Chapter 18 - Retaliation in the Rain
The wrought-iron gates of the Moretti estate hung twisted and broken on their hinges like broken ribs.
Black smoke billowed into the midnight rain from two burning SUVs blocking the main driveway.
Vincent didn't slow down; he rammed the Suburban straight through the burning wreckage, sending metal and sparks flying into the night.
The vehicle skidded to a violent halt in front of the grand entrance portico.
Vincent grabbed an assault rifle from the floorboard, racked the bolt, and kicked his door open.
"Stay behind me!" he commanded, his voice shaking with pure, unadulterated fury.
I ignored the command, cocking my revolver and following directly in his wake as we entered the shattered front foyer.
The marble floor was littered with spent shell casings, broken mirrors, and the bodies of two Valenti mercenaries.
Footsteps pounded down the grand double staircase.
Vincent raised his rifle, ready to pull the trigger, when Marco stumbled into the light, clutching a bleeding shoulder.
"Safe room... held, Boss," Marco wheezed, falling to one knee against the marble banister.
"We... we repelled the primary breach team. But Rosa... Rosa took a round to the leg. The girls are inside, terrified, but untouched."
A wave of overwhelming relief buckled my knees, but I forced myself to stand.
I ran past Marco, down into the subterranean hallway, and slammed my hand against the biometric scanner of the steel blast door.
"Mia! Lily! It's Mama!" I cried out.
The heavy hydraulic locks hissed open.
Inside, crouching beneath a metal table, were our two little girls, crying hysterically while Rosa pressed a torn towel against her thigh.
I threw myself onto the floor, wrapping my arms around both of them, sobbing into their hair.
"I'm here, my babies. Mama is here. You're safe."
Vincent appeared at the doorway, dropping his rifle to the carpet, falling to his knees beside us.
He gathered all three of us into his massive arms, burying his face in Lily’s shoulder, his entire frame shuddering with suppressed tears.
"Nobody touches my family," Vincent swore in a voice so dark it sounded demonic.
"Nobody."
Marco limped to the doorway, holding a bloody satellite phone recovered from one of the dead attackers.
"Boss. The phone's incoming log just pinged a local cell tower in the industrial yard by Calumet River."
"And there's an outgoing message sent five minutes ago to a private line registered inside our own family."
Vincent lifted his head, his tears instantly hardening into obsidian ice.
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"A traitor," Vincent whispered.
"Julian didn't guess our safe room codes. Someone inside my inner council handed them over."
