Chapter 4 - The Unholy Alliance
Dawn broke over the Chicago skyline, painting the grey clouds in streaks of bruised purple and gold.
The penthouse office was a disaster zone of shattered glass, water, and neutralized mercenaries, but inside the private conference annex, an eerie silence prevailed.
Lorenzo sat at the head of the long marble table, nursing a cup of black coffee, glaring across at his five miniature doppelgängers, who were currently sitting around the table eating bowls of expensive cereal stolen from his private pantry.
"Let's get one thing straight," Lorenzo said, his voice cold and flat. "You are not staying here. By noon, I am putting you on a private, heavily armed transport back to a secure estate in the Swiss Alps where you cannot blow up my operations."
Maya set her spoon down, her icy blue eyes locking onto his with an unsettling maturity. "If you send us away, Father, the Bratva will find us within forty-eight hours. They don't just want us dead; they want the encryption keys to the Syndicate’s global logistics network that Mother left us before she vanished."
Lorenzo froze. The coffee cup stopped halfway to his lips. "Your mother... Elena is still alive?"
Chloe nodded, swinging her legs back and forth against her chair. "She left us with Uncle Viktor three years ago to protect us from your enemies. But three weeks ago, she was taken. That's why we're here. We need the Mafia King’s resources to get her back."
Lorenzo stared at them. For five years, he had believed Elena was dead—murdered by a rival syndicate during the bloody warehouse wars of Marseilles. The revelation hit him like a physical blow, shattering the cold, unfeeling shell he had spent years building around his heart.
He slammed his coffee cup down onto the table, the porcelain cracking under the force.
"Who has her?" Lorenzo whispered, his voice trembling with a dark, suppressed fury that made even the five little demons pause.
May you like
Maya smiled—a small, dangerous smirk that was entirely too similar to his own. "Dmitri Volkov. The new Bratva boss in Moscow. And lucky for you, Father... we already hacked his personal satellite phone."
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