Chapter 15 - The Captive Cousin
The decision to violently go on the offensive was accelerated the very next afternoon by a catastrophic mistake. Leo, Hannah's cousin, had stubbornly insisted on visiting his old, rundown apartment to retrieve some sentimental family photographs before going into deep hiding. He was accompanied by two of Lorenzo’s best, highly trained guards.
They never returned to the estate.
At precisely three o'clock in the afternoon, Lorenzo’s highly encrypted private cell phone rang. The caller ID was completely blocked. Lorenzo answered instantly, putting the call on speaker so Hannah could hear every word.
"Little brother," Matteo’s raspy, deeply menacing voice echoed through the opulent, silent study. "Your guards fought bravely. The boy, however, wept like a pathetic child when we took him."
Hannah let out a sharp, devastated gasp, her hand flying aggressively to her mouth. Leo was her only remaining blood family, the incredibly loyal cousin who had taken them in when they were completely desperate and bleeding on the run.
"If you touch a single hair on his head, I will flay you alive, Matteo," Lorenzo promised, his voice vibrating with absolute, lethal intent.
"I want the territory south of the river, the shipping ports, and absolute, unchecked control of the union contracts," Matteo demanded coldly, completely unfazed by the threat. "Bring the deed transfers to the old steel mill at midnight. Come entirely alone. If I see a single shadow belonging to your men, I will send the boy back to your wife in small pieces."
The line went dead with a sharp click. Lorenzo stared at the phone, his brilliant mind racing through impossible, bloody tactical scenarios. He couldn't risk Leo’s life, but surrendering half his empire to a madman would only guarantee their eventual slaughter.
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Hannah didn't cry. The tears simply refused to fall, replaced instead by a cold, burning, absolute resolve that terrified even Marcus, who was standing quietly by the door.
"You are going to the steel mill," Hannah instructed Lorenzo, her voice entirely devoid of any typical human emotion. "But you are absolutely not going alone, and you are not giving him a single dime of our money."
