Chapter 4 - The Safehouse
The SUV roared down the deserted highway as the rain began to fall.
I gripped the steering wheel so hard my knuckles turned completely white.
"Why is the lockbox inside Evelyn's estate?" I asked Mara, my voice tight with confusion.
Mara stared out the rain-slicked window, her arms wrapped protectively around herself.
"Because the evidence of her forging my signature isn't the only thing hidden in that safe," she explained.
"There are ledgers detailing how she funded a massive shadow war against your own capos."
I felt a cold knot form in my stomach.
If my mother was funding hits against my loyal captains, she was planning a complete hostile takeover of the family.
I navigated the SUV off the main roads, taking a series of winding dirt paths deep into the woods outside the city limits.
We pulled up to an unassuming, rusted iron gate that looked abandoned.
I typed a sixteen-digit code into a hidden keypad, and the heavy gates swung open silently.
Behind the tree line sat a state-of-the-art concrete bunker disguised as a simple hunting cabin.
"Nobody in the family knows this place exists except me," I assured her as we carried the babies inside.
The interior was warm, fully stocked with medical supplies, and impenetrable without heavy artillery.
We laid the twins carefully into a makeshift crib in the center of the reinforced living room.
Mara sat beside them, gently stroking their tiny heads with a look of pure adoration.
I watched her, realizing how much time I had wasted listening to the poisonous lies of my mother.
"I will never let you go again," I promised her quietly.
Mara looked up at me, a glimmer of the old trust flashing in her beautiful eyes.
Suddenly, the encrypted security radio on the table crackled to life.
"Boss, it's Silas," my head of security announced over the static.
"I just secured the perimeter, but we have a major problem out here."
I grabbed the radio, pressing the transmit button.
"Report, Silas," I commanded.
"I found a GPS tracker magnetically attached to the undercarriage of our SUV," Silas revealed.
May you like
My blood ran ice cold as I looked at the heavy steel door of the cabin.
"They already know exactly where we are," Silas whispered through the radio.
