Chapter 12 - The First StrikeThe invisible army paid off within forty-eight hours.
A dockworker in Newark spotted a fleet of unmarked armored trucks entering a abandoned meatpacking plant near the waterfront. The description of the lead man matched the surveillance photos Marcus had gathered: tall, heavily scarred, with a silver cane topped by a golden wolf’s head.
Lorenzo Kane had arrived in America.
“We strike tonight,” Roman said, loading his customized assault rifle in the bunker. “We don’t let him consolidate his forces.”
“I’m coming with you,” I said, reaching for a tactical vest.
Roman grabbed my wrists, his grip tight but desperate. “No, Bianca. It’s too dangerous. If something happens to both of us, Clara Victoria has no one.”
“If you go alone and die, Lorenzo will find us anyway,” I argued, looking directly into his dark eyes. “I am the executor of the estate, Roman. Your men need to see that the Queens bloodline doesn't hide behind bulletproof glass.”
Seeing the absolute conviction in my eyes, Roman sighed, letting go of my wrists and handing me a compact 9mm pistol. “Stay behind me. If I tell you to run, you run. Do you hear me?”
“I hear you,” I lied.
The rain began to fall as we approached the meatpacking plant, a cruel echo of the night I was thrown out of the mansion. Roman’s elite strike team moved through the shadows like panthers. We breached the side doors, silencers whispering as we eliminated Lorenzo’s outer perimeter guards with brutal efficiency.
But as we entered the main freezer room, the heavy steel doors slammed shut behind us.
The lights flickered on, casting a harsh, buzzing glare over dozens of frozen beef carcasses hanging from meat hooks. And standing in the center of the room, surrounded by twenty heavily armed mercenaries, was Lorenzo Kane.
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He looked ancient, his face a roadmap of violence, but his eyes were bright with a terrifying, psychopathic intelligence.
“Welcome home, nephew,” Lorenzo rasped, leaning on his silver cane. “And you must be the little waitress from Queens. I must thank you. If you hadn’t broken Vivienne, I never would have found the courage to come back and claim what is mine.”
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