Chapter 7 - The Railyard TrapThe wind howled through the skeletal steel beams of the abandoned 4th Street railyard, driving the freezing Chicago rain straight through my coat. On my right wrist, the heavy silver wolf bracelet gleamed under the flickering sodium lights of an overhead crane.
Every breath felt like swallowing broken glass. My heart hammered against the expanding mass in my chest, threatening to burst.
Just hold on until Dominic makes his move, I told myself, stepping carefully over rusted tracks.
A pair of blinding high-beams cut through the darkness, illuminating the rusted hull of an old freight car. Three black sedans drifted to a halt, kicking up gravel and mud. Doors slammed shut in unison.
Heavy, polished dress shoes crunched on the gravel.
Vincent Rosetti stepped into the light. He looked startlingly like Dominic, but where Dominic’s face carried the scars of a protector, Vincent’s wore the cruel, smooth mask of an executioner. He held a silver-handled cane, tapping it rhythmically against the dirt.
"Elena," Vincent called out, his voice smooth and dripping with aristocratic disdain. "I expected you to be smarter than to text me directly. Greed always ruins the best soldiers."
I stepped out from behind the shadow of the freight car, pulling up the collar of the very sweater Lily had bled on.
Vincent stopped dead in his tracks. His eyes scanned my face, dropping to the silver bracelet on my wrist, and then to my shivering posture.
"You're not Elena," Vincent sneered, a cruel smile twisting his lips. "You're the stray dog my brother picked up off the street. Tell me, boy... did Dominic pay you well to die for him?"
"He paid my medical bills," I rasped, forcing a weak smile as I kept him talking. "Thought it was a fair trade."
Vincent chuckled, gesturing to the four armed heavies stepping out from the shadows behind him, raising their silenced pistols. "A noble trade. Too bad you won't live long enough to spend the cash."
May you like
Vincent raised his hand to give the order to fire.
"Do it," Vincent whispered.
