After Prison, I Became The Chairman Of Olympus

007: Thirty Seconds

"And where exactly did the two of you think you were running off to?"

Vanessa's voice rang out across the cracked pavement, sweet and mocking, heels clicking slow against the concrete like she had all the time in the world. "Thought you could hide from me, huh? You old fools."

She took three strides toward the elderly couple, smiling the whole way, Nolan and four heavily muscled men falling into step behind her — tattoos crawling up their necks, knuckles scarred. Derek's parents had made it as far as the curb, a single worn suitcase already open on the ground beside them, spilled clothes and photographs scattering in the wind like they'd been packing to run the second Vanessa's car turned the corner.

Derek's father pulled his wife back gently, positioning his own body between her and Vanessa's approach, an old man's shoulders squaring against something he had no chance of stopping.

"Please," he said, voice trembling but not breaking. "We don't want any trouble. Whatever this is about—"

"Oh, you don't know yet, do you?" Vanessa's smile spread slow, delighted at the discovery. "Your precious son is out. Walking around Crown City in some borrowed suit, playing important, and he didn't even bother telling his own parents first." She tutted, mock-sympathetic. "That must sting. Five years, and you find out from me."

The old woman's face went white. "Derek's — out? He's out, and he didn't—"

"Guess he had better things to do," Vanessa said, shrugging, savoring the shock rippling across both their faces. "Don't worry, though. I'll have him back inside before the month's out. Eight years this time. Maybe ten. Give you two something to actually look forward to — a reunion he can't run from."

"Please," the old woman sobbed, tears sliding freely now, sinking to her knees on the broken pavement. "Just leave us alone. We've done nothing—"

"You raised him," Vanessa said, and shoved her — hard, both palms flat against a woman old enough to be her mother, sending her sprawling onto the concrete. "That's more than enough."

She followed it with a kick, heel driving into the woman's side, casual as swatting a fly.

"Your whole family's trash," she said, straightening, smoothing her dress. "Always was. Your son isn't worth the dirt on my shoes."

Her gang laughed behind her, low and ugly.

"Nobody messes with Iron Talon in this neighborhood," Nolan called out, grinning. "You people should've known that before you ever crossed us."

Derek came out of nowhere.

Vanessa never saw the hand coming until it connected — a crack across her cheek so hard it spun her half around before she hit the ground, palms scraping concrete, a stunned silence dropping over her entire gang like someone had cut a wire.

"Shut your filthy mouth," Derek said, voice low and shaking with something far past anger.

He didn't wait to see her reaction. He was already on his knees beside his parents, pulling his mother up into his arms.

"Mom. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry I'm late."

She stared at him like she couldn't trust her own eyes, tears sliding faster now, hands coming up to touch his face, his jaw, like she needed to confirm he was solid, real, actually there. "Derek — baby, are you hurt, are you—"

"I'm fine." His voice cracked despite himself. He turned to his father, who was still trying to stand, still trying to shield a wife who no longer needed shielding from anyone. "Dad. This is on me. All of it. Everything you two went through — that's mine to carry, not yours."

"How did you find us," his father asked, breathless, gripping Derek's arm like he might vanish. "How did you even know to look—"

"Doesn't matter." Derek helped him upright. "You need to get out of here. This isn't safe. Iron Talon runs this whole block—"

"Fuck." Nolan was already hauling Vanessa up by the arm, her lip split and bleeding where her own teeth had caught it in the fall. "You hit her. You actually hit my woman."

Vanessa spat blood onto the pavement, eyes blazing. "You're going to regret that, Derek. Unless you've got five hundred grand lying around to make this right, I will never—"

"Get out." Derek rose slowly, planting himself squarely between his parents and the eight of them. "Get out of here, before I forget my mother's standing right behind me."

Nolan stepped forward, chest puffed. "Or what, exact—"

Derek's fist caught him mid-sentence, dropping him flat before the word finished leaving his mouth.

"One more word," Derek said, quiet now, quieter than anything he'd said all day, "and I swear to God, I end you both right here."

"Who the hell do you think you are?" Vanessa shrieked, blood at her chin, still somehow unable to stop her own mouth even now.

Derek stepped toward her. She stumbled back, genuine fear flickering through the fury for the first time.

"Get him," she snapped at her gang, voice cracking with panic. "What are you all standing there for? Get him!"

Darius arrived at exactly that moment, three bodyguards fanning out beside him like they'd rehearsed the entrance a hundred times.

The first man charged Darius head-on. Darius caught his wrist mid-swing, twisted once, sharp and clean — a wet snap of bone, and the man went down screaming.

The second swung for Derek. Derek turned into it, driving his knee straight up into the man's ribs, folding him in half with a single sound like a dropped sack of concrete.

The third barely closed half the distance before Derek's foot caught him flat in the chest, sending him sprawling backward into a trash can hard enough to dent it.

Thirty seconds. Four men down, groaning, one clutching a wrist bent at an angle it wasn't built for.

"How—" Nolan was scrambling backward on the pavement, barely upright, staring at the wreckage of his own gang scattered across the sidewalk. "How is that even possible?"

Derek shook out his hand, breath even despite the adrenaline still burning through him. Five years inside hadn't broken him.

It had built something Vanessa and her entire crew were about to learn they couldn't afford to test twice.

He turned toward Vanessa, and something in his face made even the anger drain briefly from her expression, replaced by something closer to real fear.

"Derek." His mother's hand caught his sleeve, gentle, steady despite everything she'd just survived. "Don't. Please. You just got out. We haven't had one hour together yet — don't let her take this moment from us too."

Derek's jaw tightened. He held Vanessa's gaze a long, silent moment.

"Thirty seconds," he said finally. "You and your dog get out of my sight. Both of you. Now."

Nolan didn't wait to be told twice. He grabbed Vanessa's arm and they ran.