Chapter 17 - The Siege
The heavy wooden gates of the Rossi estate splintered under the crushing impact of an armored SUV.
Sirens and shouting shattered the mountain silence as Vince's syndicate soldiers swarmed the front courtyard.
Gunfire erupted instantly,
the sharp cracks of submachine guns echoing off the ancient stone walls.
Down in the lower library,
I had converted the oak conference table into a fully stocked triage station.
Marco rushed in dragging a wounded guard with a bullet graze in his thigh.
"Nora! We need pressure here!" Marco yelled over the deafening noise of shattering glass upstairs.
"I've got him,
get back to the perimeter!" I ordered,
instantly grabbing gauze and antiseptic to stem the bleeding.
My hands were completely steady,
every drop of my ER training kicking in to override the chaos around us.
Through the arched stained-glass windows,
I could see Dominic leading his men from the front porch.
Despite his healing shoulder,
he moved with lethal precision,
firing his sidearm with deadly accuracy.
Vince's men were trapped in the courtyard crossfire,
caught between the stone fortress and Salvatore's flanking squad.
The battle was fierce,
chaotic,
and merciless.
Smoke billowed from the burning guard shack near the entrance,
casting long,
eerie shadows across the manicured lawns.
I finished bandaging the guard's leg and pushed him behind a reinforced concrete pillar for safety.
Just as I turned around,
the heavy oak library doors kicked open with a violent crash.
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A masked gunman from Vince's elite squad stepped inside,
raising an assault rifle directly toward my chest.
