Chapter 7 - The Trap in the East Wing
When Lucas burst into the opulent hallway of the east wing, half a dozen armed guards had their weapons drawn, forming a protective semicircle around a small, black velvet box sitting on a polished mahogany table right outside Nadia’s door.
"Stand back," Lucas ordered sharply, pushing his way through the guards.
"Boss, it could be a biometric explosive or a chemical agent," one of the senior guards warned, his hand hovering over his radio.
Lucas didn't care. He stepped up to the table, his heart hammering against his ribs not out of fear for himself, but out of terror for the woman and child sleeping just behind those doors. With steady, practiced fingers, he unlatched the velvet box and lifted the lid.
Inside sat a pristine, old-fashioned silver pocket watch—and a flash drive.
Lucas recognized the watch instantly. It was the exact pocket watch he had given to Victor Petrova, Nadia’s brother, five years ago when Victor had worked briefly as an intelligence informant inside the European syndicates before mysteriously disappearing off the face of the earth.
He grabbed the flash drive, marched into the private study adjoining the master suite, and slammed it into the secure terminal on the desk. A string of complex command lines flashed across the screen before a single, high-definition video file populated.
Lucas clicked play.
The screen flickered to life, revealing a dimly lit concrete basement. Tied to a chair in the center of the room was a man in his early thirties, sporting dark hair identical to Nadia’s, though his face was bruised, pale, and weathered by years of captivity.
It was Victor Petrova.
As the camera adjusted, a tall, impeccably dressed man stepped into the frame from the shadows. He wore a tailored European suit, his silver-streaked hair slicked back, a cold, predatory smile playing across his lips.
Viktor Vance.
"Hello, Lucas," Vance said smoothly into the camera, swirling a glass of amber whiskey. "I trust you’re enjoying your domestic bliss with your little maid. Did you really think you could wipe out my proxy network in Providence—the Rossis—and I wouldn't notice? Did you really think I wouldn't reclaim what belongs to me?"
Lucas’s jaw clenched so hard a sharp pain shot through his teeth.
"Your little wife," Vance continued with a sickening chuckle, "has spent months looking for her dear brother, unaware that her brother was the key leverage I used to keep the Falcone empire in check all these years. And now? Now, Lucas, it’s time for a family reunion."
The video paused on a set of GPS coordinates displayed in the bottom right corner of the screen, accompanied by a single ultimatum: Come alone to the abandoned shipyard at Pier 44 by midnight. Bring the Falcone ledger codes, or watch your brother—and your unborn child’s aunt—die on live feed.
The screen went black.
The silence in the study was suffocating. Lucas stared at the dead monitor, his mind calculating every possible angle, every trap, every variable. He knew it was a suicide trap. Viktor Vance was waiting with an army of international mercenaries.
The door behind him creaked open softly.
Lucas whipped around, lowering his weapon just in time to see Nadia standing in the doorway of the bedroom. She was wearing a loose silk robe, her face pale, her hands trembling as she clutched a blanket around her shoulders. She had heard the voices. She had seen the reflection of the monitor on the glass.
"That was my brother," Nadia whispered, her eyes wide with shock and unshed tears. "That was Victor. He’s... he’s alive?"
"Nadia, you shouldn't be out of bed," Lucas said, rushing over to her and gently guiding her back toward the sofa.
"Don't treat me like a child, Lucas!" she cried, her voice cracking with emotion as tears spilled over her cheeks. "I saw the video! I saw that monster! He has my brother! And he’s coming after us!"
Lucas knelt before her, taking her cold, trembling hands in his large, warm ones. He looked deeply into her dark eyes, his own gaze burning with absolute, unwavering resolve.
"Listen to me, Nadia," Lucas said, his voice steady and calm, carrying the weight of a vow he intended to keep with his dying breath. "Your brother is alive. And I am going to bring him home. I let you suffer in the dark once before because I was a coward hiding behind my own name. I will never make that mistake again."
"It’s a trap, Lucas! He wants you to go alone!"
"Let him try," Lucas whispered, a cold, dangerous smile touching his lips. "Let him think he has the upper hand. Vance doesn't realize one simple thing."
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"What?" Nadia breathed.
"I didn't build the Falcone empire by playing fair," Lucas said, standing up and reaching for his tactical gear. "I built it by burying men like him."
