CHAPTER 4 — THE DEVIL THEY HAD FORGOTTEN
CHAPTER 4 — THE DEVIL THEY HAD FORGOTTEN
For several long seconds, no one moved.
Rain battered the enormous windows.
Lightning illuminated Vincent Russo's weathered face.
He looked older than Marcus remembered.
But not weaker.
If anything...
Age had made him more dangerous.
Cassandra recovered first.
"You are trespassing."
Vincent chuckled.
"I remember when people threatened me with bullets."
She folded her arms.
"This is my home."
"No."
He slowly looked around the mansion.
"It never was."
One of Cassandra's guards raised his rifle.
Vincent never even glanced at him.
The guard suddenly cried out.
A red laser settled on his forehead.
Then another.
Then another.
Hidden snipers.
Outside.
Inside.
Every entrance.
Every balcony.
The Mercer estate had already been surrounded.
Vincent spoke softly.
"Tell your men to lower their weapons."
No one moved.
He sighed.
"I was hoping we'd all grow old peacefully."
A deafening crack echoed through the foyer.
The guard's rifle exploded from his hands, shot apart by a sniper's precision round.
The man collapsed screaming, clutching shattered fingers.
No one else resisted.
Meanwhile...
Gabriel burst through a service door with Lily in his arms.
Rain poured across the rear gardens.
Three black SUVs waited beyond the hedge.
Freedom.
Almost.
Then headlights flooded the driveway.
Another convoy.
Six armored vehicles.
Gabriel stopped.
His face hardened.
"They're early."
The lead vehicle door opened.
A tall man wearing a charcoal suit stepped out.
Silver hair.
Black gloves.
No expression.
Victor Salazar.
He looked directly at Lily.
"There she is."
Gabriel whispered one word.
"Run."
Lily sprinted toward the woods.
Salazar didn't chase her.
Instead...
He smiled.
"You think she was always the target?"
Gabriel froze.
"What?"
Salazar slowly clapped.
"You still don't understand."
His smile widened.
"The child wasn't purchased because she's valuable."
Gabriel's pulse quickened.
"What are you talking about?"
"She's bait."
Across the Atlantic...
Marcus's encrypted phone rang.
Unknown number.
He answered instantly.
Salazar's voice filled the cabin.
"Good evening, Mr. Mercer."
Marcus said nothing.
"I've been looking forward to meeting you again."
"What do you want?"
"You."
Marcus's expression never changed.
"You've already taken my money."
"I don't care about your money."
"You've threatened my daughter."
"I don't care about your daughter either."
For the first time...
Marcus looked genuinely surprised.
Salazar laughed.
"The only reason she's alive..."
"...is because I knew you would come home."
Silence.
Then Salazar delivered the truth that changed everything.
"You think Cassandra betrayed you."
"She did."
"No."
"Then explain."
"Cassandra works for someone."
Marcus slowly stood.
The cabin suddenly felt much smaller.
"Who?"
Salazar's voice became almost respectful.
"The man you buried fifteen years ago."
Marcus's blood turned cold.
Impossible.
He had watched that man die.
He had identified the body himself.
Salazar whispered,
"Dead men don't usually spend fifteen years planning revenge."
The call ended.
Daniel stared across the cabin.
"What happened?"
Marcus looked out the window into the endless storm.
The expression on his face frightened even the people who had served him for decades.
Quietly...
Almost to himself...
He spoke a name he had not uttered in fifteen years.
"Adrian Black."
Daniel's face lost all color.
"That's impossible."
Marcus didn't answer.
May you like
Because somewhere deep inside...
He was no longer certain it was.
