Chapter 18
"We are perfect," Clara replied, watching her husband play with their son.
But the peace of the morning was interrupted by the urgent buzzing of Daniel's encrypted satellite phone. Daniel sighed, handing Noah back to Clara, and pulled the device from his pocket. The screen flashed a high-priority alert from his lead capo in the city.
Daniel’s face instantly hardened, the ruthless predator returning to the surface. He stepped out into the hallway to take the call.
"Speak," Daniel commanded, his crisp American accent sharp.
"Boss," the capo's voice was tense. "We have a major problem at the port. The Moretti family didn't back down after the warehouse strikes. They escalated. They brought in outside contractors. Highly trained mercenaries. They hit our main shipping hub twenty minutes ago."
Daniel’s jaw locked tight. The war had dragged on for months, a bloody stalemate of retaliatory strikes. But bringing in outside mercenaries was a massive escalation. It meant Moretti was desperate, willing to bankrupt his own syndicate to destroy the Carters.
"Casualties?" Daniel asked softly.
"Heavy, sir," the capo admitted. "We lost a dozen men. They seized three containers of high-value cargo. But that isn't the worst part. The mercenaries left a message."
"What message?"
"They said they know the Carter estate is a fortress," the capo swallowed hard. "But they also know Clara has a physical therapy appointment at the downtown clinic tomorrow. They said they are going to finish the job Evelyn started."
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The temperature in the bright hallway plummeted to absolute zero. Daniel’s eyes turned into bottomless voids of pure malice. The threat against Clara was the one thing guaranteed to unleash apocalyptic violence.
"Lock down the estate," Daniel ordered, his voice vibrating with lethal intent. "Cancel the appointment. And mobilize every single man we have. The shadow war is over. Tomorrow, we wipe the Moretti family off the map."
