Chapter 162 Only Relief

Chapter 162 Only Relief
Adrian's POV

The moment her finger tightened around the trigger, instinct took over.

I throw myself sideways. The gunshot explodes through the unfinished building.

Concrete chipped from the pillar behind me, sending dust into the air. Before I could steady myself, another shot rang out.

Then another.

Camille isn't aiming anymore. She was simply firing. Rage had swallowed whatever little reason she has left.

I rolled behind a concrete column, pressing my back against the rough surface. My breathing came in quick bursts as fragments of cement rained down around me.

"Come out, Adrian!" she screams.

Another bullet struck the pillar.

"You said it is over!"

Bang!

"Then die!"

Bang!

The smell of gunpowder spread through the air. My fingers brush against the pistol tucked beneath my jacket.

I don't draw it immediately. Instead, I shut my eyes for the briefest moment.

Darcy.

The image of her sitting in that wheelchair flashed across my mind.

The way she had tried so hard to smile through the pain. The nights she cried when she thought no one could hear. The countless times she apologized for becoming "a burden."

My chest tightened painfully. Another memory follows almost immediately.

Hazel. My little girl.

Surrounded by flames. Her tiny body struggling for air.

An oxygen mask covering almost half her face as machines kept beeping around her hospital bed.

The doctor telling me she almost didn't make it. Something inside me snaps.

Every wound.

Every lie.

Every sleepless night.

Every tear Darcy shed.

Every cry Hazel made.

Every single one of them points back to one person.

Camille.

I clench my jaw so tightly it hurt. For one dangerous second, I want to empty an entire bullets into her.

Not because I'm angry, but because she deserves it.

She deserves to feel every ounce of pain she had forced upon everyone else. My fingers tighten around the grip of my pistol.

Then another thought force its way into my head.

Hazel.

If I pull the trigger with the intention to kill, if I become judge, jury and executioner...

What will people remember?

That Hazel's father murdered her mother.

No.

Hazel had already suffered enough. She don't deserve to carry that stain for the rest of her life.

I inhaled sharply. "No..." I whispers to myself.

"I'm not becoming you."

Another bullet struck inches above my head.

Camille laughs. "What happened? Weren't you so brave just now? You disappoint me!"

I slowly lean to one side, just enough to see her. She's standing in the middle of the open space, hair disheveled, and her clothes is covered in dust.

Her breathing is uneven. The gun trembles in her hand. Her eyes blaze with hate and rage.

She look less like the woman who had built an empire and more like someone desperately trying to stop it from collapsing.

Our eyes met.

She smiled. A frightening smile. "You still can't kill me."

I don't reply her.

"You love me too much."

I slowly raised my pistol.

Her smile widens. "I knew it."

"I don't." The words left my mouth quietly. "I just refuse to become like you."

Her expression changes. For the first time, there's uncertainty.

She fires again.

I move almost simultaneously, I squeeze my own trigger. The shot echoes louder than all the others.

A scream tears through the building.

Camille's body jerks violently before she crash onto her knees. Blood spread quickly across her trousers.

She stare at her legs in disbelief. Then another cry escapes her lips.

I had aimed exactly where I intended.

Not her chest.

Not her head.

Her legs.

She groans as she tried standing but collapsed immediately. Her gun slips from her fingers and skida across the concrete.

She looks up at me. Hatred burned inside her eyes.

"So..." Her voice trembled. "You finally shot me."

"I should've done it the day you hurt Darcy."

I kept my gun trained on her.

"But killing you would've been too easy."

Sirens grew louder.

The next few seconds happens almost at once. Heavy footsteps echoes from every direction.

"Police!"

"Drop your weapon!"

"Don't move!"

Dozens of armed officers pours into the unfinished building. Within moments, red laser sights covers Camille's body from every angle.

Killian enters first. His own pistol remained raised as he scans the surroundings. Behind him came Reynolds.

Julius.

Several tactical officers. Within seconds the building is completely surrounded.

Camille looks around slowly.

One officer. Five. Ten. Twenty.

There is nowhere left to run.

Her empire, men and escape routes. Everything is gone.

She lowers her head and laughs. A weak defeated laughter. Different from before.

Not victorious.

Not confident.

Killian steps closer. "It's over." Another officer moves toward her with handcuffs.

"Camille Carlton, you're under..."

She laughs louder. "Under arrest?" Her shoulders shakes. She lifts her head and looks directly at me.

Her eyes searches mine. Desperately as if looking for something. Anything.

She found none. Only exhaustion and disappointment.

Only the quiet certainty that this woman standing before me is no longer someone I recognize.

She smiles sadly. "You really don't love me anymore."

I didn't answer immediately.

Because once, there had been love.

Enough to build a family.

Enough to build dreams.

Enough to mourn her death.

But that love had died long before today.

Finally I respond. "No."

The single word echoes through the building. "I don't."

Silence follows and she closes her eyes. One tear escapes despite her efforts to stop it.

For the first time since I'd met her, Camille cried. I know and can feel it that it's not fake.

Almost like someone mourning something that had already slipped beyond reach. She wipes the tear away angrily.

Then laughs at herself. "What a joke."

Killian urges the two officers. "Move in."

They cautiously approach her while Camille watches them. Then look back at me one last time.

"You won."

I shake my head. "There are no winners here."

Her smile returns but this time, it's crooked. "You still don't understand me."

Before anyone can react, her hand darts toward the pistol lying beside her.

Several weapons lift simultaneously.

"Don't!" Killian yelled. "Drop it!"

Camille ignore every command. Instead of pointing the gun at the officers, she turns it toward herself.

Everything slowed.

"Camille!" I shout instinctively.

She smiles through tears. "If I live, they'll lock me away." She chuckles.

"I've spent my whole life controlling people. I won't spend the rest of it inside a cage."

Another officer take one cautious step but it doesn't bother her as she never looked at him.

Her eyes remain on me.

"I'd rather die by my own hands than let you hypocrites do it. After all, the life is mine."

I don't nothing. Her finger settles on the trigger.

"Camille!"

This time several voices shouted together.

She smile one final time. The gunshot rings through the building.

Her body fall backward, hitting the ground with a loud thud. The pistol slips from her hand and clatters across the concrete.

Silence.

Complete silence.

No one moved.

No one spoke.

The officers slowly lower their weapons. Killian release a long breath. Reynolds closes his eyes.

I simply stand there.

Looking at the woman I buried once before. This time, there will be no lies.

No fake funeral.

No second chance.

Only the end.

And yet, standing over her lifeless body, I feel nothing that resembles victory.

Only relief.