Chapter 2 - The Punctured Can
Damian moved past Elena so fast the air rushed against her shoulder.
She dropped the pen and immediately followed him down the grand hallway.
Four armed guards were already securing the perimeter of the mansion's massive kitchen.
The temperature dropped significantly as they stepped near the open door of the industrial freezer.
The body of the former head chef lay slumped against a stack of frozen meat.
His eyes were wide open, and his skin was covered in a thick layer of frost.
Damian stared at the corpse with absolutely no emotion on his face.
"Who found him?" Damian asked without turning around.
"One of the maids came down for ice ten minutes ago," Grant Mercer answered, keeping his hand on his holster.
Elena looked away from the frozen body and scanned the pristine marble countertops.
Sitting perfectly in the center of the island was the exact same can of soup Salvatore had tried to open last night.
She walked over to it, her heart pounding against her ribs.
She picked up the heavy tin cylinder and turned it upside down.
There was a tiny, almost microscopic needle puncture in the bottom metal ridge.
"Mr. Russo," Elena called out, holding the can up to the light.
Damian walked over, his dark eyes narrowing as he inspected the tiny hole.
"Someone injected something into this," Elena realized, her voice barely a whisper.
"If your father had eaten this last night, he would be dead right now."
Damian snatched the can from her hands, his jaw clenching so hard a muscle twitched in his cheek.
He turned to Grant, his voice dropping to a terrifying, lethal octave.
"Lock down the entire estate," Damian ordered.
"No one leaves, no one enters, and cut all the phone lines."
"We have a rat inside this house."
Grant nodded sharply and pulled his radio from his belt to issue the lockdown command.
Suddenly, a loud, agonizing scream echoed from the second floor of the mansion.
It was coming directly from Salvatore Russo’s master bedroom.
Damian dropped the soup can onto the floor and sprinted toward the grand staircase.
Elena did not hesitate for a second before running right behind him.
They reached the second-floor landing just as the bedroom doors violently swung open.
Dr. Aris, Salvatore’s private physician, stumbled out into the hallway with blood pouring from his nose.
Damian grabbed the doctor by the throat and slammed him brutally against the wall.
"What did you do to my father?" Damian roared, pressing his forearm against the doctor’s windpipe.
The doctor gasped for air, a sickening smile stretching across his bloody lips.
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"I didn't have to do anything, Damian," the doctor wheezed.
"Your father just figured out who ordered the hit on your mother nine years ago."
