Chapter 6 – The Traitor in the Shadows
Chapter 6 – The Traitor in the Shadows
The corridor smelled of gunpowder and shattered stone.
Victor stood motionless over the body of his longtime bodyguard.
Eight years.
Eight years of loyalty—or what Victor had believed was loyalty.
The man's name was Daniel Cross.
He had protected Ethan since the day the boy was born.
He had attended family dinners.
Shared holidays.
Stood beside Victor during bloody gang wars.
And moments ago...
He had tried to murder the child he had once carried in his arms.
Dominic crouched beside the body, removing Daniel's earpiece.
"It's encrypted."
Victor's expression remained cold.
"Break it."
One technician connected the device to a portable decoder.
Within seconds, a recording began to play.
A familiar male voice echoed through the hallway.
Gabriel Kane.
"Remember your orders."
"If Blackwood refuses to leave the estate..."
"...kill the boy."
Silence.
Then Daniel's voice answered.
"What about Lily?"
Gabriel replied without hesitation.
"Kill her first."
Lily felt her stomach tighten.
She looked down at Ethan sleeping in her arms.
If Dominic hadn't reacted moments earlier...
Neither of them would still be alive.
Thirty Minutes Later
The mansion had become a fortress.
More than sixty additional guards surrounded the estate.
Snipers occupied every rooftop.
Thermal drones circled continuously overhead.
No vehicle entered without inspection.
Inside the command center, Victor studied a digital map of Chicago.
Red markers appeared one after another.
Every known Romano safe house.
Every warehouse.
Every abandoned business connected to Gabriel Kane.
None matched the location from Isabella's video.
Dominic sighed.
"They're ghosts."
Victor didn't answer.
One analyst suddenly spoke.
"Boss."
"What?"
"We recovered GPS fragments from Serena's smartwatch."
Everyone turned toward the screen.
A blinking route slowly assembled itself.
It didn't lead across the city.
It stopped...
Only four miles away.
An abandoned hospital.
St. Catherine Medical Center.
Victor narrowed his eyes.
"They're hiding close."
Dominic frowned.
"Too close."
Victor nodded.
"They wanted us looking everywhere except our own neighborhood."
Meanwhile...
In a heavily guarded underground medical facility beneath St. Catherine Hospital...
Machines hummed quietly in the darkness.
A woman slowly opened her eyes.
Everything felt unfamiliar.
Bright surgical lights.
Cold white walls.
The faint smell of antiseptic.
Her vision remained blurred.
Then she heard footsteps.
A nurse entered.
"Good."
"You're awake."
The woman tried to speak.
Her throat burned.
"Where..."
The nurse offered no answer.
Instead, she adjusted the IV line.
"You'll be seeing him soon."
The woman frowned.
"Him?"
The nurse smiled strangely.
"Victor."
A tear escaped the woman's eye.
After years of believing no one would ever find her...
Hope returned.
She whispered only one name.
"Ethan..."
Back at the Blackwood estate...
Serena had been transferred into the mansion's underground holding cell.
Steel bars.
Concrete walls.
No windows.
She stared blankly at the floor.
Then someone quietly approached.
One of the guards.
He stopped outside her cell.
"You have visitors."
Serena frowned.
"I thought no one was allowed inside."
The guard smiled.
"They're family."
Confused, Serena stood.
The lights suddenly flickered.
Every surveillance camera briefly shut off.
Exactly twelve seconds.
When they restarted...
The guard was gone.
In his place stood a man wearing a janitor's uniform.
He removed his cap.
Serena's eyes widened.
"Gabriel..."
He placed one finger over his lips.
"You talk too much."
Fear instantly filled her face.
"They caught me."
"I know."
"They know about Isabella."
"I know."
"They're coming."
Gabriel stepped closer.
"That's why I'm here."
Relief flooded Serena's face.
"I knew you wouldn't leave me."
Gabriel smiled.
For a brief moment...
She believed she had been rescued.
Then he quietly produced a syringe.
Her smile disappeared.
"Gabriel?"
"You've become a liability."
She backed against the wall.
"No..."
"You promised—"
"You served your purpose."
Tears streamed down Serena's face.
"Please..."
"I gave you everything."
Gabriel's expression never changed.
"So did many others."
He raised the syringe.
Suddenly—
A gunshot exploded through the corridor.
The syringe flew from Gabriel's hand.
Dominic stood at the far end of the hallway, pistol raised.
"Don't move!"
Gabriel cursed and kicked open a maintenance door.
Smoke grenades rolled across the floor.
The hallway vanished beneath thick gray smoke.
Guards rushed forward.
By the time visibility returned...
Gabriel had disappeared.
But Serena remained alive.
Shaking uncontrollably.
For the first time...
She realized she had never been a partner.
Only a disposable pawn.
Later that night...
Victor entered Serena's cell alone.
She looked nothing like the elegant woman from the galas.
Mascara streaked her face.
Her hands trembled.
Victor quietly placed the broken syringe on the table.
"They tried to kill you."
She nodded.
"You warned me."
Silence.
"You said they would."
She looked at Victor with exhausted eyes.
"If I help you..."
"Can you protect me?"
Victor remained silent.
Finally he answered.
"I can protect you."
"But only if you tell me everything."
Serena closed her eyes.
When she opened them again...
The lies were gone.
"My real name..."
"...is Sophia Romano."
Victor didn't react outwardly.
Inside, everything shifted.
"The Romano family?" he asked.
She nodded.
"I'm Gabriel Kane's niece."
Dominic, watching through the observation window, immediately ordered the recording to continue.
Sophia took a shaky breath.
"My uncle recruited me after my parents died."
"He raised me."
"He taught me to hate you."
Victor folded his arms.
"Why?"
"Because he blames you for destroying our family."
"I never met your family."
"You met my father."
She looked directly into Victor's eyes.
"You killed him."
Victor searched his memory.
Years of violence.
Dozens of rival leaders.
Hundreds of enemies.
Then...
Recognition appeared.
"The warehouse on Halsted Street."
Sophia nodded.
"My father surrendered."
"You shot him anyway."
Victor remained silent.
He remembered.
Not clearly.
Only fragments.
Smoke.
Gunfire.
A betrayal.
Had he executed an unarmed man?
Or had someone manipulated what happened?
Sophia continued quietly.
"My uncle spent fifteen years preparing revenge."
"He said taking your empire wasn't enough."
"He wanted you to lose your family."
Victor's jaw tightened.
"So Ethan..."
"...was never the real target."
Sophia slowly nodded.
"You were."
Before Victor could ask another question...
An analyst burst into the room.
"Boss!"
"What?"
"We decrypted another file."
Victor followed him immediately.
The main screen displayed a recent satellite image.
St. Catherine Hospital.
One window glowed faintly.
The analyst zoomed in.
A woman stood behind the glass.
Long dark hair.
Hospital gown.
Even from a distance...
Victor recognized her.
Isabella.
She was alive.
The timestamp in the corner stunned everyone.
Captured 11 minutes ago.
Not years old.
Not archived.
Live.
Victor stared at the image.
For the first time in years...
Hope outweighed anger.
Then another notification appeared on the screen.
An incoming encrypted message.
Only six words.
Come alone... or bury them both.
Victor's eyes slowly lifted toward Ethan's bedroom upstairs.
His wife was alive.
His son was finally safe.
But someone had forced him into an impossible choice once again.
And this time...
May you like
The clock was already running.
End of Chapter 6
