Chapter 8 - THE PRICE OF BETRAYAL"Let her go, Viktor," Jared snarled, his voice trembling with a deadly rage that promised unimaginable agony. "If a single drop of her blood touches this floor, I will skin every single one of your family members alive and leave their bones in the Hudson."
Viktor stepped out from behind a pillar, a smug, triumphant grin spreading across his face. "Save the dramatics, Jared. You care too much. That was always your fatal flaw. You thought you could build an empire of ice, but you let a stray cat melt it."
Viktor looked at Willa, pressing the knife slightly deeper until a single bead of crimson welled up against her pale skin. "Sorry, sweetheart. You picked the wrong monster to ride with."
Willa didn't cry out. Instead, she looked past the traitor’s shoulder, right into Jared’s eyes, giving him a microscopic, subtle nod.
Jared caught it instantly.
He didn't plead. He didn't negotiate.
With a sudden, explosive motion, Jared whistled sharply—a high, piercing sound.
From the dark, private corridor behind the study, a terrifying, thunderous roar shook the penthouse walls.
THUD-THUD-THUD.
Before the traitor holding Willa could even process the sound, a massive, one-hundred-and-fifty-pound mass of silver-gray fury launched out of the dark hallway like a furry missile.
Ghost.
The mastiff hit the traitor dead-center in the chest with the force of a speeding truck. The man shrieked in absolute terror as the knife went flying across the room, his body crashing hard against the marble floor beneath the massive weight of the enraged dog.
Ghost didn't bite him—he didn't need to. He simply placed a massive, heavy paw across the man's throat, pinning him to the ground while baring razor-sharp fangs inches from his nose, growling a sound so primal it made the traitor wet himself in sheer panic.
Willa slipped out of the paralyzed man's loosening grip in a flash, rolling across the floor and scooping up her pistol.
Viktor panicked, desperately trying to raise his pistol to shoot the dog, but Jared was already there.
With the speed of a striking viper, Jared crossed the room, grabbed Viktor’s wrist, and twisted it until bones snapped with a sickening crunch. Viktor screamed, dropping his weapon as Jared slammed him face-first into the mahogany desk.
"You broke the code, Viktor," Jared whispered in his ear, his voice freezing the traitor's blood. "And in my world, there is only one currency for treason."
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Within seconds, Jared’s loyal guards swarmed the room, securing the surviving traitors and dragging them away into the basement levels.
The penthouse grew quiet again, save for the heavy breathing of Ghost, who trotted back over to Willa, resting his massive head against her knee as if nothing had happened.
