Chapter 6 - The Viper's Last Strike
Though Valerio was behind bars, the danger to the Duca family was far from over. Three days after the arrest, Alessandro received a chilling notification from his intelligence network: the remaining synthetic toxin from the Valora Tech laboratory—nearly five liters of highly concentrated cardiac poison—had vanished from the evidence locker at the precinct.
"Valerio wasn't working alone," Caleb stated, pacing the length of Alessandro's study. "He didn't have the connections to corrupt the city’s central evidence division. Someone higher up in the syndicate is pulling the strings."
"My Aunt Beatrice," Alessandro said, his voice flat. He looked at a family photograph on the mantelpiece. Beatrice Duca was his father’s older sister, a woman who had lived in bitter exile in Monaco after losing the patriarchal succession battle twenty years ago. "She always believed the empire belonged to her line. Valerio was just her puppet."
Before Caleb could respond, Alessandro’s private phone rang. The screen displayed an unknown, encrypted number.
He answered it, putting it on speaker.
"Alessandro, dear," a cold, aristocratic female voice purred over the line. "You always were too clever for your own good. Just like your father."
"Beatrice," Alessandro said, his hand tightening around the phone. "You're behind this."
"Valerio was a weak link, an idiot who thought he could play with chemicals," Beatrice laughed, a dry, rattling sound. "But I am a realist. I have the toxin, Alessandro. And right now, my associates are standing outside a very charming little safehouse where your pretty housemaid and her delightful child are staying. The child has such a wonderful nose, doesn't she? Let’s see if she can smell it when it’s introduced into the city’s water line for that district."
May you like
Alessandro’s blood turned to liquid nitrogen. "If you touch them, Beatrice, there is no corner of this earth where you can hide from me."
"Then let’s make a trade, nephew," she said. "The Duca corporate treasury keys for their lives. You have two hours. Come to the old limestone quarry outside San Siro. Alone. If I see a single security vehicle, the little girl drinks her last cup of water."
