Chapter 13 - The Broken Cage
Vance did not flinch, but his eyes narrowed to cold slits. "You always were a blunt instrument, Leandro. Mateo was the smart one. That's why he had to go. He couldn't see the bigger picture. He thought an honest port was worth more than an empire."
"Where is she?" Leandro demanded, his voice dropping into a lethal, hushed growl. "Where are you keeping Evelyn?"
"Evelyn is right where she belongs," Vance replied smoothly, stepping back into the protective ring of his bodyguards. "She knows that silence is the only currency that keeps her family alive. If you take one step out of line tonight, Leandro, she won't survive the hour. Enjoy the champagne. It was paid for by the very men you spent the last five years trying to destroy."
Vance turned on his heel and melted back into the crowd, surrounded by a wall of black-suited agents.
"Leandro," I whispered urgently, feeling the tremor running through his muscular frame. "He’s baiting you. He wants you to draw blood here. If you touch him in this room, Homeland Security takes you down, and the story becomes about an unhinged mob boss attacking a presidential candidate."
"He has Mateo’s girl, Clare," Leandro said, his voice raw with a pain that ripped through me. "She’s the only piece of my brother left on this earth."
"Then we don't fight him with bullets," I said, catching his jaw between both my hands, forcing his hazel eye to look directly into mine. "We fight him with the truth. We steal Evelyn out from under his nose, and we take his ledger to the world."
Leandro stared down at me, the madness in his eyes gradually receding, replaced by a cold, surgical focus. He lifted his hands and covered mine where they rested against his scarred cheeks.
"Dominic," Leandro spoke into the microscopic comm in his collar.
"I'm here, boss," Dominic's voice crackled through.
"Target Evelyn Cross. She was escorted toward the private VIP suite on the fourth floor by two private security contractors—Aegis Meridian operatives, not Secret Service."
"We see them," Dominic replied. "Hallway is covered by two cameras. We can cut the feed for ninety seconds."
"Do it now," Leandro ordered. He took my hand, pulling me toward the rear marble corridor where the shadows swallowed the gilded light of the ballroom.
We moved like ghosts through the labyrinth of the gallery. When we reached the fourth-floor corridor, the emergency lighting flickered once—Dominic’s breach. Leandro didn't hesitate. He burst through the double mahogany doors of the VIP suite.
Two Aegis operatives stood inside, hands reaching for their suppressed pistols. Leandro moved with explosive, terrifying violence. He closed the distance in a single stride, slamming his forearm into the first guard's throat before the man could draw. The second guard lunged, but Leandro caught the man's wrist, twisted it until the bone cracked with a sickening snap, and drove his knee into the man's solar plexus. Both operatives hit the carpet, unconscious, in less than four seconds.
In the corner of the room, curled on a leather settee, sat Evelyn Cross.
Her hands were shaking violently as she looked up. When her eyes found Leandro, the color drained completely from her face.
"Leandro...?" she sobbed, clutching a silk shawl around her frail shoulders. "You're dead. Julian told me you died in the blizzard..."
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"I'm alive, Evelyn," Leandro said, dropping to one knee before her, his fierce demeanor dissolving into genuine grief. "And I'm taking you home."
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