Chapter 5 - Betrayal at the Docks
BOOM!
The explosive shockwave shook the floorboards of the private quarters, rattling the crystal chandelier overhead. Dust rained down from the ceiling.
Lorenzo reacted before the sound had even faded. He snatched Sophia from the sofa, wrapping her inside his heavy leather coat, and dropped to the floor behind the heavy oak desk as glass rained down from the tall terrace windows.
Shouts echoed from the courtyard below, followed by the terrifying, rhythmic chatter of automatic gunfire.
"STAY DOWN!" Lorenzo barked into his shoulder radio, pulling a black 9mm pistol from his waistband. "Vincent! Status!"
Static crackled over the line, followed by Vincent’s breathless voice amidst the sound of gunfire: "It's Antonio Moretti! He didn't come to talk, Lorenzo! He brought two dozen mercenaries from the Detroit outfit! They breached the south gate with a ram!"
"Is the child safe?" Lorenzo demanded, keeping his body pinned over Sophia’s tiny frame.
"They're heading for the main house!" Vincent yelled. "They want the girl and the ledger, Lorenzo! They know she's here!"
Lorenzo’s eyes went dark as storm clouds. Antonio Moretti was desperate. He knew that if the night ended with Vivien captured and the evidence intact, the Moretti family would be annihilated by the Five Families. His only option was to burn the Duca estate to the ground and erase every witness.
"Sophia," Lorenzo whispered into the dark fold of his coat where the little girl lay terrified, her hands pressed over her ears. "Look at me."
She peeked out, her dark eyes wide with terror, but she didn't scream.
"I need you to be very brave for five minutes," Lorenzo said, his voice as calm and steady as iron. "We are going to take the private tunnel under the study to the garage. You are going to stay glued to my back. Do you understand?"
"I'm scared," she whimpered.
"I know," Lorenzo murmured, pressing his lips to her forehead. "But I will not let them touch you. I swear on my father's grave."
He stood up in a low crouch, holding her securely against his chest with his left arm while his right hand held his weapon. He moved smoothly across the ruined room toward a hidden panel behind the floor-to-ceiling bookshelf.
He hit the release mechanism. The shelf swung open silently, revealing a narrow, dark stone staircase leading downward into the foundations of the mansion.
As he stepped into the gloom, heavy boots slammed against the hallway door outside his study.
"BREAK IT DOWN!" a rough voice roared from the corridor. "FIND THE GIRL! KILL ANYTHING THAT BREATHES!"
Lorenzo pulled the stone door shut, locking the heavy iron bolt behind him just as the wood outside began to splinter under the force of a breaching ax.
They descended into the dark.
The tunnel ran three hundred yards beneath the estate, built by Lorenzo’s grandfather during Prohibition as an escape route. It ended in a concealed secondary garage nestled inside a dense grove of oak trees half a mile down the road.
Lorenzo sprinted down the concrete corridor, his heavy boots echoing off the damp walls, his breathing measured and controlled despite the thirty pounds of child clinging to his neck.
When they reached the steel door at the end of the tunnel, he punched in a four-digit security code.
The heavy door slid open into the dark interior of the hidden garage.
parked inside was an unarmored, matte-black Dodge Charger—a car with no license plates, no tracking devices, and a supercharged V8 engine designed for speed rather than luxury.
Lorenzo strapped Sophia into the front passenger seat, pulling the harness tight across her chest.
"Hold onto this," he said, handing her her small cloth purse.
He climbed into the driver's seat, hit the ignition button, and the engine roared to life with a throat-tearing growl that filled the concrete vault.
He hit the overhead garage door opener. As the steel door rolled upward, revealing the dark, fog-covered country road, two black SUVs with high beams blazing slid around the bend, blocking the exit.
"They anticipated the exit," Lorenzo growled under his breath.
May you like
The doors of the SUVs flew open, and four men stepped out, raising automatic rifles toward the Charger.
Lorenzo didn't hit the brakes. He shifted into gear, slammed his foot flat against the accelerator, and drove straight toward the wall of steel and lead.
