Chapter 2 — The Dead Agent
Chapter 2 — The Dead Agent
Vincent pulled his own pistol from the hidden compartment beneath the fireplace.
He aimed it directly at Elena.
"You've got five seconds."
"Start talking."
She never flinched.
"If you wanted me dead..."
"I would've died three years ago."
Vincent didn't lower the weapon.
"Four."
"My real name isn't Elena."
"Three."
"It's Elena Romano."
Vincent froze.
The name felt familiar.
Very familiar.
Then he remembered.
Twenty-two years earlier...
Federal authorities had nearly dismantled the Torino organization.
The operation had been led by one legendary undercover family.
The Romanos.
Officially...
every member had died during a warehouse explosion.
Elena quietly reached into her apron.
Vincent tightened his grip.
Instead of another weapon...
she produced an old silver badge.
The FBI seal.
Burned around the edges.
"My father carried this."
"He died trying to expose the men who betrayed both your family..."
"...and mine."
Vincent slowly lowered his gun.
"I watched my father burn alive because someone inside federal intelligence sold his location."
She looked toward the bedroom window.
"I spent twenty years finding the people responsible."
"And?"
"I found them."
She turned back toward Vincent.
"They're all sitting at your family table."
Vincent felt something he hadn't experienced since he was nineteen.
Fear.
Not for himself.
For the truth.
Elena spread photographs across the table.
Marcus.
Vincent's wife Isabella.
His personal attorney.
His chief accountant.
Even Captain Rossi...
the man who had protected Vincent for fifteen years.
Every trusted face...
connected by bank transfers...
secret meetings...
encrypted messages...
and offshore accounts.
"They're not stealing your empire."
"They've already stolen it."
Vincent stared at the final photograph.
It showed Marcus shaking hands with someone standing beside a private jet.
His face disappeared beneath the shadows.
Only one detail remained visible.
A gold ring.
Engraved with a black wolf.
Vincent whispered one name.
"No..."
"The Black Wolf."
Elena nodded.
May you like
"The man you thought died twenty-five years ago..."
"...is alive."
