Chapter 7 - The Interrogation
Silence descended on the house after twenty agonizing minutes. My heart pounded against my ribs like a trapped bird as I waited for any sign of life above. Suddenly, three slow knocks sounded against the iron trapdoor—our private code from years ago. I threw the bolt open and pushed the hatch upward, terrified of what I might find.
Dante stood there covered in soot and blood, his shirt torn at the shoulder where a bullet had grazed his flesh, but he was standing. Behind him, tied securely to a wooden chair in the middle of the ruined living room, was Sofia Vale, her nose bleeding and her arrogance stripped away. Dante extended a hand to pull me up from the dark, wrapping an arm securely around my waist as if he needed the physical proof that I was still breathing.
"It's over, Lena," Dante whispered softly against my hair before turning his cold, predatory gaze back onto his captured sister. "She thought she was playing chess with my empire, but she forgot one fundamental rule." Sofia glared up at us, her eyes full of unadulterated venom. "What rule, Dante? You're a monster, just like our father!" Dante pulled me tighter against his chest, his voice low and deadlier than a drawn blade. "You targeted my wife and my unborn children. In my world, that means you don't get a trial."
