Chapter 6 - The Debt
Jude stood in the center of the penthouse, adjusting the cuffs of his black dress shirt. He slowly turned his intense, dark gaze back to Elena.
"He owed me two million dollars," Jude stated, his raspy voice breaking the suffocating silence.
Elena trembled, tears streaming down her face. "I don't have it, sir. I have nothing. He drained our joint accounts. My car is repossessed. Please... if you are going to kill me, just let my daughter go. Drop her off at a fire station. Just don't hurt her."
Jude didn't pull the gun. He didn't step aggressively toward her.
He looked down at little Brinley. The three-year-old girl had walked back over to the desk, completely unbothered by the violence. She was holding her brown teddy bear, looking up at Jude with pure, innocent trust.
Jude slowly walked over and crouched down, bringing himself to eye level with the child.
"Do you like your bear?" Jude asked softly.
"Yes," Brinley smiled. "His name is Captain. He protects me from the bad monsters."
Jude looked at the eyepatch on the bear, and then gently touched the violent scar on his own cheek. The terrifying, ruthless syndicate boss completely melted away, leaving a deeply broken, profoundly lonely man who had forgotten what unconditional innocence felt like.
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He stood up and looked directly at Elena.
👉 What shocking, impossible offer is the mafia boss about to make?
