109

The people in the room looked at each other with brotherly affection for a few seconds, especially Natalia, who did not expect to receive the news that she was a grandmother. She was overcome with emotion, and hearing the children cry brought tears to her eyes.

Nathan was about to do something crazy, but he couldn't risk Suzanne or his children. Even his mother and grandfather could suffer because of his father's stubbornness.

Knowing his father, if any of them left the circle, it would make him anxious. He couldn't make a false move and have that crazy man start shooting, but he would have to try...

“Where the hell is the damn police?” Jarek thought angrily, his body so tense that it felt like it was going to break.

“Let me go see our children...” Nathan pleaded.

“I said no,” Richard said seriously, to the astonished looks of those present.

“Damn you, Richard, you don't want to lose,” Jarek growled, wishing he had brought a gun with him, but he didn't want to scare anyone.

“Please, let me go see the babies. They must be hungry or need a diaper change,” Suzanne pleaded.

Richard clenched his teeth in anger and frustration. He no longer knew what to do without putting the lives of those present at risk. Natalia approached the father of her children, trying to soften him up.

He sighed, because she was his weakness.

“Please let me go see your children, your grandchildren,” she asked sweetly. “They are innocent of all this, Rich.”

He didn't want to give in, but his wife was everything to him, even Nathan and the little one who had died years ago. Although bitterness and resentment had marked his life locked up in that filthy prison, he still had a little humanity left.

He rolled his eyes and sighed, finally giving in.

“You can go, but go quickly and don't try anything funny or I won't hesitate to shoot,” he said seriously, causing Suzanne to nod quickly, fearfully.

His words were cold and seemingly devoid of emotion, but deep down he knew that the babies needed their mother and therefore knew that with them present he would not dare to shoot.

He couldn't believe that his desire to kill Jarek Stone was being thwarted by the presence of his grandchildren. Was he finally feeling compassion? Had his heart of ice begun to feel warmth after all this time?

Suzanne managed to calm the little ones, but she didn't dare go back into the living room, not with Richard armed and posing a threat to everyone.

“Come on, I don't have all day!” complained the ex-convict, after a few minutes of exchanging glances with everyone.

Police sirens sounded and Richard's body tensed, taking a step back as he realized what awaited him: the rest of his life behind bars.

“Damn you... You called the police!” he accused Jarek, who rolled his eyes.

“You won't escape justice this time, Richard,” said the old man in a steely voice. “You have to pay for every crime you've committed!”

“What crimes, you damn bastard? The only crime I committed was falling in love with a rich girl, my Natalia,” Richard thought bitterly.

Several police cars pulled up outside Nathan's mansion. Nathan looked at his grandfather with an expression of fury and disbelief and at his father, whose forehead was beaded with sweat for the first time.

«I'm sorry, Dad, but I can't let you hurt my family,» he thought with a grimace.

“Mr. Lerner, come out with your hands up!” shouted one of the officers through a megaphone. “You'd better not resist and surrender immediately!”

Richard clenched his jaw tightly, trying to contain the whirlwind of emotions that was sweeping through him. His chest burned with fear and his breathing was heavy, as if each inhalation could betray his fragility.

If the others sensed his weakness, they would be at a disadvantage, and there was something he was not willing to repeat under any circumstances: the torture of prison.

That place had taken away almost all of his humanity. The endless nights, the beatings, the humiliation, the crushing loneliness... it had all left him scarred like a wounded animal. He couldn't bear it again.

However, he knew that Nathan would not be willing to give him a chance, much less Natalia, and Jarek Strong was out of the question. That man looked at him with the crooked smile of someone who knows he is in control of the situation, certain that Richard Lerner would be just another stain on his family's history, a bitter memory that must be erased.

Jarek always won. He always had the last word. And this time, it seemed, would be no exception.

“Turn yourself in to the police and end this circus, Richard,” Jarek said coldly, a look of contempt on his lips.

Richard let out a dry laugh, smiling sarcastically.

“Come on, wipe that damn smile off your ugly face,” Jarek growled, clenching his jaw. “Turn yourself in... or I'll finish you off with my own hands.”

Richard's smile vanished immediately, replaced by an icy, defiant stare.

“Fine,” he replied coldly. “Let's see if you have the guts to back up those words. Come on, dare to kill me, you damn old bastard.”

His hand trembled slightly as he squeezed the trigger. But Nathan was faster: he lunged at him and the bullet whistled dangerously close.

Seizing the moment, Jarek lunged at Richard with unexpected strength for his age, hitting him on the arm and pushing with all his weight to disarm him.

The struggle was brutal. Richard growled as he tried to keep his hand steady, fighting to hold on to the gun, while Jarek squeezed his wrist with contained rage. They both fell against a table, which shook and collapsed with a crash. Glasses and bottles crashed to the floor, shattering into a thousand pieces.

“Let go of it!” Jarek roared, sweating and gritting his teeth.

Richard resisted with all his strength, pushing with his other hand, trying to free his arm. The gun moved dangerously between them, pointing sometimes at one and then at the other.

Nathan, still panting from the fall, staggered to his feet and ran toward the two men. Without thinking, he threw himself on Richard, grabbing his arm and managing, with a heart-wrenching effort, to wrench the gun from his fingers.

Richard let out a scream of frustration, pounding the floor with his fist, while Jarek pinned him to the floor, pressing his knee against his back.

“It's over, Richard,” Jarek growled hoarsely, panting. “You're finished.”

Nathan, now holding the gun, pointed it directly at his chest. His face was tense, his breathing rapid, but his gaze was steady.

“You'll never hurt anyone again,” he said, without taking the barrel of the gun away.

Richard, immobilized, felt a strange impulse: a mixture of laughter and tears that choked him. Would it all end like this again? Defeated, humiliated, without having been able to prove his innocence?

“You think that's it?” he said in a voice broken with despair. “You think you've won?”