Chapter 4 - The Ghost of the Past
The fake driver frantically threw the Mercedes into reverse, desperate to comply.
He navigated out of the blocked street, his hands shaking so violently the heavy car swerved.
Alessandro kept his weapon trained on Filippo, who was now quietly sobbing in pain.
Instead of calling his standard security detail, Alessandro reached for an encrypted burner phone hidden in his boot.
He dialed a number that did not exist on any public network.
"Speak," a raspy, disembodied voice answered on the first ring.
"It is the architect," Alessandro said, using a call sign he had not activated in five years.
"The foundation is cracked, and the rats are chewing on the pillars."
"Understood," the voice replied, devoid of any emotion.
"Give us ten minutes."
Alessandro hung up the phone and looked out at the passing city.
He had always kept a shadow guard, a group of ruthless operators known only to him.
Filippo had spent twelve years mapping out Alessandro’s defenses, but he had never known about the ghosts.
"You're a dead man," Filippo whispered, clutching his bleeding side.
"The moment you walk into that hall, her men will gun you down."
"I am already a dead man, Filippo," Alessandro replied calmly.
"I died twenty years ago in a harbor restaurant with my father."
"Everything since then has just been borrowed time."
The car sped toward the opulent skyscraper that housed the family’s boardroom.
Alessandro felt no fear, only a devastating emptiness that craved absolute destruction.
They thought they could use his routine against him.
They thought a king could be overthrown by mere peasants with a few well-placed bribes.
He checked the magazine of his Glock one more time, ensuring every bullet was seated perfectly.
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Today, he would not be the diplomat they expected.
Today, the beast that had slept for eighteen years would finally be unleashed upon the city.
