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EVERY SERVANT WAS TOO TERRIFIED TO STOP THE MAFIA BOSS'S FIANCÉE FROM TORTURING HIS MAID—UNTIL LUCA WALKED THROUGH THE DOOR, CUT THE ROPES, AND ASKED ONE QUESTION THAT MADE HIS FIANCÉE TREMBLE... / Chapter 5 / 10

Chapter 6 - The Betrayal Within

The concussive boom of a grenade detonating near the outer courtyard rattled the stone foundations of the crypt, raining fine limestone dust down upon Luca and Emma.

Luca slammed the ebony box shut, thrusting the ledger and the handwritten will into the inner pocket of his coat. He drew his weapon, flicking off the safety with a practiced thumb.

"They're attacking earlier than planned," Luca said, his voice flat and lethal. "Bianca’s failure to check in tripped their contingency plan."

His earpiece crackled with static, followed by Marco’s breathless, strained voice: "Boss! The south gate has been breached! Three armored SUVs... Romano commandos! Salvatore's personal guards turned their weapons on our perimeter team! Salvatore opened the armory from the inside!"

"Fall back to the secondary defensive line in the grand foyer," Luca ordered calmly into the communicator. "Use the choke point at the staircase. I am in the crypt with Emma. We are coming up through the wine cellar."

"Copy that, Boss! Watch your six—Salvatore knows the tunnel layouts!"

Luca turned to Emma, who had picked up the heavy brass lantern. Her hands were shaking, but there was no panic in her eyes—only a fierce, desperate determination to survive.

"Can you shoot?" Luca asked, pulling a compact backup pistol from his ankle holster and extending it toward her grip-first.

Emma looked at the weapon, then took it with both hands. "My father was an army sergeant, Mr. Moretti. I know how to pull a slide."

"Good. Stay two paces behind me. Keep your finger off the trigger until I tell you to fire."

They moved swiftly out of the crypt and entered the labyrinthine wine cellars that stretched beneath the east wing. The lights overhead flickered and died as the main power grid was cut, plunging the corridors into darkness save for the amber beam of Emma's lantern.

Suddenly, the heavy oak door leading to the upper kitchen swung open with a screech of rusty hinges. Two men in tactical vests, bearing the Romano family insignia on their sleeves, stepped into the corridor with flashlights mounted on their rifles.

"Clear the basement!" one whispered in Italian. "Salvatore said the maid might be down here with—"

Luca didn't wait for the sentence to finish. Stepping from behind a brick pillar, he fired two double-taps in rapid succession. The silenced gunshots were barely louder than coughs, but both intruders collapsed instantly onto the stone floor, their flashlights rolling across the concrete.

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I stepped off a classified military transport and made my way straight to the ICU, where my wife lay with twenty-seven broken b0nes and a fractured skull. Outside her hospital room, her mother and six sisters stood smiling as if they were waiting for lunch to be served. The detective assigned to her case leaned closer and whispered, "Captain, this family practically owns the entire county." I looked through the glass at my wife's bruised, swollen face and replied, "Good. My authority reaches far beyond this county."

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Luca moved forward, retrieving an assault rifle and extra magazines from the fallen mercenaries. He tossed an extra sidearm to Emma. "Move. Salvatore is trying to cut off our exit to the docks."

***

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Chapter 7 - The Estate Under Siege
Chapter 8 - Blood and Loyalty
Chapter 9 - The Truth Laid Bare
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