Chapter 3: The Enemy Inside The Empire
The search for Toby Jenkins became the largest operation Adrian Duca had ever ordered.
Every street camera.
Every private airport.
Every criminal connection in New York.
Nothing was ignored.
But the kidnappers had disappeared like ghosts.
Until Cara noticed something nobody else did.
A small detail in the photograph.
“The wall.”
Everyone turned toward her.
Adrian looked confused.
“What about it?”
Cara pointed at the image.
“I clean hundreds of luxury apartments. That wall texture… I’ve seen it before.”
She stepped closer.
“It’s old Italian stone. Not common in New York.”
Adrian studied her.
“Where?”
Cara hesitated.
Then remembered.
“An abandoned Rizzo family property in Queens.”
The room went silent.
Adrian immediately grabbed his coat.
“You’re coming with me.”
Cara froze.
“No.”
Adrian looked back.
“No?”
“I’m not going into another dangerous place with you.”
A faint smile appeared on Adrian’s face.
“You punched me in my own penthouse.”
Cara stared.
“You’re reminding me?”
“I’m reminding you that you’re already involved.”
She looked away.
“I’m not one of your people.”
Adrian’s expression softened slightly.
“No.”
A pause.
“You’re the person who saved my life when everyone else was trying to protect mine.”
For a moment, Cara didn’t know what to say.
Then she followed him.
The abandoned Rizzo warehouse was empty.
Too empty.
Adrian knew immediately.
“It’s a trap.”
Cara looked at him.
“Then why are we here?”
“Because sometimes traps reveal who built them.”
They entered slowly.
The air smelled like dust and metal.
Then they heard it.
A weak cough.
Cara ran.
“Toby!”
Her brother was tied to a chair in the back room.
Alive.
Barely conscious.
She rushed to him.
“Oh my God…”
Toby opened his eyes.
“Cara?”
She held him tightly.
“I’m here.”
Then Adrian noticed something.
A security camera.
Still recording.
A speaker clicked on.
A familiar voice filled the warehouse.
Elena.
“Congratulations, Adrian.”
Cara froze.
The screen turned on.
Elena appeared.
But she was not alone.
Standing behind her was an older man.
Adrian’s face changed instantly.
Because he knew him.
Everyone in New York knew him.
Marcus Duca.
Adrian’s uncle.
The man who had supposedly died twenty years ago.
“You’re dead,” Adrian whispered.
Marcus smiled.
“No.”
The old man stepped closer to the camera.
“I was forgotten.”
Adrian stared.
“You controlled Vincent.”
“Yes.”
“You controlled Elena.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Marcus smiled.
“Because your father gave you everything.”
May you like
His eyes became cold.
“And I spent twenty years waiting to take it back.”
