Chapter 4 - The Arsenal
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Dante stared at her, the protective instinct warring with the undeniable logic of her statement. He didn't have time to argue. He walked past her toward the library, gesturing for her to follow.
“If you stay, you follow my orders exactly,” Dante said, pushing open the heavy double doors of the library. He walked to the massive Renaissance painting covering the far wall and pressed his thumb against a hidden biometric scanner hidden in the ornate frame.
The wall clicked and slid open, revealing a hidden arsenal that looked like it belonged to a small military faction. Racks of automatic weapons, heavy body armor, and rows of ammunition glowed under the LED lights.
Dante quickly strapped a lightweight Kevlar vest over his dress shirt. He grabbed two heavy, suppressed tactical pistols, checking the magazines with practiced efficiency.
He turned to hand a smaller 9mm handgun to Elena, hesitating for a fraction of a second. “Do you know how to use this?”
Elena took the weapon from his hand. She smoothly dropped the magazine, checked the chamber, slammed the magazine back in, and racked the slide with a sharp, metallic clack.
“My father wanted a son,” Elena said, looking up at him with cold, dark eyes. “He taught me how to shoot before he taught me how to drive. He just never thought I’d be aiming at his own men.”
A surge of dark, intense pride flared in Dante’s chest. The quiet, submissive wife he had known for three years was a complete illusion. The woman standing in front of him was a queen built for the underworld.
“Keep the safety off,” Dante instructed, tossing her a spare magazine. “They will likely breach from the service elevator near the kitchen and the private elevator in the foyer simultaneously. We choke them in the main hallway. No crossfire.”
He walked over to her, closing the space between them. He reached out, his hand gently cupping the back of her neck. He pulled her close, pressing his forehead against hers.
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“When this is over,” Dante whispered, his voice vibrating with raw emotion, “we are going to have a very long conversation about our marriage.”
“If we survive,” Elena replied, her breath ghosting across his lips, “I will tell you everything.”
