Chapter 5 - The Hostage in the Kitchen
The interior of the small house was a scene of absolute destruction.
Chairs were violently overturned, picture frames were shattered across the cheap linoleum floor, and the walls were dented from a brutal struggle.
In the center of the cramped kitchen, Clara was backed into a corner. She was thirty-two, stunningly beautiful, but currently exhausted and terrified. Her clothes were torn, and a fresh, dark bruise was forming across her delicate cheek.
Standing exactly five feet in front of her, aiming a suppressed tactical pistol directly at her chest, was Julian.
Julian was Dante’s forty-year-old stepbrother and the highly trusted Underboss of the syndicate. He wore an expensive gray suit, an arrogant, toxic smirk plastered across his face.
"Where did the brat go, Clara?" Julian hissed cruelly, stepping closer and pressing the barrel of the gun against her shoulder. "I told you to keep her quiet!"
"She's gone, Julian!" Clara wept hysterically, completely abandoning her pride to protect her child. "She ran into the woods! You'll never find her! Please, just let me go! I've kept your secret for five years! I never told Dante!"
Julian laughed. It was a cold, demonic sound that echoed in the small kitchen.
"You really think I can leave a loose end walking around?" Julian sneered, shaking his head. "Dante is getting suspicious. He's looking for an heir. If he ever finds out that the little girl you gave birth to is actually his biological daughter, my entire claim to the syndicate vanishes."
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Standing perfectly still in the dark hallway, completely hidden in the shadows, Dante stopped breathing. The air was violently crushed from his lungs as the horrifying puzzle pieces snapped together.
👉 Julian continued his villainous monologue, entirely unaware that the grim reaper was standing right behind him.
