Chapter 4 - The Dead Man Walking
Marin stared in absolute terror at the heavily scarred man holding her crying son.
Beckett looked like a walking corpse, his face ruined by deep burns and jagged knife wounds.
He gently placed little Leo down on the rug and raised his empty hands to show he was unarmed.
He begged Marin not to scream, promising that he was only there to save their lives.
Marin aggressively grabbed a heavy iron fireplace poker and stepped protectively in front of her child.
She asked her brother how he was still alive after Raphael ordered him banished five years ago.
Beckett coughed violently, spitting a tiny drop of blood onto the cheap carpet.
He explained that Raphael never actually banished him from the city at all.
Gideon Pace had secretly kidnapped him and sold him to a rival underground syndicate for torture.
Marin felt a sickening wave of betrayal wash over her entire body.
Beckett revealed that the anonymous man who called Raphael five years ago was the one orchestrating everything.
He said the unknown caller was a phantom who had slowly infiltrated the highest ranks of the Santoro empire.
Marin demanded to know why Beckett had suddenly decided to show up today.
Beckett pointed a shaking finger at the blue symbol drawn on the crumpled napkin in Marin’s hand.
He told her that the symbol was a marking used by the phantom’s elite hit squad.
The man in the diner was not a messenger from Raphael, but a highly trained mercenary tracking her bloodline.
They had finally discovered that Raphael possessed a living, breathing heir.
Beckett warned her that a massive team of heavily armed killers was currently surrounding the apartment building.
Marin quickly grabbed a stuffed bear for Leo and stuffed a heavy kitchen knife into her belt.
She asked her brother if there was any possible way out of the building.
Beckett pulled a stolen, suppressed pistol from the back of his dirty jeans.
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He said the only way out was to fight directly through the men waiting in the hallway.
Before Marin could even process the insane plan, the heavy wooden front door violently exploded inward.
