Chapter 6 - The Lion’s DenFour hours later, the private Vance Industries helicopter touched down on the snow-covered rooftop of the Moretti Tower in downtown Manhattan.
The wind whipped furiously around the skyscraper’s helipad as Elias stepped out first, his dark coat billowing behind him like the wings of a descending angel of death. He turned and extended a hand to help me down from the cabin.
I handed Claire to Marcus, who was guarding our rear flank with an assault rifle, while I held Chloe tightly against my chest. My heart hammered against my ribs like a trapped bird.
“Are you ready for this, Ava?” Elias asked, his dark eyes softening for a split second as he looked down at me.
“I have nothing left to lose,” I replied, my voice steadying with a cold, unbreakable resolve. “Let’s finish this.”
The penthouse suite at the top of Moretti Tower was an opulent sanctuary of imported Italian marble, crystal chandeliers, and floor-to-ceiling glass walls displaying the glittering, snow-covered panorama of New York City.
Sitting behind a massive mahogany desk at the far end of the room was Dante Moretti himself—an elderly man with silver hair, sharp hawk-like eyes, and an expensive silk suit that couldn't hide the cruel, weathered lines of a lifetime of violence.
Standing behind him were six heavily armed bodyguards, their rifles trained directly on the elevator doors as they opened.
When Moretti saw Elias step out of the elevator—followed by me carrying my twin daughters—his jaw dropped in absolute shock.
“Vance?” Moretti hissed, standing up slowly, gripping the edge of his desk. “How are you here? Victor’s suicide squad was supposed to wipe out your entire estate!”
“Victor was an incompetent idiot,” Elias said casually, walking forward into the center of the expansive room, his hands still resting calmly in his pockets. “Just like the man who hired him.”
Moretti’s face flushed a deep, ugly crimson. He slammed his fists down onto the mahogany desk.
“Kill them all!” Moretti roared at his guards. “Kill Vance and take the babies! I want their biometric data extracted tonight!”
The six guards raised their weapons—
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
Before Moretti’s men could even squeeze their triggers, the glass skylight above the penthouse shattered into a million glittering pieces. Four of Elias’s elite shadow-ops operatives dropped silently from rappelling ropes dangling from the ceiling, neutralizing Moretti’s guards in a devastating crossfire before their bodies even hit the marble floor.
Moretti stood frozen, staring in sheer horror as his private army was decimated in less than five seconds.
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Elias walked slowly up to Moretti’s desk, leaned across it, and stared straight into the old mob boss’s terrified eyes.
“Your war is over, Dante,” Elias whispered coldly. “And you lost.”
