Chapter 6 - THE MAN AT THE DOOR
They had twelve minutes.
Maybe less.
Roman called no one.
Trusted no one.
They moved Leo, Maya and Isabella through a tunnel beneath the farmhouse.
Elena stayed.
Roman refused to leave her again.
Dante arrived with six men.
He didn't deny anything.
“I protected you for twenty years,” he told Roman.
“You sold women.”
“I sold information.”
“To men who hurt them.”
“Not my concern.”
Roman looked at the man who had stood beside him at funerals.
Weddings.
Leo's birth.
Elena's disappearance.
“Why?”
Dante laughed.
“Because everyone around you became rich except the people cleaning up your mess.”
He had discovered Isabella's network years earlier.
The information was valuable.
So he sold it.
Elena caught him.
The fire was meant to kill her.
It failed.
Now he intended to finish it.
Gunfire broke out.
Roman and Elena escaped through the cellar.
But Maya made a mistake.
She went back.
Leo's drawing.
The one labeled MAMA, BELLA and MAYA.
She had left it upstairs.
Ridiculous.
Dangerous.
Human.
Dante found her.
He pressed a gun against her ribs.
“Your grandmother caused a great deal of trouble.”
Maya stared at him.
“So did I.”
She slammed her heel onto his foot.
Dante cursed.
Roman appeared.
The gun fired.
Maya fell.
Roman shot Dante.
Once.
Then caught Maya.
Blood spread across her blouse.
Roman shouted for Elena.
Maya looked at him.
“Did I ruin your shirt?”
Roman stared.
“What?”
“It's expensive.”
“You've been shot.”
“I noticed.”
She smiled weakly.
“Leo was right.”
“About what?”
“You really are terrifying.”
May you like
Then everything went black.
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