Chapter 5 - House of Cards
Elena dropped to her knees, screaming her daughter's name into the empty corridor.
The only answer was the distant sound of gunfire echoing from the west wing.
Adrian Moretti was still lying on the floor, but Dr. Reynolds was missing too.
Elena scrambled over to the mafia boss and jammed the needle of the blue vial directly into his thigh.
She pressed the plunger down, praying the medicine still worked.
Within seconds, Adrian took a massive, shuddering breath and his eyes snapped open.
He coughed violently, gripping Elena's wrist with terrifying strength.
"Where is Dante?" Adrian rasped, his dark eyes frantic as he tried to sit up.
"I don't know, everyone is gone," Elena sobbed, pulling him up by his shoulders.
"They took Sophia, Mr. Moretti, they came for my daughter."
Adrian leaned against the wall, pulling a hidden revolver from an ankle holster.
He looked at Elena with an expression she had never seen on his ruthless face before.
It was guilt.
"They didn't come for my empire, Elena," Adrian confessed, struggling to breathe.
"They came for the drive hidden inside your daughter's stuffed bear."
Elena stared at him in complete disbelief, her mind refusing to process his words.
"What are you talking about?"
"Your husband, Mateo, he wasn't just a mechanic who died in a car crash," Adrian said, wiping blood from his chin.
"He was my best accountant, and he stole millions from the Vargas cartel before he supposedly died."
Elena's entire world shattered into a million jagged pieces.
"Mateo is dead," she whispered, her hands shaking violently.
"No, Elena, he faked his death to escape the cartel, and he hid the missing crypto keys with you."
Adrian forced himself to his feet, leaning heavily against the doorframe.
"He hid the drive inside Sophia's favorite toy, knowing nobody would ever suspect a child."
Footsteps echoed down the hallway, heavy and deliberate.
Elena spun around to see Mrs. Bellini, the sweet, elderly housekeeper, walking toward them.
Mrs. Bellini was holding Sophia by the collar of her dress with one hand.
In her other hand, the kindly old woman held a heavily modified submachine gun pointed right at Elena.
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"The boss is right, dear," Mrs. Bellini smiled warmly, her eyes cold as ice.
"Now tell the little brat to hand over the bear, or I will paint the walls with both of you."
