Chapter 21 - Shadows Beneath the Surface
Even with the wedding behind them and a golden future ahead, the underworld never truly slept. A splinter faction from Chicago, once allied with Rostov, still harbored a desire for revenge over the collapse of the Bratva in the East.
Late one weekend while Leo was away on a brief business trip to Washington D.C. to sign a federal logistics contract with the Department of Transportation, Mave remained at the estate under watch.
Around 2:00 a.m., infrared sensors at the western gate triggered silent alarms. Carmine, now the Chief Security Officer of the Corporation, transmitted a secure alert to Mave: "Mrs. Castiglion, we have perimeter breach in the rear gardens. Small team, roughly four operatives, equipped with signal jammers."
Mave stood up from her desk in the master suite, her expression turning glacial. She was no longer the panicked woman hiding behind a kitchen island. Activating the estate's complete security grid via her personal tablet, she turned on automated floodlights across the grounds.
"Don't take them out immediately, Carmine," Mave commanded smoothly. "Let them enter the glass conservatory zone. I want to know who sent them before we hand them over to the feds."
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Outside, four professional mercenaries from Chicago successfully breached the estate’s glasshouse. Thinking they had bypassed all defenses, they stepped into the center room just as the heavy steel-reinforced exit doors slammed shut behind them.
An automated intercom carried Mave's calm, chilling voice from the main house: "You are trespassing illegally. You have two minutes to drop your weapons and bind your own hands, or the oxygen levels in this greenhouse will drop to minimum threshold."
