Chapter 6 - The Traitor Within
Elara backed away from the desk, her pulse pounding in her ears so violently it drowned out the hum of the backup generators. She raised the pistol with trembling arms, aiming it toward the ceiling grate just as Leandro had instructed.
A screw popped from the vent cover, bouncing off the mahogany desk with a sharp ping. Then another.
With a sudden crash, the heavy metal grate dropped to the floor, and a man dropped down lightly onto the desk, his boots landing with a dull thud. He was dressed in the dark uniform of Leandro’s personal security detail, but his face was twisted into a triumphant, sinister smirk.
It was Mateo—one of the guards who had escorted her into the compound just yesterday.
""Well, well,"" Mateo sneered, drawing a tactical combat knife from his tactical vest. ""The boss's little stray bird. Salvatore promised half a million to whoever delivers you to him alive. He wants to know what Leandro told you before he died.""
""Stay back!"" Elara warned, her voice cracking with terror. ""I’ll shoot!""
Mateo chuckled darkly, stepping off the desk and advancing toward her. ""You don't even have the safety off, sweethea—""
Before he could finish his sentence, the heavy reinforced door of the study exploded inward with a deafening blast of splintering wood and sheared metal.
Leandro lunged into the room like an apex predator.
He didn't draw a weapon. In one fluid, terrifying movement, he closed the distance, grabbed Mateo's knife hand, and twisted it with sickening force. A sharp crack echoed through the room, followed by Mateo’s agonized scream as the blade dropped to the carpet.
Leandro slammed the traitor against the bookshelf, books tumbling around them in a flurry of loose paper. Leandro’s forearm pressed hard against Mateo’s throat, cutting off his air supply.
""Salvatore paid you well to sell out your brothers, Mateo?"" Leandro asked, his voice chillingly quiet.
Mateo gasped for breath, his face turning purple. ""He... he offered... three million... and a captain’s seat...""
""You sold your soul for pocket change,"" Leandro whispered.
With brutal efficiency, Leandro struck Mateo across the temple with the palm of his hand, knocking the traitor completely unconscious. Mateo crumpled to the floor in a lifeless heap.
Leandro turned toward Elara, his chest heaving slightly. His eyes immediately checked her from head to toe, looking for injuries. Finding none, the fierce tension in his shoulders eased. He walked over to her, gently reached out, and took the pistol from her white-knuckled grip, clicking the safety switch into place.
""You did well,"" he murmured, his voice softening. ""You stood your ground.""
Elara let out a ragged breath she hadn't realized she was holding, tears finally spilling down her cheeks. ""He said... he said Salvatore wanted to capture me. Why me? I don't know anything!""
""Because you are my weakness now,"" Leandro confessed, his eyes locked onto hers with startling intensity. ""Salvatore knows that in thirty-two years of life, I have never brought a woman into this house. I have never placed sentries around someone who was not family. By pulling me out of that lake, Elara, you became part of my world. And Salvatore knows the only way to destroy me is to strike at the person who saved me.""
The confession hung in the air, heavy and intimate. Elara looked at the powerful, dangerous man standing before her. He was a ruthless underworld don, feared by thousands, yet looking at him now, she saw only the wounded man she had pulled from the dark water—a man who would burn the world to the ground to keep her safe.
May you like
""Then what do we do?"" she asked softly.
""We stop defending,"" Leandro said, his jaw setting like iron. ""We attack.""
