Chapter 5 - The Darkest Hour Before the Dawn
The fall of the Moretti family left a massive power vacuum in Chicago, and while Luca was busy consolidating his control over the city’s ports and shipping lines, a snake was slithering inside his own house.
Leo, Luca’s long-time underboss and childhood friend, had been secretly working with the remnants of the Moretti syndicate. He had been promised full control of the Romano empire once Luca was out of the picture.
One evening, while Luca was away at a high-stakes meeting downtown, Leo arrived at the Lake Forest estate under the guise of delivering urgent security files.
Ava welcomed him into the library, but as she went to pour him a drink, she noticed Leo’s reflection in the glass of the window.
Mila was sitting on the floor nearby, playing with her dolls. She looked up and saw Leo’s mouth moving as he spoke quietly into a hidden microphone in his collar.
THE TRAITOR
[Mila reads Leo's lips in the reflection.]
Leo: "The boss is out of the house.
I have the girl and the mother in the library.
Bring the clean-up crew.
We make it look like a robbery."
Mila’s eyes widened in horror. She slowly stood up, backing away toward the panic room, but she accidentally knocked over a heavy brass lamp.
Clang!
Leo spun around, his eyes locking on Mila’s terrified face. He instantly realized that she had read his lips.
"You little brat," Leo hissed, drawing a silenced pistol from his jacket.
"Leo, no!" Ava screamed, throwing herself in front of Mila.
Before Ava could react, Leo grabbed her by the hair, pressing the cold barrel of the gun against her temple. "Don't move, Ava. One sound, and I blow your daughter’s head off."
He dragged them out of the library and down toward the basement garage, where a black van of rogue mercenary guards was waiting. They threw Ava and Mila into the back of the van, tying their hands and blindfolding them.
"Where are we going?" Ava cried out through her blindfold, holding Mila tightly against her chest in the dark space.
"To a warehouse on the docks," Leo’s voice came from the front seat, cold and empty. "Once Luca finds out I have you, he will surrender his entire empire to save you. And once he signs the papers... all three of you are going for a swim in Lake Michigan."
Within an hour, the van stopped. Ava and Mila were dragged out into a cold, damp warehouse smelling of rust, diesel, and dead fish. They were tied to two wooden chairs in the center of the empty space, under a single, harsh light bulb.
Leo stood in front of them, holding Ava’s phone. He dialed a number and put it on speaker.
"Leo?" Luca’s voice came through, sounding frantic. "Where are Ava and Mila? Security says the estate was breached—"
"I have them, Luca," Leo said, a smug smile on his face. "And if you ever want to see your pretty little waitress and her freak daughter alive again, you are going to meet me at Pier 42. Alone. No security, no weapons. Just you and the transfer of ownership papers for the Romano syndicate."
A long, heavy silence stretched over the phone line. When Luca spoke again, his voice was no longer that of a man. It was the voice of a god of war.
"If you harm a single hair on their heads, Leo... I will not just kill you. I will dismantle your family name from the history books. I will make sure you suffer for a thousand lifetimes before I let you die."
"You have thirty minutes, Boss," Leo sneered, hanging up the phone.
He turned to his men. "Watch them. If Luca brings anyone with him, kill the girl first."
As Leo walked out, Ava struggled against her ropes, her heart breaking as she looked at Mila, whose eyes were filled with tears.
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"I'm sorry, Mila," Ava whispered, her voice choking with tears. "I’m so sorry I couldn't protect you."
Mila shook her head, her chin trembling. "No, Mommy. Daddy is coming. He always comes."
