Chapter 6 - THE SILENT ASSASSINThree months after Nikolai’s coronation as Don, a strange peace had settled over our lives.
The Moretti-Hart empire was generating record profits. Julian had been banished to an isolated estate in Sicily under permanent guard, Serena had fled Chicago to live in obscurity in Florida, and my parents had retreated to a small house in Indiana, stripped of their wealth and social standing.
I sat in the glass-walled penthouse of the Moretti Tower, reviewing the quarterly financial statements. Nikolai was away in New York finalizing a high-stakes real estate acquisition.
It was eleven o'clock at night. The office was quiet, save for the hum of the air conditioning and the soft pitter-patter of rain against the glass.
My desk phone rang. It was an unlisted line—one that only three people in the world possessed.
I picked it up. "Evelyn."
"Evelyn..." a weak, trembling voice wheezed through the speaker.
My blood ran cold. "Serena?"
"Evelyn... please..." Serena sobbed uncontrollably. "You have to help me... he's here..."
"Who is there, Serena? Where are you?!" I stood up, grabbing my coat.
"Julian..." Serena gasped, her voice cut short by the terrifying sound of a door being smashed open over the line. "He didn't go to Sicily! He lied! He's been in Chicago the whole time... he has a gun... he says if he can't have the empire, he’s going to take—"
BANG.
A gunshot echoed through the receiver, followed by the sickening sound of a body hitting the floor.
"Serena?!" I screamed into the phone. "SERENA!"
A smooth, terrifyingly calm voice picked up the phone.
"Hello, sister-in-law," Julian whispered into the line. "Did you really think my brother could lock me in a cage? I bought off the guards before the plane even left the tarmac."
"Julian..." I rasped, my hand shaking as I reached into my drawer for my weapon. "If you touch her—"
"I don't care about Serena, Evelyn," Julian interrupted with a dark, twisted laugh. "Serena was just a trophy I stole to hurt you. But you... you destroyed my life. You took my father, my empire, my name."
"Where are you?" I demanded.
"Look out your penthouse window, Evelyn," Julian whispered softly.
I slowly turned around, walking toward the massive glass wall overlooking the rooftop terrace of the adjoining building fifty yards away.
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Standing in the rain on the opposite roof, holding a high-powered sniper rifle pointed directly at my chest, was Julian.
"Nikolai isn't here to save you tonight, Evelyn," Julian chuckled darkly into the phone. "Say goodbye."
