Chapter 10 - The False Victory
I answered the secure phone, expecting to hear Senator Reed demanding the coordinates for the drop-off.
Instead, I heard the sound of heavy breathing and a frantic scuffle on the other end of the line.
Dante’s voice suddenly crackled through the speaker, tight with pain and desperation.
He told me the safe house had been compromised and they were under heavy fire.
He had managed to get the boys into the armored van, but they were trapped in a fierce firefight.
I demanded to know who was attacking them; the cartel was crippled, and the agency was supposed to wait for the trade.
Dante coughed, a wet, terrible sound, and revealed the horrifying truth.
He said the attackers weren't cartel soldiers or government agents.
They were wearing black uniforms with a very specific, familiar insignia.
It was the insignia of the Moretti family—my own men were attacking the safe house.
I stared at the phone in absolute disbelief, my mind spinning with betrayal.
I had given strict orders for my organization to stand down and remain completely neutral.
Dante struggled to speak, telling me that someone had overridden my commands and seized control of the family.
He said the new leader claimed I had gone insane and ordered my immediate execution.
I asked Dante who had the power and the access to betray me so completely from the inside.
Before he could answer, the line went dead, leaving me in agonizing silence on the freezing lake.
I gripped the steering wheel, realizing the Senator had never intended to make a deal.
She had used the genetic material as a distraction while she orchestrated a coup within my own family.
I had survived the cartel, the intelligence agency, and the government, only to be destroyed by my own blood.
I sped toward the shore, desperate to reach the safe house and save the children.
I arrived at the location to find the armored van heavily damaged, but empty.
Dante was slumped against the wheel, barely clinging to life.
I pulled him out, demanding to know where Elena and the boys had gone.
He looked at me with fading eyes and pointed toward a dark SUV parked down the road.
He whispered that the new leader of the family had taken them personally.
May you like
I looked toward the SUV, my heart hammering as a figure stepped out of the shadows.
It was Sofia, my dead wife, looking exactly as she had five years ago, holding a gun to Mateo’s head.
