Chapter 4 - The Traitor's Smile
Laurel smiled coldly as she pointed a gun at Vincent's chest.
She looked completely different from the polite image director she pretended to be.
She told Vincent he was not going to leave this room alive.
Vincent slowly raised his hands to show he was unarmed.
He asked her why she was doing this to his family.
Laurel laughed and said it was strictly business.
The foundation board wanted Vincent removed because he was no longer ruthless.
They believed marrying a simple seamstress had made him weak and distracted.
Vincent glanced at the bomb timer which now read twenty seconds.
He realized Laurel did not plan on dying in this explosion.
She was standing exactly outside the blast radius in the reinforced hallway.
Vincent asked her how much the Romano family was paying her.
Laurel proudly admitted she was going to become the new head of the foundation.
She said Hannah would be framed for the explosion as a desperate suicide attempt.
The media would believe the seamstress couldn't handle the pressure of the mafia life.
Vincent felt a cold fury completely replace his fear.
He realized Laurel had underestimated the very woman she had been mocking.
Hannah had spent hours teaching Vincent about the tools in this room.
Vincent casually stepped backward toward a heavy iron fabric press.
The timer clicked down to ten seconds.
Laurel raised her gun and prepared to shoot him in the knees to prevent his escape.
Vincent suddenly grabbed a massive pair of steel cutting shears from the table.
He threw them with deadly precision straight at Laurel's face.
The heavy metal shears struck her hand holding the gun.
Laurel screamed in pain and dropped the weapon to the floor.
Vincent dove sideways behind the solid iron fabric press.
The timer hit zero.
A deafening explosion ripped through the second floor of the mansion.
The shockwave shattered every window and sent a fireball rolling into the hallway.
Laurel was thrown backward down the stairs by the massive blast.
Vincent covered his ears as flaming debris rained down on his hiding spot.
The iron press had miraculously absorbed the deadly shrapnel.
He crawled out from the wreckage coughing violently through the thick smoke.
His mother's beautiful dress was completely reduced to ash.
Vincent stumbled into the ruined hallway to find Laurel's body.
She was gone.
Only a trail of fresh blood led down the marble staircase.
Vincent heard the screeching tires of a car speeding away from the estate.
He ran outside to find his armored SUV completely empty.
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Marcus was lying unconscious on the driveway in a pool of blood.
And Hannah was nowhere to be found.
