Chapter 7 - The Trap Closes
Sophia’s heart slammed against her ribs like a sledgehammer. She backed up a step until her legs hit the edge of the desk.
“Marcus,” she said, her voice shaking despite her best efforts to keep it steady. “I... I didn't see anything. I was just looking for a book.”
Marcus let out a dry, humorless laugh, stepping further into the room. The suppressor on his pistol gleamed dully in the amber light.
“You’re standing in a restricted, locked room reading top-secret financial records and murder reports, Sophia. Telling me you were looking for a book is insulting to both of us.”
“I won't say anything,” she pleaded, her hands trembling behind her back as she felt along the edge of the desk for anything she could use as a weapon. “I swear to God, I’ll take Emma and leave Chicago tonight. You’ll never see us again.”
“I’m sure you would,” Marcus replied, raising the barrel of the gun slightly so it was aimed right at her chest. “The problem is, the Rossi family has a very strict policy about loose ends. And since the boss is currently across town at the downtown club, this is the perfect window to tie this particular loose end up.”
Marcus took another step forward. Sophia’s fingers brushed against something heavy and cold on the edge of the desk—a thick, cast-iron paperweight shaped like a lion’s head.
She gripped it tightly behind her back.
“Why did you do it?” Sophia asked, stalling for time, her eyes darting toward the exit behind him. “Why kill Isabella? Why betray Lorenzo after all these years?”
A dark, bitter smile twisted Marcus’s face. “Lorenzo thinks he owns the city because he inherited a badge and a gun from his father. He thinks loyalty can be bought with high salaries and expensive suits. But men like Lorenzo don't know how to share power. He was driving this family into the ground, making enemies on all sides. The Rossis offered me a new kingdom when this empire falls. Isabella just happened to be standing in the way when we needed to send him a message.”
“You’re a monster,” Sophia whispered.
“Maybe,” Marcus shrugged. “But I’m a rich monster.”
He raised the gun higher, his finger tightening on the trigger. “Say goodbye, Sophia.”
In one explosive motion, Sophia whipped her hand out from behind her back and hurled the heavy iron lion’s head straight at Marcus’s face.
The iron paperweight caught him squarely across the bridge of his nose with a sickening crack. Marcus yelled out in pain, stumbling backward and firing his gun wildly into the ceiling, plaster raining down in a cloud of white dust.
Sophia didn't wait to see if he recovered. She bolted past him toward the opening of the bookcase, shoving against the heavy wood with all her weight.
The bookcase pivoted outward. She sprinted into the main library, her heart screaming in her ears, heading for the heavy double doors that led to the central hallway.
Behind her, she heard Marcus roar in anger, his footsteps pounding across the hardwood floor.
“Get back here, you bitch!”
Sophia burst through the library doors into the hallway just as two junior guards came around the corner, drawn by the sound of the gunshot.
“Mr. Marcus!” one of the guards yelled, seeing Sophia running toward them in a panic.
“He’s a traitor!” Sophia screamed at the top of her lungs, pointing back toward the library. “Marcus killed Isabella! He’s working for the Rossis! He has a gun!”
The two guards hesitated for a split second—the most dangerous hesitation in their profession.
Marcus stepped out of the library doorway, blood streaming down his face from his broken nose, his silenced pistol leveled at Sophia.
“Shoot her!” Marcus roared. “She’s an operative!”
Before the guards could raise their weapons to either side, the heavy double doors at the main entrance of the estate flew open with a deafening bang.
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A dozen armed men in black tactical gear poured into the foyer, led by a towering figure in a charcoal overcoat whose face was carved out of absolute, unmitigated wrath.
Lorenzo Moretti had returned early.
