Valerio’s leather shoes clicked against the polished marble floor with a rhythmic, lethal cadence that silenced the surrounding whispers. His dark eyes, usually cold and unreadable, flared with a tempest of controlled fury as he observed the scene before him.

Through the haze stepped six heavily armored figures led not by a Russian mercenary, but by Eleanor DeLuca herself. She held a sleek, gold-plated pistol in her right hand, her velvet evening gown pristine despite the carnage around her.

Behind her stood Veronica Moretti, her wrists bound in zip-ties, her face bruised but her eyes filled with manic triumph.

"Stand down, Valerio," Eleanor said, raising her weapon. "The council has voted. You are stripped of your leadership of the DeLuca family for endangering our operations for the sake of a Russian ghost."

"You don't have the authority to strip me of anything, Mother," Valerio said, his voice terrifyingly calm. "The council serves me."

"They served you while you were profitable!" Veronica interjected, spitting on the floor. "Now you're liabilities! Both of you! My father has already signed the treaty with the Bratva. Once we extract the financial codes from your precious little cripple's veins, the Moretti family takes control of the entire syndicate!"

Alessia tried to drag herself backward, using her arms to push her lifeless legs across the concrete. "Valerio... please..."

Valerio didn't look back at her. "Lucian. Protocol Zero."

Lucian’s eyes widened. "Valerio, no! That will destroy the entire subterranean network!"

"Do it!" Valerio roared.

Lucian slammed his palm down on the emergency terminal behind the desk. Instantly, heavy mechanical shutters dropped over the observation windows, and automated turrets deployed from the ceiling tile grid.

"Fire!" Eleanor screamed to her men.

The small room erupted into a chaos of muzzle flashes and deafening gunfire.

Valerio moved with shocking speed, diving across the floor to scoop Alessia into his arms as bullets tore through the air where she had been sitting a second prior. He rolled behind a heavy concrete support pillar, shielding her body with his own.

A bullet grazed Valerio's shoulder, ripping through his suit jacket and spraying crimson blood across Alessia’s white dress.

"Valerio! You're hit!" she screamed, holding her hand against his wound.

"It's nothing," he grunted through clenched teeth. He leaned out from behind the pillar and fired four precise shots. Two of Eleanor's guards dropped dead instantly.

Meanwhile, the ceiling turrets opened fire, sweeping the room with a hail of lead. Veronica shrieked as she was caught in the crossfire, collapsing to the floor with multiple gunshot wounds to her legs.

"Valerio! Stop!" Eleanor yelled, retreating behind her surviving guards. "If she dies, the money is lost forever! The key dies with her!"

"I don't care about the money!" Valerio shouted back, his voice echoing off the concrete walls. "I care about my wife!"

He pulled a high-yield flashbang grenade from his belt, pulled the pin with his teeth, and tossed it over the pillar.

A blinding white flash and a shattering boom echoed through the chamber, disorienting Eleanor and her remaining men.

"Lucian! The private elevator!" Valerio barked, lifting Alessia into his arms once more.

Lucian hit the override button on the private lift built into the back wall. The doors slid open. "Get her out of here! I'll cover the retreat!"

"Lucian, no! Come with us!" Alessia cried.

"I have to purge the servers!" Lucian shouted back, firing blindly into the smoke to keep Eleanor’s forces at bay. "If they get the backup data, none of us will ever be safe! Go!"

Valerio stepped into the elevator, holding Alessia tightly against his bleeding chest. He looked at his brother one last time. "Live, Lucian. That's an order."