Chapter 2 - Ghosts Don't Bleed
In the security control room, the monitors cast a pale blue glow over Bennett’s rigid features. Walter slid a recovered driver’s license across the stainless steel table.
Bennett stared at the plastic card. The name read Elena Rostova. But the face...
It was an older, tired version of the woman he had buried five years ago. The woman who was supposed to have burned in a car bomb meant for him. Her hair was dyed an ugly, mousy brown, and she wore thick glasses, but a man does not forget the eyes of the woman he loved.
"It’s a fake ID," Walter said quietly. "High-tier forgery. We ran the prints off the steering wheel. Boss... it’s her. It’s Lily."
Bennett grabbed the edge of the table, the metal groaning under his grip. She was alive. For five years, he had lived in a hollowed-out hell, punishing the city, punishing himself, while she was out there. And she had a child. His child? The timeline fit perfectly.
"Who took her?" Bennett asked, the words vibrating with a promise of absolute violence.
"Camera four caught a black SUV with tinted windows clipping her car at the service gate. Three men took her. They knew the camera blind spots. It was a professional snatch." Walter hesitated. "It has the hallmarks of the Rossi family."
May you like
Victor Rossi. The man who had supposedly ordered the car bomb five years ago. The man Bennett had stripped of all territory but let live out of a twisted sense of mercy, believing Rossi's pleas of innocence.
"Mercy was a mistake," Bennett whispered. "Bring me every man we have. We're going to war."
