Chapter 4 - The Vanishing Mistress
The sound of automatic gunfire reverberated down the concrete stairwell like rolling thunder as Marco guided Elena through the narrow emergency corridors. Each deafening explosion echoed through Elena’s bones, each blast making her heart wrench in terror for Dante. But she forced her legs to move, breathing through the sharp Braxton Hicks contractions tightening across her abdomen.
They reached the sub-basement garage, where a black reinforced Suburban sat with its engine idling, headlights off. Two armed security guards stood near the rear door, scanning the shadows with tactical flashlights.
""Get inside, Mrs. Moretti! Quick!"" Marco urged, opening the heavy bulletproof door.
""Wait!"" Elena stopped abruptly, turning toward the reinforced steel door of the detention cellar twenty feet away. The heavy electronic lock was smoking, severed wires dangling loosely from the keypad. The heavy door stood ajar.
""Marco, where is Victoria?"" Elena demanded, her adrenaline surging.
Marco cursed under his breath, raising his rifle and moving toward the open doorway. ""Lev was stationed right outside. Lev!""
There was no answer. Inside the dimly lit concrete cell, Dante’s loyal lieutenant Lev lay unconscious on the floor, blood pooling from a blunt-force head wound. The zip-ties that had bound Victoria to the steel chair were cleanly sliced on the floor. Beside them lay a pair of surgical shears taken from the medical supply kit.
""She played dead or had an inside accomplice,"" Marco hissed into his radio. ""Base, we have a breach in sub-level two! Prisoner Hayes is loose!""
Static hissed back. The communication lines were dead.
Suddenly, a sharp, cold voice sliced through the garage shadows. ""Don't move, darling. Or the heir dies before she takes her first breath.""
Elena froze. Victoria stepped out from behind a massive concrete support pillar. Her crimson dress was torn and smeared with dust, but her hand was remarkably steady as she leveled a suppressed pistol directly at Elena’s belly. Standing right behind Victoria was one of Dante’s personal garage mechanics—a man named Thomas who had serviced the family vehicles for five years. He was holding a remote detonator.
""Thomas... you sold us out?"" Marco shouted, raising his rifle.
""Drop the weapon, Marco, or Victoria pulls the trigger,"" Thomas said coldly. ""Luca Moretti pays three times what Dante offers. A man has to think about his retirement.""
Marco slowly lowered the muzzle of his rifle, his jaw working in fury. ""You won't make it past the city limits, Hayes. The Don will hunt you to the edge of the earth.""
""Dante won't be hunting anyone,"" Victoria sneered, her eyes gleaming with manic triumph. ""Luca brought eighty mercenary operators into the building. Right now, your precious husband is being carved up in his own penthouse. And as for you, Elena..."" Victoria took two slow steps forward, her finger curling tighter around the trigger. ""You thought you won. You thought you could have his name, his child, his legacy. But everything Dante built belongs to Luca and me now.""
""You really think Luca loves you?"" Elena said, forcing her voice to remain ice-cold despite the paralyzing terror gripping her heart. ""You’re a tool to him, Victoria. Just like you were to your father. The moment he takes this city, you think he’s going to share power with a Hayes? You're an expendable pawn in a fratricide.""
Victoria’s composure cracked for a fraction of a second, an ugly sneer warping her lips. ""Die, you little bitch.""
Before Victoria could squeeze the trigger, the overhead sprinkler system suddenly burst alive, unleashing a deluge of industrial-pressure water across the garage. In the sudden curtain of blinding spray, Marco lunged forward, tackling Thomas to the concrete floor before he could depress the detonator.
A gunshot cracked through the cavernous garage, the bullet ricocheting violently off the armored frame of the Suburban inches from Elena’s head. Elena dropped behind the open vehicle door, grabbing a heavy brass fire extinguisher mounted to the wall. As Victoria pivoted to re-aim through the blinding spray, Elena swung the heavy canister with every ounce of maternal fury in her body, smashing it squarely into Victoria’s wrist.
May you like
The pistol clattered across the wet concrete. Victoria shrieked in agony, clutching her broken wrist, but before Marco could secure her, Thomas detonated a flash-bang grenade against the far wall. A blinding white burst and concussive roar threw everyone off balance.
When the smoke cleared into the cascading water, both Thomas and Victoria had vanished into the utility maintenance tunnel leading out to the Chicago river canal.
