Chapter 3 - INSIDE THE OBSIDIAN CITADEL
The SUV entered a private underground parking garage.
Concrete walls gleamed under fluorescent lights.
Guards stood at every elevator bank.
Clara clutched her purse until her knuckles turned white.
The elevator rose in total silence.
Digital numbers climbed past thirty.
Forty.
Fifty-two.
The doors slid open directly into a penthouse suite.
Glass walls framed the glittering expanse of New York City.
Rain streaked the exterior like tears.
Lorenzo Moretti stood by the floor-to-ceiling windows.
He held a crystal glass of amber whiskey.
He did not turn around immediately.
“You have courage, Miss Vance,” Lorenzo said.
His voice carried across the silent room.
“Ignoring me in my own lounge takes a special kind of foolishness.”
“I was helping an elderly woman,” Clara said.
Her voice remained steady, though her hands trembled.
“She dropped her fork.”
Lorenzo turned slowly.
His dark eyes bored straight into hers.
“You humiliated me in front of my associates.”
“I didn't think you cared about forks.”
A muscle twitched along Lorenzo’s jawline.
Then, unexpectedly, a faint smirk touched his lips.
“Nobody talks to me like that,” Lorenzo murmured.
“Especially someone who owes three months of back rent.”
Clara flinched.
“How do you know that?”
“I own the building where your apartment is located.”
The floor seemed to tilt beneath her feet.
“Why bring me here?” Clara demanded.
“To intimidate me? To fire me?”
“To make a proposal,” Lorenzo replied.
He walked toward her, slow and deliberate.
“Your sister is sick.”
“How do you know about Maya?”
Lorenzo gestured toward a mahogany table.
A glowing tablet displayed medical charts and pharmacy bills.
“Dr. Evans is the best pediatric specialist in the state,” Lorenzo said.
“He is currently examining your sister in my private medical wing.”
Clara’s breath caught in her throat.
“What have you done to her?”
May you like
“Saved her life,” Lorenzo said coldly.
“Which brings us to why you are here.”
