CHAPTER 5: The Hunt Begins
CHAPTER 5: The Hunt Begins
The words echoed through the community center like a gunshot.
"The next person to disappear will be the waitress."
No one moved.
The children's laughter had vanished.
Parents instinctively pulled their sons and daughters behind them.
Dany stepped in front of his sister without thinking.
His hands shook as he signed.
Stay behind me.
Tessa's eyes filled with tears.
She gently touched his arm.
I'm supposed to protect you... not the other way around.
Across the room, Salvatore remained perfectly still.
Anyone who didn't know him would have mistaken his silence for calm.
His bodyguards knew better.
This was the most dangerous version of Salvatore Marquetti.
When he became completely expressionless...
Someone usually died.
He slowly signed to his security chief.
Lock the building.
Within seconds, armored SUVs blocked both ends of the street.
Men in dark suits spread across the neighborhood.
The community center became the safest building in Chicago.
Or the most obvious target.
Salvatore turned toward Tessa.
His hands moved with deliberate precision.
From this moment...
...you are under my protection.
She immediately shook her head.
No.
His eyes narrowed.
She continued signing.
People are already afraid of you. If they see me with your men, they'll think I'm part of your world.
He answered without hesitation.
You're already part of it.
The truth hit harder than any scream.
She hadn't chosen this.
Someone else had.
Meanwhile...
Twenty miles away, inside an abandoned steel warehouse...
A man sat tied to a chair.
Luca Ferris.
Salvatore's accountant.
Blood trickled from a cut above his eyebrow.
Across from him stood a tall man dressed in black.
His face remained hidden beneath the shadow of a hood.
He slowly placed several photographs onto a table.
Each picture showed Tessa.
Walking to work.
Buying groceries.
Helping elderly neighbors.
Teaching sign language to children.
Sleeping lights visible through the apartment window.
Luca stared in horror.
"You've been watching her..."
The stranger smiled.
"For months."
He picked up another photograph.
This one showed Salvatore smiling—just barely—inside the restaurant.
Captured through a telephoto lens.
"I've searched fifteen years for something capable of reaching the Deaf King."
He tapped the photograph.
"I finally found it."
Back at the community center...
Salvatore called for everyone except Tessa and Dany to leave.
Once they were alone, he revealed something no one expected.
He removed his hearing processor.
Then the second one.
Silence.
Complete silence.
He looked directly at Tessa.
His hands moved slowly.
I wasn't born deaf.
She blinked.
He continued.
When I was nineteen...
A car bomb killed my parents.
His fingers hesitated for the first time.
The explosion destroyed most of my hearing.
Dany watched quietly.
Salvatore rarely spoke about his past.
Almost no one knew the truth.
People thought silence made me weak.
A faint smile appeared.
So I made silence terrifying instead.
Tessa suddenly understood.
The legend.
The fear.
The reputation.
None of it had begun with power.
It had begun with grief.
Just then...
One of the security monitors flickered.
A masked courier approached the entrance carrying a small gift box.
The guards stopped him immediately.
The man surrendered without resistance.
Inside the box...
A tiny hearing aid.
Covered in blood.
Attached was a handwritten note.
YOU COULDN'T SAVE YOUR FAMILY.
YOU WON'T SAVE HERS.
For the first time in years...
Salvatore's hands trembled.
Only once.
But Tessa noticed.
That night...
She refused the armored convoy.
"I'll go home."
The security chief objected immediately.
"It's too dangerous."
She smiled sadly.
"My neighbors are janitors, nurses and retired teachers."
"If twenty armed men surround my apartment..."
"...they become targets too."
Salvatore listened carefully.
Finally, he nodded.
Three undercover agents.
No marked vehicles.
No visible weapons.
Invisible protection.
She accepted.
As she walked into her apartment building, she never noticed the old maintenance worker sweeping the hallway.
Because he wasn't a maintenance worker.
Hidden beneath the cap was a tiny camera.
Someone whispered into an earpiece.
"Target is home."
A calm voice answered.
May you like
"Good."
"Phase Two begins tomorrow."
