Chapter 13 - The Poisoned Pawn
Lorenzo was absolutely furious when he discovered what Hannah had done, his explosive anger stemming entirely from his desperate, overwhelming need to protect her and their unborn child.
"You could have been killed!" he roared, pacing the length of their massive bedroom like a caged predator while Hannah sat calmly on the edge of the mattress.
"He was a terrified teenager, Lorenzo, not a highly trained assassin," Hannah retorted smoothly, refusing to shrink even a fraction of an inch under his intense, burning gaze. "And because I confronted him, we now know exactly how Matteo plans to strike us from the inside."
The kitchen boy had confessed that Matteo was utilizing a hidden network of disgruntled former employees—people Dante had foolishly hired during his brief, stolen reign. Hannah immediately went to work, sitting at the desk and cross-referencing recent employment records with Dante’s old, coded payroll ledgers she had stolen from the safe.
Within two hours, she successfully isolated twelve individuals who were currently working inside the mansion and were mathematically likely to be compromised. Marcus apprehended them silently in the dead of night, dragging them down to the very same soundproof sub-basement where Lorenzo had nearly died months ago.
Lorenzo wanted to execute them all immediately, to send a bloody, unmistakable message to his brother. But Hannah intervened, standing between Lorenzo and the terrified traitors.
"Dead men tell no lies, but they also offer absolutely no tactical leverage," she advised Lorenzo, resting her hand gently against his chest to calm his racing heart. "Let me use them. Let me feed Matteo completely false information."
Lorenzo looked down at his brilliant, ruthless queen, completely mesmerized by her cold, strategic mind. He kissed her deeply, completely surrendering his anger to her superior logic.
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Under Hannah’s strict, unyielding direction, the captured spies were violently forced to send predetermined text messages to Matteo’s handlers. The messages were designed to completely convince the exiled brother that Lorenzo was terrified and planning to secretly relocate Hannah to an unfortified safehouse in Wisconsin the following night.
It was a flawless, deadly trap designed specifically to lure a monster out of the shadows.
