Chapter 8 - The Betrayal Unveiled
The silo turned into an inferno of gunfire and shouting.
Moretti cursed, grabbing Adrian by his collar and pulling him backward into the shadow of a massive concrete pillar as bullets ricocheted off the iron beams overhead.
"You setup!" Moretti screamed, pressing his gun against Adrian’s ribs.
"I told you," Adrian rasped, twisting his body despite his bound hands. "You're an idiot."
Outside, Sophie watched from the passenger seat of the lead SUV as Marcus’s team breached the building. She couldn't just sit there. Grabbing a heavy flashlight from the glove compartment, she slipped out of the vehicle and darted into the side entrance of the structure through a broken window.
Inside, the smoke was thick. Gunfire echoed from the upper catwalks.
Sophie moved quietly along the shadowed walls, her heart hammering against her ribs. She rounded a corner near the main storage tanks and suddenly froze.
Adrian was struggling against Moretti near the base of a grinding machine. Moretti had dropped his gun in the scuffle, but he had pulled a long hunting knife from his belt, pinning Adrian against the steel frame.
"I'm going to carve you up, Vale!" Moretti growled, raising the blade.
"Adrian!" Sophie screamed.
Moretti spun around in surprise. "You!"
Taking advantage of the distraction, Adrian drove his knee viciously into Moretti’s groin. Moretti gasped, doubling over in pain. Adrian threw his weight forward, slamming his forehead directly into Moretti’s nose with a sickening crunch.
Moretti fell backward into the dirt, clutching his bleeding face, the knife slipping from his fingers.
Adrian dropped to his knees, using the sharp edge of a broken piece of metal on the floor to slice through the zip-ties binding his wrists. Freeing his hands, he picked up Moretti’s fallen pistol and stood over the groaning mob boss.
"It's over, Dominick," Adrian said, his voice cold as ice.
Moretti spat blood onto the concrete, laughing hysterically through his shattered nose. "You think... you think you're smart, Vale? You think this girl is innocent?"
Adrian raised the gun, his finger on the trigger. "Shut your mouth."
"Ask her!" Moretti wheezed, pointing a shaking finger at Sophie. "Ask her about Victor Ellis! Ask her why her family has been taking money from the Ellis trust for twenty years!"
Sophie frowned, stepping forward out of the shadows. "What are you talking about? Who is Victor Ellis?"
Adrian’s breath hitched. He turned his head slightly toward Sophie, his eyes filled with a sudden, agonizing panic.
"She doesn't even know, does she?!" Moretti cackled, clutching his chest. "She doesn't know that her 'hero' Adrian Vale was the one driving the getaway car thirty years ago the night Victor Ellis got shot! She doesn't know that Vale has been paying off her family out of guilt ever since!"
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The world seemed to stop turning.
Sophie froze, staring at Adrian in complete horror. The air left her lungs in a sharp gasp. "Adrian... what is he talking about?"