Chapter 4 - The South Side Ambush|
Within forty-five minutes, the entire VIP floor of Northwestern Memorial was locked down.
Dominic’s men filled the hallways—tall, broad-shouldered soldiers in dark suits with visible shoulder holsters. The hospital staff retreated, sensing the aura of dangerous men preparing for war.
Mateo walked briskly down the hall, his expression dark and grave. He stopped beside Dominic, who was pacing back and forth like a caged tiger, his hands still stained with dry blood.
"Give me the names, Mateo," Dominic demanded without looking up. "Where was her security detail? Where was Tommy?"
Tommy was one of Dominic's best drivers, a trained combat veteran assigned specifically to protect Clara whenever she left the Lake Forest estate.
Mateo swallowed hard. "Tommy is dead, Dom. Pronounced at the scene."
Dominic went completely still. "What?"
"He was driving her Mercedes sedan," Mateo explained, his voice low. "Clara was in the back seat. They were struck by an armored, reinforced SUV at an intersection on the South Side. They were T-boned at nearly seventy miles an hour. The SUV drove off into the night."
Dominic’s jaw clenched so hard his teeth groaned. "The South Side? What was she doing down there? She hates city traffic. She never leaves the northern suburbs without telling me."
"I don't know, Boss," Mateo admitted softly. "We searched the wreckage. Her phone was destroyed. But there's something else."
Mateo hesitated, reaching into his coat pocket and pulling out an evidence bag containing a torn, blood-soaked piece of paper.
"The South Side is Moretti territory," Mateo whispered. "And Lorenzo Moretti has been trying to poke at our borders for months."
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Dominic took the evidence bag. Inside was a hand-written note found in the wreckage, addressed to Clara.
The handwriting was unmistakably Lorenzo Moretti’s.
