Chapter 6 - THE TRAITOR WITHINInside the heavily reinforced panic room, the tension was thick enough to cut with a knife. Vera was busy patching Dante’s shoulder wound with a medical kit tucked behind the emergency supply shelf, while Elina sat on a leather bench, rocking baby Leo gently in her arms.
"The breach was too clean," Dante said through gritted teeth as Vera tightened a gauze bandage. "They bypassed the outer laser grid in under forty seconds. Only three people alive know the exact master code to that sector."
Vera’s hands stopped on the bandage. She looked up slowly, horror dawning in her eyes. "Dante... no. You can't mean—"
"Marco," Dante finished flatly, his eyes narrowing into cold slits. "Or someone who had direct access to his terminal."
Elina looked between them, her mind racing. "You think one of your own men sold you out? But why tonight? Why right after I walked into the restaurant?"
"Because," a voice crackled through the emergency intercom speaker on the wall, "the trap wasn't meant to fail, Boss."
The blood drained from Dante's face. He spun toward the console.
"Marco," Dante growled, his voice dropping into a lethal register.
"Sorry, Dante," Marco’s voice replied over the static, sounding entirely too calm for a man surrounded by an active firefight. "The Moretti family offered a very generous retirement package. And frankly, the kingdom you built is rotting from the head down. Opening the door for your 'dead' wife’s twin sister was just the final touch to prove you’ve gone soft."
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Before Dante could slam his fist into the control panel to override the security lock, a high-pitched digital whine filled the room.
Self-destruct sequence initiated in sector four, a robotic automated voice chimed. Oxygen purge in three minutes.
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