Justice, in my world, wasn’t a courtroom.It was a room without windows.
“All clear,” Gianni stated.
“Good,” Raze replied, hands flying over wires.“Let’s take out the trash.”
He armed the detonators — a half dozen of them hidden throughout the warehouse.Enough C4 to turn the whole building into a blazing crater.
We walked out together, boots crunching over glass.Behind us, the dead Russians lay scattered in the dark like broken chess pieces.
The night air hit my face as we stepped into the open.Cold.Clean.Free of their filthy stench.
Raze held up the trigger device, grinning like a lunatic.
“You boys ready?”
Gianni smirked.“Do it.”
Raze pressed the button.
The warehouse didn’t explode so much as detonate.
A thunderclap tore through the night, shaking the ground beneath our feet.Fire burst outward, swallowing windows, doors, steel beams.The roof lifted, then collapsed with a metallic howl.
Flames roared skyward, lighting up the whole block.Smoke billowed like a beast clawing its way free.
The Russians were buried in their own ruin.Trapped beneath the weight of the consequences they’d believed would never touch them.
I stared at the inferno and felt… not peace.But something close.A small slice of justice carved out of hell.
“For Alessio,” Gianni murmured.
“For all of us,” I answered.
Raze looked like a choirboy who’d found religion in destruction.
Gianni moved with precision, pulling us back toward the cars waiting in the hills.
Archie picked his way over the uneven ground like the earth personally offended him, probably terrified he was going to scuff his damn shoes.“This… was more impressive than I expected.”
I didn’t answer.My eyes stayed fixed on the flames consuming the heart of the warehouse.Fire exploded through the wreckage, devouring every scrap of evidence.Smoke billowed thick and black into the night sky like a funeral pyre built for devils.
The heat singed my skin.The smell burned my lungs.The destruction warmed my bones.But underneath all of it — beneath the victory — was Alessio’s face.Gone too soon.
Semyon’s death didn’t fix that.But it honored it.
Raze walked up beside me, soot smeared across his cheek.“Beautiful, isn’t it?”
I didn’t answer.
He nudged me.“You feel better?”
“No,” I whispered.“But I feel… done.”
Raze grinned.“Now we find the girl?”
I nodded.“Now we find the girl.”
50