Chapter 5 - The Housekeeper's Secret
The freezing night wind whipped violently through the dark trees as Mrs. Keller held her heavy shotgun perfectly steady.
Her normally pristine, perfectly ironed uniform was entirely covered in wet mud, and her eyes burned with absolute, unhinged madness.
"I knew you would eventually use the old smuggling tunnels, Damen," Mrs. Keller spat, her voice dripping with pure, toxic hatred.
Anthony instinctively stepped directly in front of Damen, raising his heavy pistol to aim it squarely at the housekeeper's head.
"Put the gun down right now, Keller, or you will absolutely die where you stand," Anthony threatened with lethal, terrifying calm.
Mrs. Keller simply laughed, a harsh, grating sound that genuinely made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up.
"I was the one who slipped the poison vial into the maid's cart when she was busy folding those stupid towels," she proudly confessed.
I stared at her in absolute shock, completely unable to comprehend why this strict, loyal woman would brutally frame me for murder.
"Why would you do something so evil to us?" I demanded desperately, pulling Ellie entirely behind my shaking body.
The older woman glared at me with absolute disgust, her wrinkled hands gripping the heavy shotgun tight enough to turn her knuckles white.
"Because twenty years ago, Damen's ruthless father ordered a hit on my husband to secure a trivial gambling debt," Mrs. Keller screamed into the wind.
She proudly declared that she had spent two entire decades patiently infiltrating the Romano household, absolutely determined to destroy their bloodline forever.
"Killing you is entirely too merciful, Damen," she sneered, slowly shifting the heavy barrel of the shotgun directly toward Ellie's small, terrified face.
"I am going to completely erase your family's future, just like your father violently erased mine."
Before she could even attempt to pull the deadly trigger, a massive, dark blur aggressively launched itself from the dense bushes.
Atlas viciously tackled the older woman to the muddy ground, his massive jaws violently clamping down on her forearm.
The heavy shotgun discharged wildly into the air, the deafening blast completely shattering the terrifying silence of the dark woods.
Anthony rushed forward instantly, brutally kicking the dropped weapon far away before pulling the massive dog off the screaming housekeeper.
Mrs. Keller lay bleeding heavily in the mud, completely incapacitated but still smiling that same terrifying, unhinged smile.
"You are completely foolish if you think surviving me means you actually won today," she gasped out, choking on her own blood.
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She looked directly into Damen's terrified eyes and delivered a chilling, absolute promise of utter destruction.
"The police are absolutely not coming to save you, because I already unlocked the front gates for the rival cartel."
