Chapter 3 - The Secret in the Collar
Grace dropped to her knees on the cold floor, bringing herself eye-level with Titan.
The enormous dog sat perfectly still as Luca’s fingers traced the thick leather of the collar.
"This isn't a standard buckle," Luca muttered, his eyes narrowing in concentration.
He pressed a hidden latch near the golden letter 'M'.
With a quiet click, the leather split apart, revealing a hollow, waterproof compartment hidden inside the lining.
Grace held her breath.
Luca pulled out a tiny, tightly rolled piece of microfilm and a small, silver safe deposit key.
"This is it," Luca said, his voice laced with a mixture of awe and danger.
"The microfilm contains the ledger, and the key likely opens a locker with physical evidence."
Grace stared at the tiny objects that had cost her father his life and her entire childhood.
"We have to turn it over to the police," Grace insisted, standing up quickly.
Luca shook his head, his expression turning terrifyingly cold.
"Half the police captains in this city are named on this microfilm, Grace."
"If we hand this over to the authorities, we will both be dead before morning."
Suddenly, one of the security monitors on the wall flickered and went entirely black.
Then, a second monitor died.
"Someone is cutting the internal camera feeds," Luca stated, raising his weapon.
The heavy steel door of the panic room groaned as something massive struck it from the outside.
"Nobody can breach that door without the master code," Luca reassured her.
The digital keypad on the inside of the room suddenly beeped, turning from red to green.
The heavy locks began to mechanically disengage.
"Only two people in the world have that code," Luca whispered, his grip tightening on the gun.
The heavy steel door slowly swung open.
Standing in the threshold was Victor Reyes, holding a suppressed assault rifle pointed directly at Luca's chest.
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"I am sorry, Boss," Victor said smoothly.
"But the Rossi family pays much better than you do."
