My Second Marriage with the Mafia Kingpin novel Chapter 206

Chapter 206: Welcome Aboard

Minutes earlier, when the explosion finally revealed the ship’s location, Dominion didn’t waste another second.

However, even while speeding toward it, they quickly realized the cargo ship was moving abnormally fast — almost impossibly fast.

Luckily for them, the vessel somehow slowed down after a while, allowing Dominion to finally close the distance.

Inside one of the aircraft, Lucian — fully equipped in tactical gear — held a pair of binoculars while surveying the cargo ship below.

The first thing he saw was chaos.

People were running everywhere. Some were dragging injured men, likely victims of the explosion, while others scrambled in panic across the deck.

"Turn," he ordered coldly. "I don’t see her."

Without hesitation, the pilot adjusted their angle.

Because they were flying in complete darkness, the aircraft maintained a higher altitude to avoid alerting the enemy while Dominion’s forces caught up.

"Stop."

Lucian leaned securely near the open side door.

Through the binoculars, he spotted several men near the boat deck. Large men stood on both sides while one figure remained trapped in the middle.

Rus.

According to Gin, Ashley’s original abductors had mentioned that one of their own had gone to assist her. Since Dominion already possessed the abductors’ profiles, Lucian immediately recognized the man.

"I have visual on them," Lucian said while pressing against his earpiece, calmly relaying directions for his men to target and approach.

But midway through speaking, his eyes narrowed.

Slowly, he lifted the binoculars again.

Then, his breathing stopped.

The voices in his earpiece faded away entirely as he finally caught sight of a familiar figure standing atop the stacked containers.

"I found her," he whispered.

His eyes widened as his heartbeat slammed violently against his chest.

The moment he said those words, the aircraft immediately shifted course and moved directly toward the ship.

Lucian studied her carefully.

Her messy hair, the crumpled tissue she had ripped from her nose, the way she talked wildly and covered her ears like a complete maniac, pretending to panic.

And then, more and more armed men began surrounding her: men on the containers, men in the aisles.

Men were flooding in from every direction.

Ashley stood there completely trapped, surrounded.

Yet she wasn’t crying. She wasn’t begging. She wasn’t even panicking.

She simply stood there while her eyes darted around, and knowing her, Lucian understood immediately.

She was calculating, thinking of a way out.

"You..." Lucian breathed out quietly as a lump formed in his throat.

It wasn’t merely her dangerous situation that stirred something painful inside him.

Sure, seeing her cornered was one thing.

But what truly made his chest tighten was that look on her face.

That look of someone expecting absolutely nothing from anyone.

No hope.

No trust.

Only calculation.

The look of someone who had already accepted she had to survive alone.

Slowly, Lucian lowered the binoculars. Then he turned toward the men inside the helicopter and extended one hand.

One of them immediately nodded and handed him the heavy handheld launcher.

Lucian leaned his back securely against the aircraft doorway, steadying his footing against the violent wind.

He rested the bazooka over his shoulder before carefully aiming toward the cargo deck. Far enough from Ashley not to hurt her, but close enough to tell her something important.

She didn’t have to figure everything out alone.

Not this time.

She had already trusted her abductors enough to place a tracker on herself. So she could trust that they would come.

That he would come.

No matter what.

The moment Lucian prepared to fire, the men inside the helicopter shifted away from the blast radius. Then, a sharp yet distant sound sliced through the night sky.

BOOM!

The fire already raging on one side of the cargo vessel exploded even further as another section erupted from an outside strike.

Men near the impact zone were blown away instantly. Others didn’t even realize they had been caught in the explosion until the flames consumed them.

Meanwhile, the people surrounding Ashley ducked instinctively from the blast.

Though the fire was far from them, the deafening shockwave still thundered through their ears while scorching heat rode the violent wind.

The moment they recovered and looked toward the new explosion, they heard rotor blades roaring in the sky.

Everyone looked upward, only to spot a helicopter descending over the cargo ship.

And standing beside the open aircraft door was a man.

The flames engulfing the vessel reflected within his dark eyes.

Those eyes widened even further the moment they landed on Ashley sitting there like a dramatic damsel in distress.

For one brief second, everything went still.

Some men stared in stunned silence. Others parted their lips in disbelief.

CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!

Phew.

THUD!

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