Chapter 4 - Midnight Kidnapping
"They knew the key codes," Adrienne repeated into the phone, his gaze tearing into Simone. "How?"
"There’s a breach in the executive network," Marco shouted over the sound of gunfire in the background. "Whoever leaked it had top-level access to your personal server!"
Simone stepped back, shaking her head. "No. Adrienne, look at me. I didn't leak anything. I swear to God, I didn't!"
"Only two people have access to that server," Adrienne said, dropping the phone onto the mahogany desk. His face was a mask of cold stone, hiding the sudden, agonizing betrayal clawing at his chest. "Me. And the woman who planned my entire life for five years."
"I was protecting my father’s legacy, not destroying yours!" Simone pleaded, her eyes shining with unshed tears. "I would never betray you!"
"Guard!" Adrienne roared.
Two heavy-set men in dark suits burst through the double doors.
"Lock her in the executive suite on the top floor," Adrienne ordered, turning his back on her, refusing to let her see the agony in his eyes. "Strip her of all devices. No one enters. No one leaves. If the Vance cartel is attacking, she is either our target... or our collateral."
"Adrienne, don't do this!" Simone screamed as the guards took her arms. "You’re falling into a trap! Daniel isn't who you think he is, but I didn't leak those codes!"
The doors slammed shut.
For twelve hours, Manhattan burned. Romano enforcers clashed with Vance operatives across three boroughs. Cargo ships were seized, blood was spilled in alleyways, and the city trembled under an invisible war.
At midnight, Adrienne returned to the penthouse tower, his hands stained with gunpowder and his suit jacket torn. He went straight to the top floor suite to demand answers from Simone—to force her to tell him the truth.
He threw the door open.
The security guards were unconscious on the marble floor. The heavy glass window facing the fire escape was shattered.
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And on the bed lay a single red rose, alongside a handwritten note signed by Vance:
Thank you for keeping the Iron Ledger’s daughter so well-fed. Her father’s codes belong to us now. Come to the abandoned foundry at the docks alone, or we send her back to you in pieces.
