Chapter 73 Baptism By Fire

• The night split open with the sound of gunfire. The docks, usually silent but for the crash of waves against the pilings, erupted into a battlefield. Bullets shredded through crates of contraband, the sharp scent of gunpowder mingling with salt air. Men shouted, boots thundering across the planks as Damien’s forces clashed with Henry’s soldiers in a storm of steel and fire.
• Ivy stood in the open, her heartbeat a war drum inside her chest. The pistol Damien had pressed into her palm felt heavier than its weight should allow, as though it carried the burden of a thousand unspoken promises. She had been told not to think, not to hesitate—only to strike.
• And so she did.