Chapter 3 - The Price of Trust
I shoved Sophia into the hidden panic room behind the bookshelves, pulling Emma in after her. "Stay there," I barked, grabbing the submachine gun I kept beneath the desk.
"Alessandro!" Marco’s voice echoed in the dark. "Don't be a fool. I have the keys to the accounts. I have the men. You're a king without a kingdom."
I didn't answer. I knew the ventilation ducts of this building better than anyone. I knew how to move in the dark. I climbed into the crawlspace, my heart hammering.
I wasn't the man I had been three months ago. I was the man who had seen my son reach out to a hungry child. That flicker of humanity had saved me. It had reminded me that the empire was worth nothing if the foundation was rot.
I dropped down behind Marco, silence as my ally. He was standing by my desk, speaking into a radio. "Secure the woman. Leave the boy. He’s leverage."
Leverage.
The word tasted like bile. I didn't think about business. I didn't think about the docks. I thought about Luca.
I stepped out of the shadows. "You were always a terrible student, Marco. You never understood that the Moretti name isn't on the paper. It’s in the blood."
I didn't give him time to turn. I disarmed him with a precise strike and held the barrel of my gun to his temple. The guards rushed in, but they stopped when they saw their leader held at gunpoint.
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"Drop them," I commanded. My voice wasn't a suggestion. It was a roar that seemed to shake the very foundation of the building.
They dropped their weapons. They knew who I was. They knew the cost of crossing me.
