Chapter 4 - The Enemy Within
My heart completely stopped in my chest as the chilling voice echoed through the dark warehouse.
Dante instantly raised his pistol, sweeping the pitch-black room while standing directly in front of us.
The emergency backup generators finally kicked in, casting a dim, eerie red glow across the space.
Standing near the kitchen island was a tall, elegant woman wearing a perfectly tailored black trench coat.
I immediately recognized her from the glossy pages of the local society magazines.
She was Victoria Sterling, the ruthlessly wealthy leader of Boston's rival organized crime syndicate.
"How did you get in here?" Dante demanded, keeping his weapon aimed squarely at her head.
Victoria smiled softly, sipping a glass of expensive bourbon she had poured for herself.
"I own the land this warehouse sits on, Dante, and I have known about Adrian's little hideout for years," she replied calmly.
She explained that Mason Reed had come to her months ago, offering to hand over Adrian's entire territory.
Victoria had funded the assassination attempt and paid off the corrupt doctors at the hospital.
"You are incredibly naive if you think a simple housekeeper and a rogue bodyguard can defeat my entire empire," Victoria mocked.
I stood up slowly, keeping Lily safely tucked behind the heavy leather sofa.
"Why are you standing here talking to us instead of just killing us?" I asked her boldly.
Victoria looked at me with a sudden flash of genuine, uncharacteristic respect.
"Because your daughter possesses a very unique talent, Clara, and I want to buy it," Victoria stated.
She walked forward slowly, pulling a thick envelope filled with banded hundred-dollar bills from her coat pocket.
"I will give you two million dollars right now if you walk away and let Mason finish Adrian off," Victoria offered.
She tossed the heavy envelope onto the coffee table, where it landed with a soft, tempting thud.
It was more money than I could ever possibly earn in fifty lifetimes of cleaning floors.
With that money, I could take Lily far away from this dangerous underworld and give her a perfect, safe life.
Dante looked at me, his eyes betraying a deep, terrified uncertainty about what I might choose.
I stared at the money for a long moment, remembering how Adrian Vale had paid for Lily's life-saving asthma treatments three years ago.
He had given me a job, a home, and complete protection when the rest of the world had abandoned me.
I looked Victoria directly in her cold, calculating eyes.
"Keep your dirty money," I said coldly.
May you like
Victoria sighed in deep disappointment and snapped her manicured fingers loudly.
The heavy metal doors of the warehouse suddenly blew open, and a dozen armed Sterling syndicate soldiers flooded into the room.
