Chapter 8 - A Ghost from the Past
The afternoon brought a visitor I hadn't expected.
A silver Mercedes pulled up to the gate,
and the driver didn't wait for permission to enter.
He held up a black card with a gold crest—
the mark of the High Council.
Marco called me on the radio,
his voice tight with tension.
"Boss, we have an envoy."
"It's Viktor."
The name sent a chill through me that had nothing to do with the winter weather.
Viktor had been my father’s advisor,
the man who taught me how to shoot a gun and how to read a man's lies.
He had disappeared after my father was assassinated,
and I had assumed he was dead.
"Let him in,"
I ordered.
"But keep a gun on him every second he’s on the property."
I met him in the grand hall,
standing beneath the portrait of my father.
Viktor looked older,
his hair completely white,
but his eyes were still as sharp as a hawk's.
"Calder,"
he said,
his voice smooth and cultured.
"You’ve grown into your father’s shoes quite well."
"Don't talk about my father, Viktor,"
I snapped.
"Tell me why you’re carrying the Council’s mark."
He sighed,
clasping his hands behind his back.
"The world changes, boy,"
"The old ways of honor and family are gone."
"The Council offers stability,"
"and they want what you’re holding."
"They want the Jenkins woman and the ledger."
I stepped closer to him,
feeling the heat of my anger rising.
"And what are they offering in exchange?"
"Your life,"
Viktor said simply.
"And the lives of every man in this house."
"If you hand them over now, the Council will overlook your... interference."
"They will even allow you to keep your territories."
I laughed,
a harsh,
dry sound that echoed in the high ceiling.
"They’re offering me my own life?"
"How generous of them."
Viktor’s expression didn't change.
"Don't be a fool, Calder."
"You’re a big fish in a small pond,"
"but the Council is the ocean."
"They have resources you can't imagine."
"They have assassins who don't exist,"
"and politicians who can erase you with a stroke of a pen."
I turned my back on him,
walking toward the fireplace.
"Tell them no,"
I said.
"Tell them that Sarah Jenkins and her daughter are under the protection of the Moretti name."
"And tell them that if they want the ledger,"
"they can come and try to take it from my cold, dead hands."
Viktor shook his head,
a look of genuine pity on his face.
"Your father was a stubborn man too,"
"and look where it got him."
"He died with honor,"
I said,
turning back to him with a snarl.
"Which is more than I can say for you."
"Get out of my house, Viktor."
"Before I forget that you once taught me how to walk."
He turned without another word and walked out into the snow.
I watched his car disappear down the drive,
knowing that the clock had just started ticking.
The warning had been delivered.
The next time they came,
they wouldn't be using words.
I called for Marco.
"Double the guards,"
"Get the heavy weapons out of the basement,"
"and tell everyone to stay strapped."
May you like
"The Council is coming,"
"and they’re coming for blood."
