Chapter 3 - The Ambush
The deafening blast of the shotgun shattered the silence of the mansion.
Dante did not shoot the man, but he fired a warning shot into the wall inches from his skull.
The intruder dropped his knife and raised his hands in terror.
"Who sent you into my house?" Dante demanded, his voice like ice.
The man refused to speak, biting down hard on his own lip.
Dante stepped forward and kicked the man squarely in the chest.
Before Dante could ask another question, the intruder's burner phone began to ring.
It had fallen out of his pocket during our struggle.
Dante picked it up and put it on speakerphone.
"Is the waitress dead yet?" a voice asked through the static.
I gasped out loud.
I knew that voice from a thousand exhausting shifts.
It was Mr. Rossi, the manager of Bellini's restaurant.
Dante ended the call and looked at me with deep suspicion.
"Why does your restaurant manager want you dead?" Dante asked.
The intruder suddenly pulled a hidden cyanide capsule from his collar and bit down.
Within seconds, the man was dead on the floor.
Dante grabbed my arm and pulled me out into the hallway.
"We have to leave right now, the entire house is compromised," he stated.
We ran down the back stairs as the sound of gunfire erupted at the front gates.
Leo had brought a small army to finish the job.
We slipped out through the underground wine cellar and into the dark forest.
"My manager doesn't just run a restaurant," I confessed as we ran.
"The restaurant is a money-laundering front for the Russian syndicate."
Dante stopped dead in his tracks.
"My wife is sleeping with someone connected to the Russians?" he whispered.
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"Worse," I replied, catching my breath.
"She is sleeping with Leo."
