Chapter 8 - The Decoy
The horrifying realization settled heavily in the quiet, sterile clinic.
Roman had patiently spent four years waiting for the perfect, calculated moment to force me to unlock the funds.
"He was going to aggressively frame you, have you publicly arrested, and then quietly offer you a deal," Dante's weak voice echoed from the doorway.
He was leaning incredibly heavily against the doorframe, his face pale but his eyes conscious and sharp.
"Unlock the massive fortune for him, and he magically makes all the federal FBI charges completely disappear."
I tightly clenched my fists, a burning wave of absolute, righteous fury washing over my previous fear.
"I am completely done running away," I stated coldly, shocking myself with my own newfound confidence.
"We are going to actively drain his entire corrupt empire completely dry tonight."
Vanessa looked undeniably terrified, backing away slowly from the glowing computer monitor.
"We absolutely need a highly secure federal server to completely bypass his internal firewall," she warned frantically.
"There is one located at the downtown federal building, but it is heavily and aggressively guarded."
Dante courageously pushed himself off the wooden doorframe, grimacing deeply in physical pain.
"Then we will create a massive distraction big enough to empty the entire building."
We spent the next highly intense hour formulating a desperate, bordering on suicidal, tactical plan.
Vanessa would use her father's political access codes to falsely trigger a city-wide emergency evacuation drill.
Marco would meticulously prepare the armored getaway vehicle and pack the necessary medical supplies.
Dante and I would covertly infiltrate the heavily guarded server room together.
Dante walked slowly over to me as the others frantically gathered the tactical equipment.
He gently reached out his hand and tenderly tucked a loose strand of hair behind my ear.
"You absolutely do not have to do this, Evelyn."
I looked up fearlessly into his dark, incredibly intense eyes.
"He brutally took my family, my respected name, and my freedom," I whispered fiercely.
Dante leaned down slowly and pressed his warm lips passionately against mine.
It was a brief, fiercely burning kiss entirely full of desperate, undeniable promise.
Suddenly, the clinic's exterior proximity alarm shrieked loudly at a completely deafening volume.
Dante pulled back instantly, looking in pure horror at the security monitors mounted on the wall.
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Dozens of black tactical vehicles had already completely surrounded the warehouse.
Roman had somehow found us.
