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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 7 / 10

Chapter 8 - Blood and Loyalty

Rain had begun to fall, drumming against the slate roofs of the estate and turning the grounds into a slick mire of mud and dead leaves. Beneath the surface, inside the narrow, brick-lined carriage tunnel, Luca and Emma moved in absolute silence.

At the end of the corridor, the rotting wooden hatch gave way under Luca’s boot. Cold night air rushed in, accompanied by the deafening roar of twin helicopter blades spinning up on the pad fifty yards away.

Through the rain, Luca saw the sleek black helicopter idling on the tarmac. Salvatore Moretti, an older man with slicked-back gray hair and a cashmere overcoat, was frantically dragging Bianca toward the open cabin door. Bianca was screaming over the engine noise, clutching a leather briefcase packed with stolen bearer bonds.

"Hurry up, you stupid girl!" Salvatore’s voice cut through the rain. "The Romano convoy was intercepted at the gate! Silvio isn't coming! We take the chopper to Montreal now!"

"Not without my jewelry!" Bianca shrieked, struggling against his pull.

"Leave the jewels!" Salvatore barked, pulling his pistol. "If Luca survived that assault, he won't stop until—"

"I won't stop at all, Uncle," a voice resonated through the roar of the rotors.

Salvatore froze.

From the shadow of the stable wall, Luca stepped into the floodlights, soaked in rain, his rifle lowered but aimed directly at his uncle’s chest. Beside him, Emma stood with her pistol raised, her uniform drenched, her jaw set with unwavering resolve.

Bianca gasped, dropping the briefcase. "Luca!"

Salvatore’s eyes darted frantically toward the helicopter pilot, but Luca had already seen the movement. Before Salvatore could raise his arm, Luca fired a single round through the cockpit window. The helicopter engine whined and died as the pilot slumped over the controls, dead instantly.

"You're out of moves, Salvatore," Luca said, his voice cutting through the storm like a broadsword. "Drop the weapon, or I’ll let Emma take the shot. She has far more reason to pull the trigger than I do."

Salvatore looked at his nephew, then at the maid he had treated as invisible furniture for three years. A desperate, sneering laugh escaped his lips. "You would bring a servant to execute an elder of the Moretti bloodline? Have you lost your mind, Luca?"

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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."

I stepped off a classified military transport and made my way straight t...

888Ten days after I gave birth, my mother-in-law poured a pitcher of cold water over me because I was too weak to cook dinner, and my husband stood there smirking. I didn’t scream. I made one phone call, and ten minutes later they were packing their belongings. Then the property manager opened a folder and said, “Ma’am, there’s something you need to know about these two.”

888Ten days after I gave birth, my mother-in-law poured a pitcher of col...

Eighteen years after I divorced Vincent Moretti, I watched our son step onto a Harvard stage to receive one of the highest academic honors for incoming students.

Eighteen years after I divorced Vincent Moretti, I watched our son step...

"The bloodline died the day you poured poison into my mother's broth," Luca replied, stepping steadily forward into the blinding glare of the floodlights.

***

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