Chapter 6 - The Ultimate Betrayal and the Final Twist
"The perfect trap is the one you build for yourself, thinking you’re the hunter."Marco dragged Nora down the dark, concrete steps of the basement, his footsteps heavy and uneven due to his injuries. The sound of explosions and gunfire muffled above them as they reached a heavy, steel blast door—the estate's panic room.
Marco punched in the security code, and the heavy door hissed open, revealing a reinforced bunker stocked with surveillance monitors and supplies.
"Get inside, Miss Bennett," Marco wheezed, slumping against the door frame. "You’ll be safe here. The walls are six-inch titanium."
Nora stepped inside, her heart breaking for Vincent. She looked at the wall of surveillance monitors. The screens showed various parts of the mansion. She saw Vincent’s men fighting fiercely in the foyer against dozens of masked attackers wearing the Corretti crest. She saw Vincent moving like a shadow, taking down enemies with lethal precision. He was a god of war, but he was outnumbered.
"Marco, we have to help him," Nora said, turning around. "Can we access the automated defense systems from here? Clara told me—"
She stopped.
The heavy steel door of the panic room had clicked shut.
But Marco wasn't inside with her. He was standing on the outside, looking at her through the thick, bulletproof glass window of the door. The bloody, exhausted expression on his face was gone.
Instead, he was smiling. A calm, satisfied, chilling smile.
He pulled a radio from his belt. "Donato. The bird is in the cage. The panic room is locked from the outside. Vincent is completely isolated upstairs. Send in the cleanup crew."
Nora’s blood turned to ice. She rushed to the glass, slamming her hands against it. "Marco! What are you doing?! You’re his right hand! He trusted you!"
Marco chuckled, the sound muffled by the thick glass. "Vincent is a fool, Nora. Just like his father was. His father wanted to go legitimate and cut out the drug trade. Vincent wanted to fight old traditions for the sake of a waitress. The Corretti family offered me twenty million dollars and the entire shipping port operation to drop the security grid tonight. It was an easy choice."
"You... you killed Vincent’s father?" Nora whispered, horror paralyzing her.
"I helped," Marco admitted casually. "And tonight, I finish the Moretti line. Enjoy the show, Miss Bennett. You have a front-row seat to his execution."
Marco turned around and walked up the steps, leaving Nora trapped inside the unbreakable bunker.
Nora fell to her knees, staring at the monitors in absolute despair. On the main screen, Vincent had been pushed back into his private study. He was bleeding from multiple wounds, his ammunition running dangerously low. A group of eight masked men, led by Donato Corretti himself, was closing in on the study doors.
No, Nora thought, tears streaming down her face. No, please. I can't lose him. Not like this.
She frantically searched the panic room for a way out, but it was designed to keep people out—and keep people in. It was a flawless trap.
On the monitor, the study doors were blown open. Vincent was thrown across the room, his gun sliding away out of reach. He sat against his mahogany desk, breathing heavily, covered in blood, looking up at Donato Corretti who walked in, raising a gold-plated revolver to Vincent’s head.
Nora covered her mouth, screaming a silent scream, waiting for the fatal shot.
But on the screen, Donato didn't shoot.
Instead, Donato paused. He looked down at a ringing phone in his hand. He answered it, his expression shifting from triumphant malice to utter, paralyzing confusion.
Then, on the screen, Vincent Moretti did something that made Nora’s heart completely stop.
Vincent slowly wiped the blood from his forehead. He didn't look like a defeated man anymore. He began to laugh. A low, dark, mocking laugh that echoed through the small microphone attached to the study camera.
Vincent stood up, completely ignoring the guns pointed at his chest. He adjusted his torn cuffs.
"Did you really think it would be that easy, Donato?" Vincent’s voice came clearly through the panic room speakers.
Suddenly, the seven masked men behind Donato turned their weapons—not away from Vincent, but directly onto Donato’s back. At the same moment, the door to the study opened, and Marco walked in, his hands cuffed behind his back, pushed by two men in suits Nora had never seen before.
Donato dropped his phone, his hands shaking. "What... what is the meaning of this? Marco, what did you do?"
Vincent walked over to his desk, picked up a fresh cigar, and lit it calmly. "Marco didn't do anything tonight that I didn't permit him to do, Donato. I’ve known Marco was a traitor for two years. He was the one who leaked my father's route. But I needed him alive to find out exactly who in the Commission backed him."
Vincent took a slow puff of his cigar, blowing smoke into Donato’s terrified face. "The contract with the Corretti family was a setup from the beginning. I used the rumor about Nora to force your hand. I knew that if I brought a 'weakness' into my home, you and Marco wouldn't be able to resist taking the bait. This entire attack tonight? I leaked the security codes myself. The men you brought into my house aren't your soldiers, Donato. They are federal agents and my own deep-cover operatives. Your entire family empire was asset-seized by the government twenty minutes ago based on the financial data I provided."
Donato fell to his knees, completely broken. "You... you sacrificed your own home... your own woman..."
"Nora was never in danger," Vincent said coldly. "The panic room is completely safe. And as for you and Marco... you’re going to a place where the sun never shines."
Vincent turned his back on them, looking directly into the security camera lens. He knew she was watching. He smiled—a genuine, warm, and deeply triumphant smile.
"Game over," he whispered to the camera.
The monitors flickered and went black.
Ten minutes later, the heavy blast door hissed open. Vincent stood in the doorway, covered in soot, sweat, and blood, but looking every bit like the king who had just conquered his kingdom.
Nora didn't hesitate. She threw herself into his arms, burying her face in his chest, weeping with relief. "You lied to me. You used me as bait."
"I told you the truth from the very first night, sweetheart," Vincent murmured, his large arms wrapping around her, holding her so tightly she could barely breathe. "I told you that you created a rumor, and I was going to use it. But I forgot to mention one thing."
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Nora looked up into his dark eyes. "What?"
Vincent leaned down, his lips brushing against hers. "The rumor became real. The ninety days are cancelled, Nora. You're never leaving this cage. Because the devil has finally found his queen."
