Chapter 6 - BETRAYAL IN THE RANKS
The illusion of safety shattered on the fifth night.
A torrential thunderstorm was battering the estate. I was in the kitchen pouring a glass of water when Mateo strode in, drenched in rain, his heavy boots leaving muddy tracks on the marble floor. He looked agitated, constantly checking a encrypted burner phone in his palm.
“Is Alessandro in the study?” Mateo asked, not making eye contact.
“Yes,” I said cautiously. “Is everything alright?”
“Fine. Stay here.” He brushed past me.
As he walked away, a notification illuminated the screen of his burner phone. Mateo had angled it away, but years of anticipating my supervisor’s sudden inspections had made me hyper-observant. In the brief flash of light, I saw the message: Grid compromised. Await signal.
My blood ran cold. The Morettis had bypassed the outer sensors at the steel mill. They had known exactly which gate to hit. And now, Mateo was communicating with someone outside the encrypted network.
I didn't think. I dropped my glass. It shattered, but the sound was drowned out by a clap of thunder. I sprinted silently down the hallway, reaching the heavy oak doors of the study just as Mateo raised his suppressed pistol and pointed it at the back of Alessandro’s head.
“Alessandro!” I screamed, shoving the heavy oak doors open with all my might.
Alessandro reacted with the terrifying speed of an apex predator. He threw himself sideways as Mateo fired. The suppressed bullet shattered the computer monitor where Alessandro’s head had been a fraction of a second before. Alessandro hit the floor, drawing his own weapon in a single, fluid motion. He fired twice.
Both bullets caught Mateo in the chest. The giant man slumped against the bookshelf, sliding to the floor, gasping for air.
Alessandro kicked the gun away from Mateo’s limp hand and stood over him, his face a mask of cold, unadulterated fury. “How much did Moretti pay you?”
Mateo choked on his own blood, a grim, defiant smile twisting his lips. “Didn’t... didn’t need his money. Winters... Winters promised me half the ledger. Fifty million, boss. You were getting weak. Soft.” Mateo’s eyes shifted to me. “He’s coming for the boy, Katie. He told me to tell you... he’s coming.”
Mateo exhaled a final, rattling breath, and his eyes glazed over.
May you like
Alessandro turned to me, his chest heaving. He didn’t offer comfort. He didn’t apologize for the violence I had just witnessed. He walked over, gripped my arms, and looked deep into my eyes. “He called you Katie. Only someone close to you calls you that.”
“David,” I whispered, nausea rolling through my stomach. “David was the only one who ever called me Katie.”
