Chapter 5 - The Subterranean Hunt
Khloe looked at the small, battery-powered lantern Julian had set on an overturned oil drum outside her cell door. The faint light illuminated the iron bars of her door, the slick, moss-covered walls, and the slow trickle of dark water pooling near her feet.
"Why me?" Khloe asked, trying to keep Julian talking, trying to buy every precious second of time. "I'm just his secretary. I handle corporate filings. I don't run his street business."
Julian leaned against the rusted iron doorframe, taking a sip of his whiskey.
"You really don't see it, do you?" Julian mocked, shaking his head with genuine amusement. "You think you're just a secretary. But I watched Damian Russo for three years while I was hiding in the shadows, waiting for my moment to strike. I saw the way he looks at you when you walk into his office. I saw the way he moves his body to stand between you and any threat in the room."
Julian stepped closer, his cold eyes gleaming in the lantern light.
"Damian Russo is a ruthless, unfeeling machine to the rest of the world. He destroyed my family without blinking an eye. But you... you are his single, tragic vulnerability. By taking you, I didn't just hurt him. I stripped away his armor."
Khloe's heart hammered against her ribs. She had spent three years working beside Damian, hiding her own deep, silent feelings for her brooding, magnificent boss. She had forced herself to remain professional, convincing herself that a man like Damian Russo could never love a woman like her.
Hearing Julian confirm that Damian loved her sent a surge of warmth through her freezing chest.
"He won't break, Julian," Khloe said fiercely, staring directly into the killer's eyes. "He's stronger than you could ever comprehend."
Julian's smile vanished. He stepped forward and struck Khloe across the face with the back of his hand.
The impact sent her tumbling onto the cold, wet floor. The wound on her shoulder tore open slightly, blood soaking through her white silk blouse.
"We'll see how strong he is when he finds your frozen body," Julian spat, turning and locking the heavy iron door behind him. "Enjoy the cold, Miss Hayes."
Above ground, two black SUVs tore through the chained gates of the Staten Island foundry, sliding to a stop in the gravel courtyard.
Damian kicked his door open before the vehicle had even finished moving. He wore a tactical vest over his dark shirt, carrying a submachine gun, his eyes burning with lethal determination.
"Leo, perimeter team stays outside. Nobody leaves this complex alive," Damian barked. "Underground entry team, on me."
Damian led four men through the rusted ground-floor entrance, locating the heavy steel hatch that led to the sub-basements. The heavy iron wheel on the hatch was locked from the inside.
"Blow it," Damian ordered without hesitation.
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Leo attached two magnetic breaching charges to the steel hinges. "Fire in the hole!"
A sharp, controlled explosion tore through the steel latch. Smoke poured from the opening as Damian pulled the heavy hatch open and plunged down the narrow concrete stairs into the pitch-black abyss below.
