Chapter 7 - The Betrayal
Dora froze completely, staring directly down the dark barrel of Leo's heavy gun.
The freezing harbor wind suddenly felt like absolute fire against her wet, shivering skin.
Before Leo could even attempt to pull the deadly trigger, Victor moved with terrifying, lightning speed.
Despite nearly drowning moments ago, Victor violently kicked Leo's legs out from under him.
Leo hit the wooden dock hard, and Victor immediately pinned him down with a heavy knee to the throat.
Victor violently snatched the handgun from his trusted lieutenant, pressing the cold barrel firmly against Leo's forehead.
"If you ever point a weapon at her again, I will end your life slowly," Victor growled with absolute, lethal menace.
Leo gasped painfully for air, raising his hands in a desperate gesture of surrender.
"I am only trying to protect your empire, Victor!" Leo choked out desperately.
"She is my empire now," Victor stated coldly, slowly standing up and pulling Dora safely behind his broad back.
Victor handed the gun back to Leo, ordering him strictly to find them a secure vehicle immediately.
Thirty minutes later, they arrived at a highly fortified, luxurious safehouse hidden deep in the Boston suburbs.
Dora was quickly given dry, incredibly soft clothes and a hot cup of tea to warm her shaking hands.
Victor walked into the living room, his head freshly bandaged, looking incredibly dangerous in a dark sweater.
He placed a high-tech tablet gently onto the coffee table in front of Dora.
"Arthur just sent us a live video feed from the shipyard," Victor said quietly.
Dora aggressively grabbed the tablet, her heart shattering as the screen flickered to life.
Her sister Mia was tied tightly to a metal chair in a dark, damp warehouse.
Mia looked terrified, her face bruised and her clothes torn from struggling.
Arthur stepped into the camera frame, smiling that same cruel, arrogant smile from the ballroom.
"You have exactly one hour to sign all your territory over to me, Victor, or the girl dies," Arthur taunted through the speaker.
"I will not let him hurt her," Victor promised, placing a comforting hand on Dora's shaking shoulder.
"How many men does Arthur have guarding that specific warehouse?" Leo asked grimly, staring at the screen.
Victor pulled up a heavily detailed architectural blueprint of the shipyard compound on his phone.
"He has at least forty heavily armed mercenaries stationed at every single possible entry point," Victor noted with a dark frown.
Dora stared closely at the blueprint, instantly recognizing the complex layout of the lower tunnels.
"There is a hidden entry point they absolutely don't know about," Dora stated confidently.
Victor and Leo both stared at her in complete, shocked silence.
"I used to clean those specific warehouses for the staffing agency, and the old drainage tunnels lead directly under the main floor," Dora explained quickly.
Victor smiled proudly, but his dark expression instantly hardened as a new alert chimed loudly on the tablet.
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Arthur had just sent a second message, containing a single terrifying photograph of someone else tied up next to Mia.
It was Jessica, violently beaten and gagged, proving Arthur was completely willing to destroy absolutely anyone.
