Chapter 5 - The Poisoned Truth
I screamed in absolute terror as the doctor's lifeless body slumped completely onto my welcome mat.
I slammed the heavy door shut, frantically locking every single deadbolt with trembling, bloodstained hands.
I sprinted into the twins' bedroom, quietly waking them up and hiding them deep inside the small bedroom closet.
"Do not make a single sound, babies, Mommy is going to keep you safe," I whispered, kissing their foreheads.
I grabbed my cell phone with shaking fingers and dialed the only person powerful enough to stop this nightmare.
Luca answered on the very first ring, his voice sharp and instantly alert.
"Someone just murdered Doctor Aris right outside my apartment door," I sobbed hysterically into the receiver.
"I am sending my elite tactical team right now, lock yourself in the bathroom and stay entirely completely flat on the floor," Luca ordered frantically.
Within exactly three minutes, the deafening sound of heavily armed men breaching my hallway echoed through the walls.
Luca burst through my front door, his expensive suit completely abandoned for a dark tactical vest and a loaded weapon.
He found me sitting on the closet floor with the twins, pulling us all into a fierce, desperate embrace.
"I will never let anything happen to you again, I swear it on my life," Luca whispered fiercely into my hair.
His security team quickly secured the perimeter, but the highly trained assassin had already vanished into the Chicago night.
Luca refused to let us stay in the vulnerable apartment for another second.
He ushered us into a heavily armored vehicle and drove us directly to his underground, fully fortified safehouse beneath the city.
The safehouse was a massive, luxurious bunker designed to withstand absolute catastrophic emergencies.
Once the kids were safely asleep in a secure room, Luca poured us both a stiff drink in the underground kitchen.
"Marcus Shaw is tying up all loose ends to protect his empire from the massive fraud investigation I just launched," Luca explained grimly.
"He killed a doctor just to keep a five-year-old secret buried," I shuddered, finally drinking the burning amber liquid.
Luca reached across the granite counter and gently covered my trembling hand with his own.
"He tried to steal my entire future, Nia, but he failed because you are the strongest woman I have ever known," he said softly.
For the first time in five years, the massive emotional wall between us finally began to crack.
I looked deeply into his dark eyes, seeing the exact same man I had fallen in love with all those years ago.
He leaned in slowly, his lips hovering just inches away from mine in the quiet, dim light of the bunker.
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Suddenly, every single light in the underground safehouse abruptly went completely pitch black.
The heavy steel blast doors echoed with a terrifying mechanical grinding sound as the entire security system violently shut down.
