Chapter 4 - A Game of Chess with Wolves
The morning sun broke through the heavy gray clouds hanging over downtown Chicago.
Inside the executive boardroom on the fiftieth floor of Meridian Freight headquarters,
the atmosphere was thick with tension.
Around the polished mahogany table sat the regional directors,
logistics heads,
and security chiefs of my empire.
And sitting directly to my right was Enzo Santoro.
He wore a tailored charcoal Brioni suit,
his silver-streaked hair neatly combed,
his wrist ostentatiously displaying the new gold watch.
He looked every bit the loyal,
successful underboss.
Except for the slight twitch in his left eye when our eyes met.
“Gentlemen,
” I began,
my voice echoing smoothly across the cavernous room.
“We have a serious issue regarding our internal financial integrity.
” Enzo immediately leaned forward,
playing his part with theatrical concern.
“Boss,
” he spoke up,
pitching his voice to sound earnest and aggrieved.
“Are we talking about the Lakeview audit?
” “We are,
” I replied,
keeping my expression an absolute mask of neutrality.
“The preliminary numbers indicate a discrepancy of two and a half million dollars.
” Murmurs rippled through the boardroom.
Directors exchanged nervous glances.
“And as we all know,
” Enzo continued smoothly,
glancing around the table to rally support,
“the terminal logs point directly to our chief accountant,
Nora Ellison.
” “She had the keys,
she had the access codes,
and she’s currently missing.
” “Isn’t that right,
Dante?
” I leaned back in my leather chair,
locking my gaze onto his.
“Missing,
Enzo?
” “Or hiding from the person who beat her within an inch of her life?
” The temperature in the room dropped ten degrees.
Enzo’s smile faltered for a fraction of a second,
but he recovered quickly,
letting out a synthetic chuckle.
“Boss,
what are you implying?
” “Guilt makes people run,
” I said softly,
standing up from my chair.
“Sometimes they run because they’re afraid of the law.
” “And sometimes they run because a monster in their own house tried to kill them.
” Enzo stood up as well,
his chair scraping loudly against the hardwood floor.
“Dante,
with all due respect,
you’re letting your emotions cloud your judgment.
” “The girl embezzled the funds.
” “Everyone in this room knows it.
” “Do they,
Enzo?
” I walked slowly around the table,
stopping just inches from him.
I could smell his cologne—
expensive,
sharp,
masking the stench of panic.
“Because my forensic audit team just uncovered something fascinating.
” “The IP addresses routing those offshore transfers didn’t originate from Nora’s terminal at all.
” “They originated from a private router installed in the VIP executive suite on this very floor.
” Enzo’s face drained of color.
“The executive suite,
” I whispered,
my voice cutting through the silence like a razor blade.
“Your suite,
Enzo.
” The room exploded into whispered chaos.
Security guards stationed near the doors immediately rested their hands on their holstered sidearms.
Enzo glared at me,
the mask of loyalty completely shattering to reveal the desperate predator underneath.
“You’re making a mistake,
Dante,
” he hissed,
his hand dipping inside his jacket toward a hidden shoulder holster.
“A fatal mistake.
” “The only mistake I made,
Enzo,
” I said,
drawing my own nickel-plated firearm in a blur of motion and pressing the cold barrel directly beneath his chin,
May you like
“was trusting you.
”
