Chapter 10 - Dawn and the Traitor Within
Dawn broke over the reinforced gates of the Romano estate with a pale, bruised light that offered no warmth, cutting through the lingering fog and the aftermath of the night's storm. The main house loomed in the distance like a wounded giant, its upper windows shattered and dark, charred beams smoking faintly against the gray morning sky. We had spent the remaining hours of the night barricaded in the secure guest house while the twins finally drifted into an exhausted, dreamless sleep on the sofa bed.
Dante stood by the rain-streaked window, fully dressed once more in a fresh black shirt and fitted suit jacket, though his knuckles were bruised and a fresh white bandage showed beneath his collar. He held a secure satellite phone to his ear, listening in absolute, terrifying silence as his remaining loyalists at the downtown docks reported in. The lockdown was holding, but the perimeter was still compromised from the inside.
"I hear you," Dante said into the receiver, his voice dropping into that cold, lethal register that made the blood run chill. "Burn the manifests. If Marcus tries to move the offshore accounts, cut the servers entirely. I'll handle the rat myself."
He clicked the phone shut and dropped it onto the wooden table with a dull thud. He turned to look at me where I stood by the kitchenette, wiping down the counter with a damp cloth just to keep my hands busy. The fragile intimacy of the night before hung in the air between us, unvoiced and unresolved, overshadowed by the grim reality waiting for us outside these walls.
"Marcus isn't operating alone," I said, pausing my work to look straight into his dark eyes. "He didn't just walk into the nursery and disable the cameras. He had help from the inside staff. Someone who knew the house routines, someone who carried the master keys."
Dante narrowed his eyes, a muscle ticking in his jaw. "The domestic staff was vetted by my brother before he left for the coast. Who?"
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"Elena," I answered, naming the head housemaid who had supposedly called in sick the afternoon before the attack. "She was the only one who had access to the master key ring after the security upgrade last month. And she left her locker unlocked in the staff quarters."
Dante didn't hesitate. He reached inside his jacket, his hand closing firmly around the butt of his sidearm with practiced, fluid ease, his dark gaze locking onto mine with an intensity that burned right through the morning chill. "Let's go find her," he said, his voice a low, commanding growl. "Before she gets to the panic room keys."
