CHAPTER 5 – THE TRAITOR'S PRICE
CHAPTER 5 – THE TRAITOR'S PRICE
The words echoed through the shattered penthouse.
WE ARE ALREADY INSIDE YOUR HOUSE.
No one moved.
Not Emma.
Not Vivian.
Not even Luca.
Only Dante.
He stared at the photograph for several long seconds before carefully placing it on the table.
"They wanted us to panic," he said quietly.
Luca nodded.
"They succeeded."
Dante's cold gaze swept across every face in the room.
"No."
He slipped on a pair of black leather gloves.
"They made a mistake."
Within minutes, every employee inside Marchetti Tower had been assembled in the underground security level.
Housekeepers.
Drivers.
Chefs.
Bodyguards.
Maintenance workers.
Thirty-eight people stood in complete silence.
Emma watched from behind the glass observation room.
"They all work for you?"
"They all have access."
Dante stepped into the center of the room.
"I'll ask one question."
Nobody breathed.
"Who opened my house to Sergei Volkov?"
Silence.
Dante nodded once.
"I expected that answer."
He turned toward Luca.
"The lights."
Every light shut off.
Darkness swallowed the room.
Gasps erupted.
When the emergency lights flickered back on ten seconds later...
One man was gone.
Officer Keller.
Luca's radio exploded.
"Boss! Basement exit! Keller's running!"
Dante smiled for the first time all day.
"I was hoping he would."
Keller sprinted through the underground parking garage.
His heartbeat pounded in his ears.
He almost reached his car.
Almost.
A black figure stepped from behind a concrete pillar.
Dante.
"You should've kept running," Dante said calmly.
Keller pulled a pistol.
His hands shook too badly to aim.
"I had no choice!"
"You always had one."
"They would've killed my wife!"
Dante lowered his weapon slightly.
"Where is Volkov?"
"I don't know!"
"Liar."
"I swear—"
A gunshot echoed through the garage.
Keller looked down.
Blood spread across his chest.
Confusion crossed his face.
The bullet hadn't come from Dante.
It came from the darkness behind him.
A second shot.
Keller collapsed.
Dante spun toward the shadows.
Nothing.
Only the fading roar of a motorcycle disappearing into the night.
Luca rushed over.
"Professional cleanup."
Dante looked at Keller's body.
"No."
He crouched beside the dead guard.
A small silver coin rested inside Keller's palm.
The wolf's head.
Volkov's signature.
"He wanted us to find this."
Luca frowned.
"A message?"
Dante closed Keller's eyes.
"A warning."
Later that evening...
Emma found Dante alone in the library.
His injured shoulder had begun bleeding again.
"You need another bandage."
"I'm fine."
"No."
She walked toward him carrying the medical kit.
"You aren't."
Without asking permission, she removed his torn jacket.
Dante didn't stop her.
She cleaned the wound in silence.
"It hurts."
"I've had worse."
"I'm not talking about your shoulder."
For the first time that day...
Dante couldn't answer.
Emma gently wrapped the fresh bandage.
"You blame yourself."
"I failed."
"You saved me."
"I let them get close enough."
Emma looked directly into his eyes.
"You can't protect everyone."
His voice was barely above a whisper.
"I only wanted to protect one."
Neither of them realized Luca had paused outside the open door.
He quietly stepped away without interrupting.
May you like
Because he had just heard something the great Dante Marchetti had never admitted.
Not even to himself.
