Chapter 7 - Breaking the Circuit
The heavy steel bag smashed against the ornate marble facade with a deafening crash, shattering decorative tiles and sending stone dust billowing into the air.
"What the hell are you doing?" Victor yelled, his arrogant composure finally cracking for a split second. "You're just destroying antique—"
I didn't listen. I grabbed a heavy brass fireplace poker from the stand beside the hearth, wheeled around, and swung it with both hands straight into the decorative wood-paneled wall just beside the chimney stack.
CRACK.
The old mahogany paneling splintered inward, revealing dark, damp brickwork and a rat’s nest of old electrical wiring installed decades ago.
"David! Help me!" I screamed, swinging the poker again and again until the wall gave way in a cloud of plaster and dust.
David didn't hesitate. He holstered his pistol, lunged forward, and drove his shoulder straight into the weakened brick partition, smashing a hole right into the hidden cavity behind the fireplace.
Inside the dark recess, something glowed with a faint, pulsing red LED light.
A sleek, aluminum-cased electronic transmitter, wired directly into the main electrical grid of the house.
"There!" I yelled, pointing.
David reached into the hole, his fingers wrapping around the thick wiring harness. With a savage roar, he wrenched his arm backward, snapping the copper cables and tearing the transmitter completely out of the wall.
Instantly, the high-pitched electronic whine ceased.
The heavy, suffocating pressure in the room vanished.
On the floor, Marco let out a long, shuddering gasp, his body arching slightly before going limp against the rug. His chest rose and fell in a deep, ragged breath as his implanted defibrillator successfully reset his heart rhythm with a sharp internal click.
I dropped to my knees beside him, pressing my fingers to his wrist.
"His pulse is stabilizing," I whispered, closing my eyes in overwhelming relief. "Sinus rhythm returning. He’s going to make it."
David stood up slowly from the ruined wall, holding the smoking transmitter in his hand. He turned his head and looked straight at Uncle Victor.
The color had completely drained from Victor’s face. The cool, untouchable mastermind was gone, replaced by a cornered rat realizing the trap had just snapped shut on his own neck.
"You're done, Victor," David said, his voice cold as ice.
Victor took a slow step backward toward the open doorway, his eyes darting toward the hallway. "Now wait a minute, David. Let's not be hasty. Family is—"
Before he could finish the sentence, David crossed the room with terrifying speed, grabbed Victor by the collar of his cashmere sweater, and slammed him hard against the mahogany bookshelf, dislodging a dozen heavy law books that crashed down around his feet.
"You tried to kill the boss," David hissed, pressing the barrel of his Sig Sauer directly under Victor’s chin. "You don't get to talk about family."
Marco slowly pushed himself up from the floor, leaning heavily against my shoulder. I helped him to his feet, steadying him as he stood upright, breathing hard, his dark eyes fixed entirely on his uncle.
"Take him down to the wine cellar," Marco said, his voice low, steady, and terrifyingly cold. "The old stone vault."
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Victor’s eyes widened in sheer terror. "Marco, you wouldn't. I'm your uncle! I raised you!"
"You put a magnet in my father's chair," Marco said, stepping closer until he was standing face-to-face with the man who had betrayed them all. "And you tried to do the same to me. You don't get a trial, Victor. You get the dark."
