Chapter 6 - Blood, Fire, and Sacrifice
The storm that erupted outside the Plaza Hotel an hour later was not weather; it was a desperate, chaotic war.
Viktor Vanev and Julian knew that if they left the hotel without striking back, they were dead men. Driven by pure panic and greedy desperation, Vanev activated his entire reserve force—forty heavily armed mercs positioned in armored SUVs around Central Park South.
Their target was not just the Marchetti convoy; it was Odalys herself. If they could execute the Marchetti Sovereign, the dynasty would shatter again, leaving Vanev in control of the vacuum.
As Odalys stepped out of the side entrance of the Plaza Hotel under the protection of eight Marchetti enforcers, automatic gunfire suddenly erupted from three black vans across the street!
RAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT!
Glass shattered, screams rang out, and heavy caliber rounds slammed into the stone pillars of the hotel entrance! Two Marchetti guards fell immediately, returning fire as Everett shoved Odalys behind the reinforced concrete archway!
"Donna! Get into the armored sedan!" Everett shouted, pulling his firearm and firing three precise shots into an advancing gunman!
Odalys didn't panic. Her survival training from her youth kicked in instantly. She drew a compact, custom 9mm sidearm from beneath her velvet cape, stepped out from behind the pillar, and delivered two lethal shots to a shooter trying to flank their position from the right.
"They brought heavy ordnance!" Odalys yelled over the deafening roar of gunfire. "They’re trying to block the avenue!"
Across the street, Julian stood behind an armored vehicle, holding an automatic rifle, shouting wildly to his men: "Kill her! Kill the woman! If she lives, none of us make it out of New York alive!"
A rocket-propelled grenade was leveled from the roof of the lead van, aimed directly at the archway where Odalys was directing her men’s defense!
Odalys saw the flash of the launcher. She went to roll out of the target zone—but her foot caught on the torn hem of her silk gown!
"ODALYS!"
A roaring voice cut through the carnage.
Out of the darkness of the alley, a black armored SUV burst through the barrier at sixty miles an hour, slamming violently into the side of the shooter's van just as the rocket fired!
The RPG detonated high against the building facade, showering the street in fire and masonry debris!
Weston Kade leaped out of the driver's side of the smoking SUV, two heavy pistols in his hands, firing with terrifying, unstoppable precision! Behind him, Marcus and twelve elite Kade tactical operatives hit the pavement, laying down a devastating wall of suppressive fire that wiped out Vanev’s front line within seconds!
Weston moved like a man possessed by a demon, completely ignoring the bullets whipping past his face, his eyes locked entirely on Odalys.
"Cover her!" Weston screamed to his men, sprinting straight into the kill zone toward Odalys!
Julian, seeing Weston charge, swung his rifle around, aiming directly at Odalys, who was regaining her footing near the marble pillar! "Die, you bitch!"
Weston saw Julian’s barrel tracking her.
There was no time to raise his gun. There was no time to call out a warning.
Weston threw his entire body across the space between them, slamming into Odalys, wrapping his large frame completely around her, shielding her head and her abdomen with his own body!
THWACK! THWACK!
Two high-caliber rounds slammed into Weston’s back and shoulder, tearing through his kevlar-lined tuxedo jacket!
Weston gasped, a spray of blood escaping his lips, but he held her tight, his arms locked around her like steel bands, absorbing the full impact of the gunfire so not a single fragment touched her or their unborn child.
"Weston!" Odalys cried out, her cold, regal mask instantly shattering as she felt the warm blood soaking through his shirt onto her hands!
Weston collapsed over her, his forehead resting against her shoulder, his breathing ragged, shallow, and full of pain. He looked up at her, his dark eyes filled with an overwhelming, desperate tenderness.
"I... I got you..." Weston rasped, blood trickling from the corner of his mouth. "I kept... I kept you safe..."
"Weston! No! Stay with me!" she pleaded, her voice breaking into a terrified sob. The formidable Donna of the Marchetti Syndicate vanished; in her place was the woman who loved him, her hands frantically pressing against the bleeding wounds on his chest.
Around them, the battle reached its violent conclusion.
Marcus rushed forward, tackling Julian to the ground, slamming his heavy boot onto Julian’s arm until the bone snapped, pinning the traitor to the wet asphalt! Everett and the Marchetti enforcers systematically wiped out Vanev’s remaining men, leaving Viktor Vanev trapped inside his ruined vehicle, staring down the barrels of twenty armed guards.
"Clear the street! Call the medical unit!" Marcus yelled wildly, dropping to his knees beside Weston.
Odalys pulled Weston’s head into her lap, tears streaming down her face, pouring onto his pale cheeks.
Weston lifted a trembling, bloody hand, gently touching her cheek—the same soft, reverent gesture he used to make when warming her side of the bed in the quiet morning light.
"I’m sorry, Priya..." he whispered, his vision fading around the edges as dark unconsciousness pulled at him. "I’m sorry... for not believing you... Protect... protect our baby..."
May you like
His hand slipped from her face and fell limply to the cold marble floor.
"WESTON!" Odalys screamed, her voice echoing into the smoke-filled Manhattan night.
