Chapter 3 - The Girl in the Vents
Dante stared into Elara’s eyes, searching for panic, but found only the hollow exhaustion of a child who had seen too much.
"Your mother," Dante said slowly, his mind connecting the lethal dots. "The maid on the screen. The one in the loop."
Elara nodded slowly. "Her name is Maria. She cleans your office on Tuesdays. She told me to stay in the air vents. She told me if anything ever happened to her, I had to crawl through the metal tunnels until I found the room with the blue lights. She said the man in the black suit was the only one monsters were afraid of."
Dante felt a strange, unfamiliar tightness in his chest. Maria. She was a quiet, hard-working woman who never looked him in the eye, always keeping her head down. But she had seen something she wasn't supposed to see.
"What did she find?" Dante asked, his voice dropping to a whisper as he heard the faint, muffled sound of heavy combat boots echoing from the hallway outside his office.
"A black notebook," Elara whispered, trembling. "Mr. Victor dropped it in the library. My mom read it. She said Mr. Victor was giving your secrets to the Cartel. When she tried to put it back, his men grabbed her."
The betrayal hit Dante like a physical blow. Victor. The man who had stood beside him at his mother’s funeral. The man who managed all of his offshore accounts. Victor had sold him out to his deadliest rivals, and he was using this staged "assassination" to wipe Dante out and take over the empire.
Suddenly, a massive THUD rattled the heavy steel door.
"Dante!" Victor’s voice boomed through the intercom, dripping with arrogant confidence. "It's over, brother. The building is locked down. My men are on every floor. Open the safe room door, and I'll make it quick."
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Elara let out a tiny, suppressed gasp and covered her mouth with both hands, tears welling in her eyes. Dante placed a large, reassuring hand on her small shoulder. He didn't panic. He didn't scream. He simply exhaled a slow, controlled breath.
👉 How will Dante fight back when he is completely surrounded by heavily armed traitors?
