Chapter 7 - Shadow over Queens
The defeat at the gala drove the remaining conspirators into desperation. Valenti’s disgraced lieutenants, facing execution from their own syndicate after Clara’s revelations, allied themselves with a ruthless mercenary cell operating out of Eastern Europe.
They realized they could not beat Dante Marino in open war, nor could they intimidate Clara Hughes in a room full of mob bosses. To shatter the Marino empire once and for all, they needed to hit Clara where she was most vulnerable: her past.
It happened on a rainy Tuesday in Queens. Clara was visiting the free clinic she had established near her old neighborhood—a place where she felt grounded among the working-class people she had spent her life helping. Dante’s security detail was stationed inside and outside the building, fully alert.
However, the threat didn't come in an Escalade with blacked-out windows. It came from within.
A rogue medical supply driver, bribed with millions by Valenti’s rogue faction, brought a high-yield explosive device disguised as an oxygen canister into the clinic's basement utility room.
Clara was on the second floor, instructing a young therapist on rehabilitation techniques, when her radio crackled. It was Marco's voice, laced with rare panic.
"Miss Clara! Get out of the building NOW! The basement—"
The radio signal dissolved into static as a deafening rumble shook the building’s foundation. The lights flickered and died, plunging the hallway into darkness as thick smoke began to billow up from the stairwell.
Panic erupted instantly among the patients and staff. Clara’s physical therapist instincts kicked in before fear could freeze her limbs.
"Head for the fire escape!" Clara shouted, her voice authoritative as she guided an elderly man and a mother with a young child toward the rear exits. "Do not use the elevators! Keep moving!"
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She stayed behind, checking every treatment room to ensure no immobile patient was left behind. By the time she reached the central hallway, the smoke was blinding, and the floor beneath her feet felt dangerously hot.
Through the haze, three armed men in tactical gear emerged from the emergency stairwell—the mercenary unit sent to ensure she didn't survive the blast.
