Chapter 11 - Danger Returns
Forty-eight hours later, the afternoon sky over Lincoln Park was overcast and gray.
Anna stood near the edge of the private playground behind the Vance estate, watching Leo play on the swings with his nanny, Clara. Two armed bodyguards stood discretely fifty paces away near the iron gates.
Everything had moved with terrifying speed.
Vincent had actually done it.
He had publicly stepped down as CEO of Moretti Industries, transferring control to an independent board, and had officially signed over the maritime voting shares to Julian Vance. The news had sent shockwaves through Wall Street and the Chicago underworld alike. Men who had feared Vincent for decades were suddenly smelling blood in the water.
*He really did it for Leo,* Anna thought, her hand tightening around her coffee cup.
Suddenly, a loud crack echoed across the courtyard.
The gate guard collapsed to the pavement.
Before Anna could scream, a black delivery van barreled through the wrought-iron gates, tires screeching violently against the cobblestones. The side door slid open instantly.
Two men in tactical gear and ski masks jumped out, armed with silenced submachine guns.
“Clara! Grab Leo!” Anna screamed, dropping her cup and sprinting across the grass.
Gunfire erupted. Clara was struck in the shoulder, falling to the ground with a cry of pain. Leo shrieked in terror, standing frozen in the middle of the grass as one of the masked men lunged toward him.
“LEO!” Anna threw herself forward, but she was twenty yards away. She wasn't going to make it.
Suddenly, a black SUV roared around the perimeter driveway, smashing directly into the side of the delivery van with a bone-jarring crash. Metal crumpled, glass shattered, and the van was shoved ten feet off course.
The driver’s door of the SUV kicked open.
Vincent.
He wasn't wearing a suit. He wore dark tactical clothes, his face bruised and pale, his eyes burning with an unholy fury. He had been monitoring the perimeter himself from down the street, unable to stay away.
“Get your hands off my son!” Vincent roared.
The second gunman turned his weapon toward Vincent, opening fire.
Vincent didn't dive for cover. He drew a custom semi-automatic from his shoulder holster, firing three lethal, double-tap shots through the gunman’s chest before the man could adjust his aim. The gunman dropped instantly.
The first kidnapper, holding Leo by the collar of his jacket, panicked. He raised his sidearm, pointing it directly at the terrified toddler’s head.
“Back off!” the kidnapper screamed, his voice muffled by the mask. “Back off or I paint the grass with him!”
Anna froze ten feet away, her breath trapped in her throat. “No! Please! Take me! Take me instead!”
From behind the shattered van, a woman stepped out, holding a detonator in her hand. Her blond hair was disheveled, her designer clothes stained with grease and dirt, her face contorted in manic madness.
Sophia.
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“Hello, Anna,” Sophia laughed, a shrill, broken sound that carried across the park. “Did you really think you could take him from me? Did you think you could just come back from the dead and have your happy little family?!”
***
