Chapter 2 - The Echoes of the Past
The ride across the bridge into Brooklyn was tense. Inside the armored vehicle, Lily had finally fallen asleep against Dominic’s coat, exhausted from her harrowing journey. Her small chest rose and fell in steady rhythms, clutching the ratty stuffed rabbit.
"Boss," Marco spoke quietly from the front passenger seat, keeping his eyes on the rearview mirror. "If this is a setup, rolling into Brooklyn unannounced—especially after midnight in a blizzard—is a massive security risk. Vane’s men have been sniffing around our shipping docks."
"I don't care about Vane's scouts right now," Dominic replied, his voice chillingly flat as he looked down at the sleeping child. "Someone used my name to ruin a family. Find out where Elena Carter lives. Now."
Ten minutes later, the SUV pulled up in front of a rundown, snow-dusted apartment building in a quiet, working-class neighborhood. Dominic didn't wait for Marco; he scooped Lily gently into his arms—making sure not to wake her—and led the way up three flights of creaking wooden stairs to apartment 4B.
The door was unlocked, ajar by an inch.
Dominic kicked it open with his boot, his hand instantly sliding to the heavy caliber firearm tucked into his waistband. Marco flanked him, weapon drawn.
The apartment was freezing. The radiator hissed a pathetic, dying sound. And sprawled on the worn kitchen linoleum was a young woman, unconscious, with a nasty bruise blooming across her temple.
"Elena!" Dominic muttered, recognizing the face instantly—not from company files, but from a haunting memory a decade old. He knelt beside her, checking her pulse. "She's alive. Marco, get Dr. Russo on the encrypted line. Have him ready at the private clinic. We’re moving her right now."
As Marco rushed to coordinate the transport, Dominic carefully lifted the young mother into his arms alongside Lily, who had begun to stir.
"Mr. Moretti?" Lily blinked sleepily, looking up at him in the dim light of the hallway. "Is that... is that Mommy?"
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"Yes, Lily," Dominic said, his voice thick with an emotion he hadn't felt since he was a boy losing his own parents to mob violence. "Your mom is going to be okay. I promise you."
As they rushed out into the snow, Dominic realized the chilling truth: the attack on Elena Carter wasn't a random mugging. It was a targeted hit. And the war for the Moretti empire had just begun.
