Chapter 8 - The Price of Treason
Silas casually lowered himself into his plush leather executive chair, keeping the silver revolver leveled perfectly at my daughter.
He instructed his men to pat us down, stripping Dominic and me of our stolen weapons and kicking them across the polished floor.
Silas chuckled darkly, thanking me for finally bringing the signature document right to his doorstep.
He explained that firing me was a calculated move to make me desperate, knowing I would eventually try to leverage the old letters for my severance pay.
I stared at him with pure hatred, demanding to know what was so important about a box of old administrative correspondence.
Silas flipped open the lid of the shoebox and pulled out a stack of neatly folded, handwritten letters.
He revealed that the letters were not just innocent updates about the company's human resources department.
Each letter I had written to the old Mr. Moretti contained secretly coded numeric sequences embedded in the text.
These codes were the master encryption keys to the syndicate's massive offshore banking accounts, holding billions of untraceable dollars.
The old man had trusted me, a former Chicago criminal looking for redemption, to guard his ultimate financial fail-safe.
Silas stood up, his eyes burning with absolute greed, and demanded that I hand over the parchment document to complete his hostile takeover.
Dominic stepped slightly in front of me, his voice dangerously calm as he told his uncle that the Five Families would never accept a traitor as their boss.
Silas laughed arrogantly, stating that history is always written by the men who survive the war.
He ordered two of his massive guards to grab Lily by the arms and drag her toward the balcony edge overlooking the concrete warehouse floor.
I screamed and lunged forward to stop them, but a third guard struck me brutally across the face with the butt of his rifle.
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I collapsed to the floor, my vision blurring as I tasted warm blood filling my mouth.
Silas stepped over my body, pressed the barrel of his silver revolver directly against Dominic's chest, and slowly began to pull back the hammer.
