Chapter 4 - The Boss's Wrath
Aleandro Romano stood framed in the library entrance. He wasn't alone. Flanking him were four of his elite personal enforcers, their weapons drawn and leveled with terrifying precision. Aleandro’s pristine white dress shirt was rolled to the elbows, his knuckles bruised, and his dark eyes burned with an icy, lethal fury that sucked every trace of oxygen from the room.
Victor froze, his hand hovering mere inches from Noah's camera.
The guard holding Ivy immediately dropped his hands, letting the little girl fall to the carpet. Ivy scrambled across the floor on her hands and knees, burying her face into my chest, sobbing uncontrollably. I wrapped my arms around her, rocking her violently, shielding her with my own body as I watched the standoff unfold.
""Aleandro,"" Victor stammered, pulling his hands back slowly and raising them in a posture of surrender. ""This isn't what it looks like. I caught this woman trying to steal from your private study. She was going through your confidential ledgers—""
""Save your breath, Victor,"" Aleandro said softly, his voice deadlier in its quietness than if he had screamed. ""Marco intercepted your communications with the Rossi family ten minutes ago. You used my private satellite relay to confirm a meeting at the southern rail yard tonight.""
Victor’s face went pasty white. The final remnants of his arrogant composure evaporated. ""Aleandro, listen to me! The Rossi family offered three times the margin on the pharmaceutical shipments! We were leaving money on the table! I did it for the organization!""
""You betrayed this family,"" Aleandro stated plainly, walking into the room with slow, measured steps. The carpet silenced his footfalls, making him seem like an apex predator stalking prey in an enclosed cage. ""And you brought violence into my home, against a defenseless woman and a child who showed me more humanity in thirty seconds than you have in fifteen years.""
Aleandro reached down and picked up the battered black camera from the table. He looked at the open film door, his sharp eyes catching the metallic sheen of the hidden micro-drive taped inside. His jaw tightened until the muscles ticked.
""Noah Ellis,"" Aleandro murmured, reading the faded sticker on the strap. He looked up, his gaze meeting mine on the floor. ""The young architectural photographer who supposedly jumped from the Drake Hotel three years ago.""
""He didn't jump,"" I sobbed, tears cutting through the dust on my face. ""Victor threw him. Noah took pictures of Victor selling your manifests to the Rossis. He died trying to bring that drive to you.""
Aleandro’s eyes turned toward Victor, and in that single glance, Victor’s death sentence was written.
""Take the two men down to the cellar,"" Aleandro instructed his guards without breaking eye contact with Victor. ""As for my second-in-command... strip him of his weapons and escort him to the garage. We are going to have a long conversation about loyalty.""
""Aleandro, please!"" Victor begged, falling to his knees as two massive bodyguards pinned his arms behind his back, slapping heavy zip-ties around his wrists. ""We grew up together! You can't do this over a nameless photographer and a servant girl!""
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""His name was Noah Ellis,"" Aleandro snarled, leaning down until his face was inches from Victor's terrified eyes. ""And in this house, nobody touches my people.""
With a single flick of Aleandro's wrist, the guards dragged the screaming, thrashing traitor out into the hallway, slamming the heavy doors behind them until the house returned to an eerie, ringing silence.
