The Widow’s Blood Debt
He stumbled, his cane slipping on the wet steel.
"Father!" I cried out.
He fell. Not into the water, but backwards, onto the catwalk of the crane. He lay there, a small, dark shadow against the night sky, the life finally fleeing the body that had caused so much pain.
The silence that followed was absolute.
I looked at Julian. He was covered in oil and rainwater, his eyes wide with shock. I looked at Leo, who simply nodded once before disappearing back into the shadows of the warehouse.
The war for the family was over. The Old Butcher was dead. The Vane debt was, in a strange way, repaid by a brother who had finally chosen a side.