Chapter 2 - The Sister's Betrayal
Luca stared at the gruesome map carved into his loyal friend's flesh.
The coordinates pointed to an abandoned shipyard on the edge of Lake Michigan.
He slammed the trunk shut and ordered Nico to gather every available soldier.
Meanwhile, Elena woke up with a splitting headache and a dry throat.
She blinked against the harsh fluorescent light hanging above her head.
Her wrists were bound tightly to the arms of a heavy metal chair.
She remembered walking into her childhood home and feeling a sudden sharp prick on her neck.
Someone had drugged her.
She struggled against the thick nylon ropes but they barely budged.
Footsteps echoed loudly from the dark hallway outside the room.
The heavy iron door swung open with a terrifying creak.
Elena braced herself to see a Russian mobster or a masked killer.
Instead, a woman with high heels and a perfectly tailored coat walked into the light.
Elena gasped in pure shock.
It was Vanessa.
Her younger sister stood there looking down at her with a cold smile.
"Hello, big sister," Vanessa said smoothly.
"What are you doing here?" Elena asked with panic rising in her chest.
"Did they take you too?" she added desperately.
Vanessa laughed, and the sound was completely devoid of warmth.
"Nobody took me, Elena," she replied while lighting a slim cigarette.
"I am the one who gave them the keys to the house," she confessed.
Tears of betrayal immediately welled up in Elena’s eyes.
She could not understand why her own flesh and blood would do this.
"Luca destroyed my life when he forced me out of Chicago," Vanessa snarled.
"He thought paying me off would make me forget how he treated our family," she continued.
Vanessa leaned in close enough for Elena to smell the smoke.
"Now, I am going to take away the only thing he actually cares about," she whispered.
Elena shook her head frantically.
"He doesn't care about me," Elena cried out, remembering their fight.
"He told me to find my own way home," she sobbed.
Vanessa smiled a wicked, terrifying smile.
"That is exactly what the Bratva is counting on," Vanessa said.
The door opened again, and a massive man covered in Russian tattoos stepped inside.
He handed Vanessa a thick stack of cash.
"Is the boat ready?" Vanessa asked the giant man.
"Yes, she leaves for Moscow in ten minutes," the man grunted.
Vanessa turned back to Elena with a look of pure malice.
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"Say goodbye to America, sister," Vanessa sneered.
The tattooed man pulled a black hood roughly over Elena's head, plunging her into total darkness.
