, her face twisted in rage. She had been hiding, waiting to see who won. "You bastard," she screamed. "You ruined everything! I was going to be the queen of this city!"
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I looked at her with nothing but pity. "You were never the queen. You were just a ghost who wanted to be alive. And I don't negotiate with ghosts."
I signaled my men to take her away. She wouldn't be killed—that was too easy. She would be exiled, stripped of her name, her money, and her influence. She would spend the rest of her life in obscurity, exactly what she feared most.
