Chapter 2 - The Black Cylinder
The sound of tearing fondant and shattering sugar echoed over the string quartet.
Dark icing exploded across the polished hardwood floor like a midnight blast. Maya stood panting, the brass poker trembling in her small hands.
The small, black cylinder rolled out from the ruined cake and stopped dead against Roman Sokolov’s polished leather shoe.
The ballroom of five hundred elite guests went dead silent.
Elena, who had chased Maya into the room, stopped in her tracks. Her forced, perfect bridal smile began to tremble. "She’s just a child," Elena stammered, her voice thin and sharp. "Someone get her out of here!"
Maya didn't move. She stood tall, her eyes locked on the cylinder at Roman's feet. "He can't touch it either," she said.
Roman didn't flinch. He slowly knelt down, his eyes scanning the black object. There were no flashing lights. There was no ticking clock. It wasn't a standard explosive.
It was a pressurized canister. The seal was designed to break open the moment the pressure of a knife sliced through the layer of cake above it.
"Sarin gas," Roman whispered, his voice barely audible, but Viktor, standing right behind him, heard it.
If Roman had pushed the knife down, the gas would have released instantly, directly into his face. It was a colorless, odorless nerve agent. He would have been dead before he hit the floor, and the gas would have dissipated fast enough in the massive ballroom to look like a sudden, inexplicable heart attack.
Roman stood up. He didn't look at the cake. He didn't look at the screaming crowd.
He looked at his bride.
"Lock the doors," Roman said softly.
Viktor tapped his earpiece. "Code Black. Seal the estate."
The heavy mahogany doors of the ballroom slammed shut simultaneously. The automated steel shutters dropped over the floor-to-ceiling windows, blocking out the Chicago skyline. The click of heavy deadbolts echoed like gunshots.
Five hundred of the most powerful people in the city were now trapped inside.
Elena took a step backward, her hands shaking. "Roman, what are you doing? I had nothing to do with this!"
"Viktor," Roman said, completely ignoring her. "Take the girl and her mother to the vault. Do not leave their side."
Viktor scooped Maya up in one massive arm, grabbed Sarah Vance by the wrist, and dragged them toward the private elevators.
Roman unbuttoned his tuxedo jacket, revealing the dark steel holster strapped to his chest. He turned his attention back to Elena, the woman he was supposed to spend the rest of his life with.
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"Where is Julian?" Roman asked, his voice dead.
Before Elena could answer, the lights in the ballroom completely cut out.
