Chapter 3 - The Velvet Curtain
Elena felt all the blood drain rapidly from her face.
"I didn't steal anything from you," she yelled from behind Dante.
"Your father certainly did, and he swore his brilliant daughter was holding the accounts," Victor sneered.
Dante smoothly reached inside his dark suit jacket.
The four armed men in the hallway immediately raised their weapons.
"If you pull that gun, Valente, this entire opera house turns into a slaughterhouse," Victor warned happily.
Dante’s hand stopped moving, but his eyes were calculating a hundred different ways to kill the men in front of him.
"She has been my employee for three years, Victor," Dante stated coldly.
"If she had thirty million dollars, she wouldn't be answering my phones."
"Maybe she is just very good at playing the quiet secretary," Victor suggested.
Suddenly, a massive wave of classical music blasted through the heavy auditorium doors.
Adrian Bell had apparently returned to the stage to start the performance.
The sudden, booming sound of the cellos startled one of Victor's men.
The distraction was exactly what Dante needed.
Dante lunged forward with terrifying speed, disarming the closest guard and snapping his wrist in one fluid motion.
He kicked Victor squarely in the chest, sending the rival boss crashing into the wall.
"Run!" Dante yelled over his shoulder.
Elena kicked off her high heels and sprinted barefoot down the opposite corridor.
Dante followed closely, covering their retreat with the stolen weapon.
They burst through a heavy set of double doors and stumbled right into the backstage wings.
Dozens of stagehands were rushing around in the dim blue light.
On the stage, just a few feet away, Adrian Bell was wildly conducting the overture.
Elena stopped completely, mesmerized by the music she had tried so hard to forget.
Then, the maestro suddenly missed a crucial beat.
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Adrian Bell dropped his left hand to his chest and let out a terrible gasp.
He violently collapsed forward, crashing over the music stand and tumbling directly onto the hardwood stage.
