Chapter 11 - The Blood Debt That Could No Longer Be Ignored
When the hood was finally ripped off my head, the cold, damp air of Lake Michigan hit me like a bucket of ice water.
We were inside a massive, derelict shipping warehouse on the Calumet River.
The smell of rust, motor oil, and rotten wood hung thick in the air.
Dr. Adler was tied to a wooden chair twenty feet away, bruised but conscious.
I was shoved onto my knees on the cold concrete floor.
Standing in front of us, under the flickering glare of industrial floodlights, was Victor Bellini, surrounded by a dozen heavily armed mercenaries.
Vanessa stood beside her father, wearing an expensive black trench coat, her arms crossed over her chest.
When she saw the cut on my cheek, she smiled coldly.
“Look at you,” Vanessa sneered, stepping closer and tapping my chin with the toe of her leather boot. “From serving champagne in my foyer to bleeding on a warehouse floor. Did you really think Luca would choose a beggar like you over an empire?”
I spat the blood from my mouth and looked straight into her eyes.
“Luca didn't choose an empire,” I said, my voice steady despite the trembling in my knees. “He chose the truth. And you’re terrified because you know you’ve already lost.”
Vanessa’s smile vanished, and she raised her hand to strike me.
“Hold on, Vanessa,” Victor barked.
Victor checked his heavy gold watch.
“It’s midnight. Luca’s convoy just entered the perimeter gates.”
A heavy industrial steel door at the far end of the warehouse groaned as it was pushed open.
Through the fog and darkness, a single figure walked inside.
Luca Moretti.
He was alone.
He wore a dark overcoat, his hands empty, walking with slow, deliberate steps across the concrete floor.
“Luca!” Vanessa called out, her voice echoing off the corrugated steel walls. “You shouldn't have come alone! My father has thirty men surrounding this entire block!”
Luca didn't look at Vanessa.
He didn't look at Victor.
His eyes scanned the warehouse until they found me on the floor.
When he saw the blood on my face and my bound hands, something inside Luca Moretti seemed to die—and something far more terrifying took its place.
“You touched her,” Luca said.
His voice wasn't loud.
It was a low, vibrating hum of absolute death.
Victor laughed nervously, stepping behind two of his armed bodyguards.
“You’re outmatched, Luca! Sign over the harbor rights and the Gary shipping hub, and I’ll let you and the girl walk out of here alive. Otherwise, you’ll join your father at the bottom of the lake!”
Luca stopped fifteen paces away.
He slowly reached into his coat pocket.
Every Bellini guard raised their weapons, red laser sights dancing across Luca’s chest.
Luca pulled out the old silver pocket watch.
He held it up in the beam of the floodlight.
“My father gave Samuel Adler this watch because Samuel gave me a second chance,” Luca said calmly.
He pressed the side button.
The watch emitted a sharp, high-pitched electronic chime.
May you like
Suddenly, the floodlights exploded into sparks.
The entire warehouse was plunged into pitch-black darkness.
