Chapter 3 - THE LAUNDRY CHUTE OF SECRETS
Headline: THEY THOUGHT A FOUR-YEAR-OLD WOULDN'T NOTICE—BUT SHE LED THEM STRAIGHT TO THE KILLER'S WEAPON!
"Lock down the estate!" Bruno screamed into his radio. "Code Red! No one enters, no one leaves!"
Sirens began to wail across the fifty-acre Moretti compound. Heavy steel blast doors slid shut over the exits, locking the entire mansion down into an impenetrable fortress.
"Leo!" Alejandro barked as he stormed through the basement corridors, flanked by six heavily armed bodyguards. "Where is he?!"
"He was just seen near the central laundry facility on B-Level," Marcus reported over the comms. "He’s trying to scrub his clothing!"
Alejandro kicked open the heavy metal doors of the laundry facility.
Standing in front of an industrial washing machine was Leo, his hands trembling violently as he tried to jam a dark velvet jacket into the drum. When the door burst open, Leo froze, turning around to see Alejandro standing tall, alive, and furious.
Leo’s jaw dropped in absolute horror. "D-Don Alejandro... You’re... you’re alive?!"
"You look disappointed, Leo," Alejandro said, taking slow, deliberate steps into the room. "Did you think your poison would work faster?"
Leo backed away until his shoulders hit the stainless steel table behind him. "I don't know what you're talking about! I was just doing the evening laundry!"
"Emma," Alejandro said softly, stepping aside.
The four-year-old girl stepped out from behind Alejandro, holding her mother’s hand. She looked at Leo’s feet, then pointed her tiny finger straight at his immaculate, custom-made oxfords.
"Those shoes," Emma said quietly. "He put the glass bottle down the chute, then he walked up the stairs."
"You little rat!" Leo shrieked, reaching into his jacket pocket for a weapon.
BANG!
A single shot echoed through the concrete laundry room.
Bruno’s bullet tore through Leo’s right shoulder, spinning him around and knocking him against the wall. The valet collapsed to the floor, screaming in agony, blood pooling on the white tile floor.
Alejandro walked over, stepped heavily on Leo’s wounded shoulder, and leaned down. "Who paid you, Leo? Who gave you the poison?"
Leo gasped through the searing pain, teeth coated in red. "You think... you think you're safe because a child saved you? It’s already started, Alejandro! The syndicate knows you’re supposed to be dead! They’re already on their way!"
Alejandro pulled a heavy knife from his belt and pressed the tip beneath Leo’s chin. "Names. Give me names, or I turn you over to Bruno for the next seventy-two hours."
"It was Don Donato Valenti!" Leo sobbed, cracking under the pressure. "He paid me five million dollars! He promised me control of the Brooklyn docks! He said you’d die quietly in your sleep, and no one would ever suspect foul play!"
"And the camera in my study?" Alejandro demanded. "Who gave you that military tech?"
Leo’s eyes rolled back in terror. "Not Valenti... someone higher. Someone inside the Commission! They wanted to watch you die on a live feed to prove to the other syndicates that the Moretti dynasty was over!"
Alejandro’s eyes grew icy. "Which member of the Commission?"
Before Leo could answer, the mansion’s primary power grid suddenly failed.
CLACK.
The lights flickered out, plunging the entire estate into pitch-black darkness. Red emergency backup lights instantly bathed the corridors in a bloody, ominous glow.
May you like
Over the intercom system, a strange, static-filled voice began to play through the house.
"Alejandro Moretti... we know you survived the poison. But you cannot survive the night. Hand over the girl who saved you, or we burn the estate to the ground with everyone inside."
