Chapter 8
The first target was a sleazy accountant named Vinnie who managed Dante’s off-the-books gambling revenue.
Vinnie worked late in a heavily secured office above a butcher shop in Queens.
Dante thought the location was impenetrable, guarded by two massive enforcers at the front door.
Elara didn't bother with the front door.
She scaled the brick wall in the alleyway, moving with the agility of a panther in the freezing rain.
She bypassed the window alarms with a digital scrambler she had built herself.
Inside, Vinnie was counting stacks of dirty cash, completely oblivious to his impending doom.
Elara dropped silently from the ceiling vent, landing directly behind him.
Before he could even register the shift in the air pressure, a cold wire wrapped around his throat.
There was no struggle, no shouted warnings, and no messy gunshots.
Vinnie choked out a final, silent gasp before slumping over the piles of hundred-dollar bills.
Elara didn't take a single dime of the money.
Instead, she left a neatly folded origami crane made from a single bloody dollar bill on his desk.
It was a psychological weapon designed to terrify Dante and his remaining loyalists.
She slipped back out the window just as silently as she had entered.
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By morning, Dante would find his financial lifeline severed completely.
The ghost had begun her work.
