Chapter 12 - The Intruder in the GardensTwo days after the anniversary, a heavy autumn mist blanketed the northern suburbs of Chicago. The manicured lawns of the Moretti estate looked like a ghostly landscape, swallowed by thick, gray fog.
Inside the nursery, the twins—now ten years old—were fast asleep. Downstairs in his private study, Dante was reviewing shipping manifests when a sharp, electronic alert chimed softly on his private monitoring tablet.
Perimeter sensor breach: Sector 4, East Garden.
Dante didn't hesitate. He pulled a silenced 9mm pistol from the hidden magnetic drawer beneath his mahogany desk, checked the chamber with a practiced, silent click, and slipped out into the dimly lit hallway.
He moved like a ghost through his own home, descending the grand staircase and slipping through the French doors leading out into the freezing fog. The damp chill clung to his wool sweater, but Dante felt nothing except the icy focus of an apex predator.
He crept along the stone pathway of the East Garden, his boots making zero sound against the wet gravel. Near the old marble fountain, a shadow moved—slender, cloaked in a heavy dark coat, fumbling with something near the exterior security control box.
"Don't move," Dante’s voice cut through the fog like a razor blade, cold and lethal. "Turn around slowly, or your next breath will be your last."
The figure froze instantly. Slowly, the intruder turned around, dropping a small electronic decryption device to the grass. The hood of the coat fell back, revealing a pale, sharp-featured face framed by dark hair and eyes that burned with a desperate, familiar malice.
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Dante’s finger tightened slightly on the trigger. It wasn't one of Victor’s thugs.
It was Sofia Vale.
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