Chapter 2 - The Serpent's Mark
Elias demanded to know where the child had come from.
Anna shrank back against the leather seats in absolute terror.
She swore through her tears that she had never seen the sinister symbol before.
She explained that the baby had been left at their apartment doorstep in a basket three months ago.
Sarah had taken the boy in without asking any questions to protect him from the streets.
Elias ushered them quickly into the grand foyer of the sprawling mansion.
The sheer opulence of the marble floors and crystal chandeliers made Anna feel incredibly small.
Elias immediately ordered his private physician to the drawing room.
Doctor Aris arrived within minutes and began a thorough examination of the frightened infant.
He ran a specialized blue-light scanner over the dark mark on the baby's fragile neck.
Elias paced the floor relentlessly.
He knew the Moretti family did not brand their children lightly.
It was a sacred sign of direct royal bloodline within the brutal mafia hierarchy.
Doctor Aris finally looked up with a grim expression shadowing his face.
"This is not a simple tattoo," the doctor explained quietly.
"It is a bio-ink tracer used exclusively by the elite members of the underworld."
Anna gasped loudly and covered her mouth in shock.
Elias clenched his fists until his knuckles turned completely white.
He realized that bringing the child into his home might have just triggered a massive gang war.
Suddenly, the doctor's scanner beeped violently.
A red flashing light illuminated the small digital screen.
"Sir, the tracer is actively transmitting our location right now," Doctor Aris warned in a panicked tone.
Before Elias could issue a command to evacuate, a deafening siren began to wail throughout the estate.
Automated steel shutters aggressively slammed down over every massive window in the house.
The mansion had been thrown into a mandatory emergency lockdown protocol.
Elias pulled a hidden handgun from beneath his tailored suit jacket.
He forcefully pushed Anna and the stroller behind a heavy velvet sofa for protection.
The heavy oak doors of the drawing room violently burst open.
Elias raised his weapon to fire at the unknown intruders.
His finger froze on the trigger when he saw who had breached the room.
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It was his own trusted head of security, Vance, pointing a suppressed assault rifle directly at Elias's chest.
"The Moretti family sends their regards, boss," Vance said with a sinister smile.
