Chapter 5 - The Snake Unmasked
Footsteps boomed behind her on the concrete floor.
“Stop!” Mason’s voice roared through the corridor, dropping all pretense of composure.
Grace sprinted up the narrow spiral stairs, her chest burning, her legs pumping with desperation. She wasn't an athlete, but fear gave her extraordinary speed. She reached the third-floor panel, threw herself through the opening, and slammed the heavy wooden door shut, throwing the internal deadbolt just as heavy fists began pounding against the other side.
“Grace! Open this door!” Mason thundered from inside the wall. “Don't make this harder than it needs to be!”
Grace didn't waste a second. She ran into Lily’s room, scooped the startled, sleepy toddler into her arms, and wrapped her in a heavy wool coat.
“Mama? What’s wrong?” Lily whimpered, clinging to Grace’s neck.
“We’re playing a game, baby,” Grace whispered, her voice shaking violently as she rushed down the main grand staircase toward the front doors. “A very fast game. We have to go see Uncle Adrian right now.”
As she reached the grand foyer, the heavy double front doors were suddenly thrown open.
Three dark figures stepped into the entryway, their silhouettes illuminated by the flashing headlights of an arriving black SUV. Grace pulled back into the shadows behind a massive marble pillar, her hand over Lily’s mouth, her heart pounding in her ears.
The lead figure stepped into the light of the chandelier.
It wasn't one of Mason’s men.
It was Adrian Vale.
He was pale, wearing a black trench coat over his hospital scrub pants, his chest heavily bandaged beneath an unbuttoned shirt. He leaned heavily on a thick iron cane, his left hand clutching his side where the surgical incision was, but his eyes were alive with terrifying, lethal fire. Beside him stood Dr. Hannah Brooks and four heavily armed men from Adrian’s personal, loyal guard—men who had served him long before Mason Reed ever joined the organization.
“Adrian!” Grace cried out, stepping from behind the pillar.
Adrian’s head snapped toward her. Relief washed over his stern, bruised face. “Grace. Thank God.”
He took three slow, painful steps forward, leaning heavily on his cane. “Dr. Brooks helped me slip out through the hospital’s service elevator ten minutes after Mason left. My loyal guards secured the floor.”
“Adrian, he’s here!” Grace gasped, pointing toward the west wing corridors. “Mason! He’s the traitor! He was talking to the Moretti syndicate over the radio—he’s the one who put the bacteria in your wound!”
Before Adrian could speak, a loud CRACK echoed through the foyer.
A bullet shattered the marble wall three inches above Adrian’s head.
“Get down!” Adrian roared, throwing his body in front of Grace and Lily as his loyal guards immediately drew their weapons and returned fire down the corridor.
Mason stepped out from the darkness of the archway, a heavy pistol in his hand, his eyes wild and unhinged. Behind him were four traitorous guards who had sold out to the Moretti family.
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“You should have died in that bed, Adrian!” Mason screamed over the deafening gunfire. “You’ve gone soft! Letting housekeepers and children run around your estate while the Moretti family takes our shipping lanes! I built half this empire!”
“You built nothing!” Adrian’s voice thundered back, his authority echoing through the limestone halls like thunder, completely defying his frail physical state. He stood tall, shielding Grace with his broad frame, his own weapon drawn and aimed with terrifying precision. “You sold your brothers for cheap gold!”
