Chapter 4 - The Anatomy of a Conspiracy
We sat in the cold,
dimly lit room,
the only sound the rhythmic ticking of a pipes overhead.
Hunter was nursing Leo again,
her eyes closed as she found a moment of peace amidst the chaos.
I watched them,
the sight stirring something in me I thought had died with Sophia.
"Halloran said Sophia was going to leave me,"
I said,
breaking the silence.
"Was it true?"
Hunter hesitated,
looking down at the baby.
"I used to clean her rooms,
Mr. Rossi,"
she said softly.
"She was always crying when you weren't there."
"She had packed a bag,
hidden in the back of the closet."
"She was scared of the life you lived,
not of you."
The truth was a cold stone in my chest.
I had been so focused on building an empire to protect her that I had become the very thing she feared.
I turned my attention to the black box I had grabbed from the nursery’s security system.
I plugged it into a portable monitor,
scrolling through the footage from the last forty-eight hours.
There was Halloran,
entering the nursery at 3 AM.
He wasn't checking Leo’s vitals.
He was speaking into a burner phone.
"The dose is increased,"
he said,
his voice clear on the recording.
"Rossi thinks it's a natural failure."
"The Moretti family will have the territory by the weekend."
Moretti.
The name made my blood boil.
They were my biggest rivals,
a family of vultures who had been trying to move into Manhattan for years.
They hadn't just killed my wife;
they had bought my doctor and my guards to ensure the Rossi line ended with Leo.
"They're coming here tonight,"
I said,
watching Halloran point to the security weaknesses on a map.
"To finish what the bomb started."
Hunter looked up,
fear returning to her eyes.
"We can't stay here,
can we?"
"No,"
I said,
standing up and pulling a hidden lever behind a stack of crates.
A wall slid back,
revealing an arsenal that would make a small army jealous.
"We're going to the roof."
"My private chopper is stationed there."
"But the guards..."
Hunter started.
"I know every inch of this house,"
I said,
handing her a lightweight tactical vest.
"And I know exactly how to turn my home into a slaughterhouse."
I looked at Leo,
who was now sleeping soundly,
his tiny fist curled against Hunter’s chest.
He was the only thing that mattered.
The empire could burn.
The money could vanish.
But as long as he breathed,
the Morettis had already lost.
"Stay low,
don't look back,
and if I tell you to run,
you run until your lungs burst,"
I ordered.
Hunter nodded,
her jaw set in a line of iron determination.
We stepped out of the hidden room,
back into the belly of the beast.
The hunt had begun,
May you like
but this time,
I was the one with the advantage.
