Chapter 6 - Shadows on the Perimeter
Two weeks before the scheduled formal ceremony, the quiet safety of the penthouse was shattered.
It happened during a torrential downpour at three in the morning. Elena was awakened by the sharp, muted sound of suppressed gunfire echoing through the private stairwell.
Before she could sit up, her bedroom door burst open. Alessandro stood there, holding a tactical carbine, dressed in black pants and a dark shirt.
“Marco!” Alessandro barked into his shoulder radio. “Secure the elevator shaft!”
He crossed the room in three long strides, pulling Elena out of bed and handing her a heavy coat. “Get Mia. Now.”
Elena ran to the nursery, scooping her crying daughter into her arms and wrapping her in a warm blanket. When she returned to the hallway, Marco was standing near the hidden library door, his face covered in soot, holding an automatic weapon.
“It’s Moretti,” Marco gritted out, reloading his magazine. “Luca Moretti sold the building’s service security codes to Valenti’s rogue faction. They’ve breached the twentieth floor.”
Elena’s blood turned to ice. “Luca?”
“He thought he could get a payout,” Alessandro said coldly, his face turning into a mask of pure, lethal fury. “He led them here.”
He turned to Elena, grabbing her shoulder gently but firmly. “There is a safe room behind the wine cellar. Marco will take you and Mia down. Lock the steel door from the inside and do not open it for anyone except me.”
“Alessandro, no!” Elena cried, reaching for his arm. “They have heavy weapons! Come with us!”
Alessandro looked down at her, a dark, fierce smile touching his lips. He reached out, pressing his hand against her cheek, his thumb catching a stray tear.
“They broke into my home while my wife and daughter were sleeping,” Alessandro murmured, his voice deathly quiet. “I am not hiding in a cellar, Elena. I am going to teach this city why my family has ruled it for a hundred years.”
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He kissed her forehead—a hard, desperate press of his lips—before turning toward the main corridor where the sound of heavy breaching charges began to shake the ceiling.
“Go!” he commanded Marco.
