Chapter 2 - The Weapon on Her Hip

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The air in the closet felt like liquid nitrogen.
My breath stopped in my throat. My brother, Raymond—the man who had carried me through the blood-soaked streets of Queens when we were boys, the only family I had left before Jason—had died suddenly in his sleep nine years ago. I had spent nearly a decade grieving him, dedicating half of my shipping ports in his honor, and pouring millions into raising his only son.
And now, standing inches from my suits, the quiet woman who brought me Earl Grey tea every morning was telling me I had raised my brother’s murderer under my own roof.
“Who are you?” I whispered, keeping my lips against her ear, my hand resting dangerously close to the Glock on her hip.
“My real name is Elena Vance,” she murmured, her voice steady despite the trembling in her fingers. “I was a senior intelligence analyst for Federal Maritime Counter-Terrorism. Four years ago, your brother reached out to my agency before he died. He knew Jason was laundering money for the Falcone syndicate. He hid an encrypted ledger with us, but before he could deliver the final key, he collapsed.”
She looked into my eyes, her hazel gaze piercing through the shadows. “My agency was compromised by Falcone’s bribes. I went rogue, faked my death, and took this housekeeping position three years ago to find the missing key before Jason did. I stayed to protect you, Victor. Because you are the only man in this city who can crush them.”
Outside the closet door, the heavy boots shuffled across the oak floor.
“Boss,” one of the hitmen called out. “What if Victor stopped by the club on 54th Street? He might not come home until sunrise.”
Jason’s voice was icy, devoid of any shred of humanity. “If he’s not here in fifteen minutes, we execute Phase Two. We trigger the silent explosion at Warehouse 9, blame it on the Moretti family, and assume emergency command of the docks. The council will have no choice but to ratify me as boss before breakfast.”
“And the maid?” the second man asked. “Her car is parked in the alley.”
Jason laughed—a cold, careless sound that made my skin crawl. “If she’s in the house, put two bullets in her head and throw her in the trunk. Nobody cares about household staff.”
I closed my eyes, drawing a slow, silent breath.
Thirty years of building an empire had taught me that wrath is useless unless it is sharpened into cold, lethal precision.
I looked down at Emily. I gently took the Glock 19 from her holster, checked the chamber in the dark, and thumbed the safety off.
“Elena,” I whispered.
“Yes, Victor?”
“Do you know where the emergency tunnel behind the master shoe rack leads?”
Her lips curved into a faint, dangerous smile. “Straight into the private wine cellar beneath the courtyard garage.”
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“Good,” I said. “Let’s leave these rats in my bedroom while we take back the city.”
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