Chapter 15 - Trapped in the Hub
Panic surged through my veins, hot and sharp. I scrambled backward out of the leather chair, my hand instinctively dropping to the small, concealed holster Dominic had insisted I wear strapped to my ankle ever since the ambush in the Adirondacks.
I pulled out the compact Beretta pistol, my fingers trembling slightly as I flicked off the safety.
Click.
The keypad beside the heavy steel door beeped once, twice, three times. Someone was punching in the master administrative override code from the outside.
How did they have the code? I thought frantically. Only Dominic and the chief estate manager knew the secondary override sequence.
David Brooks. The realization hit me like a physical blow. The fifteen-year veteran wasn't just a loyal employee; he was Julian Vance’s primary mole inside the Moretti estate.
The heavy steel door swung open, sliding smoothly into the wall.
A tall figure stepped through the threshold, silhouetted against the dim emergency lighting of the hallway. He wasn't wearing a ski mask or tactical gear. He wore a crisp, tailored gray suit, holding a suppressed pistol casually at his side.
“Well, well, well,” a smooth, cultured voice echoed across the silent room. “The brilliant head housekeeper who thinks she can outsmart an entire syndicate.”
“David,” I breathed, keeping the barrel of my pistol trained directly on his chest. “You’ve worked for the family for fifteen years. How could you sell out to Petrov?”
David smiled coldly, stepping further into the room. “Loyalty doesn't pay the bills, Clara. Dominic Moretti rules through fear and temporary favors. Julian Vance offered financial freedom that lasts generations. All I had to do was look the other way when a little signal jammer was slipped into the vents.”
“You let them try to kill an eight-year-old boy,” I hissed, venom dripping from every word.
“Collateral damage in a shifting economy,” David replied smoothly, raising his pistol an inch. “And unfortunately, you’ve become a very inconvenient loose end. Just like Vincenzo. Just like Thomas.”
He tightened his finger on the trigger.
I didn't hesitate. I pulled the trigger first.
Bang!
The deafening crack of gunfire exploded inside the confined command center. The bullet missed David’s chest by an inch, shattering the glass monitor panel behind him in a spiderweb of sparks.
David cursed, lunging forward and knocking my arm aside before I could fire a second shot. The pistol flew from my hand, clattering loudly across the metal floor beneath the desks.
May you like
He grabbed me by the collar of my sweater, slamming me hard against the reinforced steel wall. The impact knocked the wind clean out of my lungs, black spots dancing across my vision.
“Smart girl,” David whispered, pressing the cold, suppressed barrel of his gun directly beneath my chin. “Too bad it ends here.”
