Chapter 7 - The True Enemy
The sharp edge of the blade bit slightly into Adeline's pale skin, drawing a tiny, singular drop of blood.
She didn't flinch or pull away, keeping her steady eyes firmly locked onto Enzo's furious, betraying gaze.
"If I truly wanted you dead, I would have just let Camilla's poisoned champagne do all the hard work," she whispered calmly.
Enzo didn't lower the knife, his powerful muscles tensed and ready to strike if she made a single wrong move.
"Give me one genuinely good reason not to end this right here and now," he demanded through tightly gritted teeth.
"Because Camilla's father, Thomas Ashford, is the man who actually ordered the brutal hit on your family," Adeline revealed.
Enzo’s iron grip on the handle loosened slightly as pure, unadulterated shock washed over his rugged features.
"The USB file she threatened you with wasn't blackmail about your recent illegal shipments at the docks," Adeline explained rapidly.
"It was absolute proof that the Ashfords orchestrated the tragic car bomb that killed your parents five years ago," Adeline confirmed.
Adeline knew this highly sensitive information because her syndicate had illegally intercepted the encrypted communications between the rival families.
She was originally sent to kill Enzo to prevent a catastrophic, all-out mob war from utterly destroying Chicago's delicate underground economy.
"I was supposed to take you out quietly and frame it as an internal syndicate dispute," she said, her voice softening significantly.
"But when you took off your coat to cover a bleeding maid, I realized you were the only truly honorable man left in this rotting city," Adeline confessed.
Enzo slowly lowered the bloodstained knife, his broad chest heaving with conflicting, chaotic, and painful emotions.
He finally understood the massive, unforgivable magnitude of the Ashford family's long-standing betrayal.
Suddenly, a massive C4 explosion violently rocked the tunnel walls, showering both of them with thick concrete dust.
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The Ashfords had finally found the secret underground entrance and were actively blowing the heavy steel doors open.
Freezing river water rapidly began rushing into the tunnel from a heavily fractured main structural pipe.
