Chapter 19 - The Truth Revealed
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Dante froze entirely, the terrifying reality of his situation crashing down upon him. He was a dead man standing, illuminated by two dozen crimson laser dots resting squarely over his heart.
“Luca,” Dante stammered, raising his hands slowly into the air, abandoning his weapon. His arrogant swagger had completely vanished, replaced by the pathetic trembling of a coward. “Listen to me. It’s not what it looks like. Vanessa set me up.”
“Save your breath,” Luca said coldly, slowly walking up the rusted steel stairs toward the platform. “I read the texts. I saw the medicine bottle. I saw the photograph my sister kept hidden under her pillow.”
Dante’s eyes widened in sheer panic at the mention of the photograph. He took a stumbling step backward until his spine hit the dirty glass window of the office.
“She was supposed to be dead in the crash!” Dante yelled desperately, finally abandoning the lie. “It was supposed to be clean! But she survived, Luca! Vanessa panicked. She promised me half the empire if I helped her finish the job and take you out next!”
Luca reached the top of the stairs, standing only a few feet away from the ghost who had haunted his family for years. The sheer, unadulterated fury radiating from the mafia boss was suffocating.
“You crippled my sister,” Luca whispered, raising his suppressed weapon and aiming it directly at Dante’s kneecap. “You tried to murder my blood.”
Pfft.
May you like
The suppressed gunshot was quiet, but Dante’s agonizing scream echoed violently through the warehouse as his knee shattered. He collapsed onto the steel grate, clutching his ruined leg, sobbing uncontrollably.
“That is for the car crash,” Luca stated without an ounce of emotion. He raised the weapon again, aiming it squarely at the traitor’s chest. “And this is for the medicine bottle.”
