Chapter 5 - The Shadow Alliance
“Where are you, Travis?” Hunter demanded, her voice shaking with raw anger and lingering trauma.
“I’m right where I belong, baby,” Travis laughed, his tone slurred and malicious. “Selling information to people who pay way better than your pathetic teaching job. Did you really think you could run away after our little accident?”
Lorenzo stepped silently beside Hunter, placing a calm, grounding hand on her shoulder. He leaned down toward the microphone, his eyes dead and cold.
“Listen to me very carefully, Travis Cole,” Lorenzo said, his voice dropping into a smooth, terrifying whisper. “You have thirty seconds to tell me who paid you to call this phone before I send my men to dismantle you piece by piece.”
The line went dead silent on the other end as Travis recognized the chilling authority in Lorenzo’s voice.
“Who... who the hell is this?” Travis stammered, his bravado evaporating instantly.
“I am Lorenzo Rossi,” the Don replied softly. “And you are speaking on a line that belongs to my estate. Give me a name.”
“I—I don't know his name!” Travis panicked, the sound of glass breaking in the background as he stumbled. “Some guy met me at a club in South Boston two nights ago! He said Hunter was working as a maid at the Rossi mansion. He gave me ten grand to call this number and keep her on the line so they could pinpoint her location in the house!”
Lorenzo’s eyes widened slightly as the trap became clear.
“Marco! Electronic interference!” Lorenzo shouted.
At that exact moment, the lights inside the master suite flickered and died. Emergency red backup lights instantly illuminated the hallways as a deafening alarm began to blare throughout the estate.
BOOM!
A heavy explosion rocked the eastern wing of the mansion, shaking the floor beneath their feet. Dust fell from the ceiling as glass shattered in the lower levels.
“Breach at the perimeter!” Marco’s radio crackled with frantic guard reports. “Multiple armed hostiles inside the courtyard! They have heavy firepower!”
Silvio hadn't just tried to poison the baby; realizing the poison plot had failed when Leo survived, he had hired mercenaries—led by Travis Cole’s street contacts and backed by the Moretti syndicate—to launch a full-scale assault on the mansion to finish the job.
“Marco, take six men and secure the lower staircase,” Lorenzo ordered, pulling a heavy black sidearm from his shoulder holster with practiced ease. “Lock down the master wing doors!”
Lorenzo turned to Hunter. He grabbed a bulletproof tactical vest from his closet and draped it over her, pulling the velcro straps tight around her chest before placing Leo into a protective travel carrier strapped securely across her front.
“Listen to me,” Lorenzo said, gripping her face gently with both hands, forcing her to look into his eyes amid the blaring alarms. “You stay in the panic room behind my closet. Do not open the door for anyone except me or Marco. Do you understand?”
“Lorenzo, no!” Hunter cried out, tears spilling over her eyelashes. “They’re coming for you too!”
“They came into my home to kill my son and the woman who saved him,” Lorenzo said, his eyes burning with an ancient, ruthless fire. “They will not leave this house alive.”
He kissed her passionately on the lips—a fast, fierce, desperate kiss that sent a shockwave of warmth through Hunter’s entire body.
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“Go!” Lorenzo commanded, pushing her toward the hidden reinforced door inside his closet.
Hunter ducked inside with Leo just as the heavy steel door slid shut with a mechanical thud, sealing her in complete safety as gunfire erupted in the hallway outside.
