Chapter 3 - Shadows of the PastWhy would a contractor kidnap an injured dog? Why was there a hollow space filled with venomous vipers right behind a newly built wall? The pieces of a terrifying puzzle were beginning to fit together, but the picture they painted made no sense.
I didn't wait for the police. I grabbed my heavy flashlight, loaded my car, and drove straight to Marcusās workshop on the desolate outskirts of town. Rain hammered against my windshield, mirroring the storm raging inside my chest.
When I arrived at the rusted industrial compound, the dark grey van was parked outside, its engine still ticking warm.
I crept toward the side window of the corrugated iron shed. The scent of copper and damp earth hung heavy in the air. Inside, under a single flickering fluorescent light, stood Marcus. But he wasn't alone.
Standing next to him was a man in a tailored suit, looking entirely out of place in the grimy warehouse.
"Is the dog dead?" the man in the suit asked, his voice icy and calm.
"Not yet," Marcus growled, wiping blood off a wrench. "The damn beast nearly bit my hand off when we threw him in the van. He was already weak from sitting in the rain for days, but he fought like a demon."
In the corner of the room, locked inside a heavy iron cage, lay Rex. His side was heavily bruised, his chest heaving shallowly, but his golden eyes were fixed entirely on Marcus, burning with an unyielding, protective fury.
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"Finish it," the suited man cold-bloodedly ordered. "If that dog kept digging, he would have exposed the entry point. That house isn't just a target, Marcus. It's the vault."
The vault? My breath hitched. They hadn't just renovated our homeāthey had altered it.
