💥 CHAPTER 8 — The Woman He Loved Had Betrayed Him... Or So It Seemed
Vincent picked up the necklace with trembling hands.
Blood stained the silver pendant.
His heart sank.
"No..."
Marco examined the room.
"There are no bodies."
"They took them."
On the laboratory wall, written in fresh blood, were four chilling words:
"DON'T FOLLOW ME, VINCENT."
His captains looked at each other.
One finally spoke.
"Boss..."
"What if Emma left willingly?"
The room fell silent.
Vincent refused to answer.
He remembered every moment.
The rainy alley.
The tiny apartment.
The way she stitched his wounds.
The way she looked at him.
No.
She couldn't betray him.
Could she?
Three days later...
Every news station in America interrupted their broadcasts.
Breaking News.
The FBI had raided five major mafia compounds overnight.
Billions of dollars had vanished.
Dozens of crime bosses were arrested.
Someone had leaked every secret account.
Every safe house.
Every hidden warehouse.
Only five people knew those locations.
One of them...
Was Emma Carter.
The media exploded.
"The mysterious woman connected to Vincent Moretti is believed to be the source of the leaks."
Even Marco began to doubt.
"Boss..."
"The evidence..."
Vincent slammed his fist onto the table.
"No."
"I trust her."
"But why?"
Marco asked.
Vincent looked out the window.
"Because she saved my life..."
"When she had nothing to gain."
That same night...
A black envelope arrived at the mansion.
No return address.
Inside...
A single photograph.
Emma stood beside an unknown man wearing a white suit.
They appeared to be smiling.
On the back of the photo were six typed words:
"SHE CHOSE US OVER YOU."
Several captains quietly reached for their weapons.
"If she's with The Circle..."
"We have to eliminate her."
Vincent slowly pulled out his pistol.
Every man in the room froze.
Instead of aiming at the photograph...
He pointed the gun at his own captains.
His voice was calm.
"If any of you hunt Emma..."
"You answer to me."
The room fell completely silent.
Marco lowered his head.
"Even if she's betrayed us?"
Vincent answered without hesitation.
"If she betrayed me..."
"I'll hear it from her."
"No one else."
Far away...
Inside a heavily guarded island fortress in the Atlantic...
Emma stood before a massive conference table.
Twelve masked leaders sat in silence.
The head of The Circle slowly removed his mask.
Vincent wasn't there to see it.
But Emma was.
Her face lost all color.
Tears filled her eyes.
She whispered only one word.
"Father...?"
The old man smiled.
"I've waited twenty years for this reunion."
Emma's knees nearly gave out.
Because the man she had mourned since childhood...
The man whose grave she had visited every year...
Was alive.
And he wasn't a prisoner.
He was...
May you like
The Supreme Leader of The Circle.
END OF CHAPTER 8...
