Chapter 3 - The Silver Locket
The warm, cinematic sunlight caught the edge of a silver object dangling from Sophie's neck.
Dante’s genuine smile completely vanished. The air was violently crushed from his lungs.
Hanging from a cheap, frayed string around the little girl's neck was a heavy, custom-engraved silver locket. It was an incredibly rare, antique piece of jewelry. Dante recognized it instantly, because exactly six years ago, he had placed that exact locket around the neck of the only woman he had ever loved.
Clara.
Clara had been his fiancée, a beautiful, brilliant woman who had mysteriously vanished in the middle of the night five years ago, breaking his heart and turning him into a cold, ruthless monster.
Dante stared into Sophie’s eyes. He finally looked past her blonde pigtails and noticed her striking, piercing gray-blue irises. They were an exact, flawless genetic match to his own.
The earth-shattering, apocalyptic realization crashed over him like a freight train. This fierce, bossy little girl wasn't a random neighbor. She was his own flesh and blood.
"Sophie," Dante whispered, his voice trembling with a sudden, desperate emotion. "Where is your mother?"
Sophie’s bossy, confident facade suddenly cracked. Her lower lip began to tremble violently. The adrenaline of chasing the dog was wearing off, and the terrifying reality of her morning came flooding back.
"She told me to run," Sophie whimpered, tears finally spilling down her rosy cheeks. "A bad man broke our front door. He has a gun. He is hurting my mommy."
May you like
The amused billionaire entirely evaporated. In his place knelt a terrifying, lethal executioner whose family was under attack.
👉 Dante picked his daughter up, and the bloodbath he was about to unleash would become legendary.
