Chapter 4 - The Hostage Ultimatum
Mara dropped the phone onto the glass desk, her entire body going numb with shock.
Her younger sister, Lily, was currently away at a boarding school that Mara worked three jobs to pay for.
Bianca had somehow bypassed the school's security and dragged an innocent sixteen-year-old girl into this blood feud.
"Trace that call immediately," Dante roared into his smartwatch, alerting his underground cyber division.
He pulled Mara into his chest, wrapping his strong arms around her trembling frame.
"I swear on my life, Mara, I will bring your sister back without a single scratch on her," he vowed fiercely.
Mara pushed against his chest, her maternal instincts warring with her absolute terror.
"Bianca wants me, Dante," she cried, tears spilling hot and fast down her cheeks. "If I don't go to the docks, she will kill Lily."
"You are not stepping one foot outside this fortress," Dante commanded, his tone leaving absolutely zero room for argument.
He walked over to a hidden wall safe, pressing his thumb to the biometric scanner until it clicked open.
He pulled out an arsenal of tactical weapons, strapping a Kevlar vest over his blood-stained shirt.
"My men have located the burner phone's signal at Pier 44 in Brooklyn," Dante said, loading a heavy assault rifle.
"I am going with you," Mara insisted, wiping her tears and standing tall.
Dante looked at her, his dark eyes flashing with a dangerous mix of admiration and fury.
"You are carrying my child, Mara, and you have poison still running through your veins."
He signaled to his second-in-command, a massive, scarred man named Silas who had just entered the study.
"Silas, lock the penthouse doors and post guards at every single exit," Dante ordered.
"If she tries to leave, or if anyone tries to enter, you have my permission to shoot to kill."
Dante pressed a hard, bruising kiss to Mara's forehead, leaving the scent of violence lingering on her skin.
He marched out of the room, leaving Mara trapped inside the luxurious, impenetrable cage of his making.
She paced the floor for twenty agonizing minutes, listening to the rain batter the reinforced windows.
She knew Bianca was unpredictable and vicious, and Dante's heavy-handed tactics might get Lily killed.
Mara walked into the connecting master bathroom and stared at the narrow ventilation grate near the ceiling.
She grabbed a heavy bronze statue from the vanity and smashed the metal cover until the screws gave way.
Dragging a velvet chair over, she climbed up and squeezed her small, pregnant frame into the dusty air duct.
She crawled through the darkness for what felt like hours, finally dropping down into an empty laundry corridor near the back of the estate.
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Mara slipped out the service door, stealing the keys to an unassuming catering van parked in the alley.
She drove toward the Brooklyn docks alone, completely unaware that she was driving straight into a perfectly laid trap.
