Chapter 4 - The First Shot Never Came
The intruders pulled the safe several inches from the wall.
A black metal panel appeared behind it.
Marcus stepped forward.
Vincent moved toward the closet door.
Elena caught his sleeve.
“There are three of them.”
“There are four of us.”
She stared at him.
“Who is the fourth?”
Vincent looked at the large mirror inside the closet.
A small reflection showed the bedroom doorway.
Someone stood in the hall.
Vincent’s security chief, Samuel Price.
He had returned early from the airport.
Samuel’s hand rested inside his coat.
He could see Marcus.
Marcus could not see him.
Vincent lifted two fingers.
Samuel understood the silent signal.
Wait.
Marcus opened the hidden panel.
Inside was a narrow black case.
He exhaled as though he had been holding his breath for twenty years.
“Finally.”
One armed man reached for the case.
Marcus shot him in the chest.
The suppressed weapon made a dull mechanical cough.
The man dropped without blood spraying or dramatic movement.
The other two intruders froze.
Marcus aimed at them.
“You were paid to open it. Not see it.”
Vincent’s expression became stone.
Elena had been right.
The men were disposable.
Marcus ordered one intruder to place the case on the bed.
The other dragged the fallen man out of view.
Samuel shifted in the hallway.
Vincent opened the closet door one inch wider.
Marcus heard it.
He turned.
The brothers saw each other through the narrow gap.
Neither fired.
Marcus’s surprise lasted only a fraction of a second.
Then his calm smile returned.
“There you are.”
Vincent stepped into the bedroom with Elena behind him.
Samuel entered from the hallway.
The two remaining intruders raised their pistols.
Vincent kept his weapon aimed at Marcus.
“You came into my house.”
Marcus shrugged.
“You built your life inside mine.”
Vincent glanced at the black case.
“What did our father leave?”
Marcus’s eyes flickered.
“Nothing worth dying for.”
Elena moved beside Vincent.
Marcus recognized her.
His smile vanished.
“You’re Russo’s girl.”
Vincent looked at his brother.
That single sentence confirmed more than any document could.
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Marcus had always known who Elena was.
👉 Marcus had allowed Elena into the mansion because he believed she would lead him to the hidden evidence.
