Chapter 9 - THE SIEGE
The explosion had come from the front gates.
Smoke was rising into the night air.
Giovanni’s men were already in position,
returning fire.
I ran to the nursery,
grabbing Luca just as the windows shattered.
Glass rained down,
but the heavy curtains shielded us.
“Lauren!
To the safe room!”
Marco shouted,
appearing in the doorway.
He led me down a hidden staircase into the basement.
The safe room was a concrete bunker filled with monitors and supplies.
I sat on the floor,
holding Luca tight as he began to cry.
The monitors showed the chaos outside.
Men in red masks—the Valenti signature—were swarming the grounds.
Giovanni was on the screen,
moving with a lethal grace.
He was a shadow in the smoke,
dropping enemies with a precision that was terrifying to watch.
“They’re targeting the guest house,”
Marco noted,
watching a different screen.
The cottage I had been staying in was being riddled with bullets.
If we had been there,
we would be dead.
The realization made me tremble.
Giovanni had saved us.
The battle lasted for twenty minutes.
Twenty minutes of gunfire and screams that felt like hours.
Finally,
the red masks began to retreat.
Giovanni’s men were too strong,
the fortress too well-defended.
The screen showed Giovanni standing in the middle of the driveway,
his shirt stained with blood.
He looked up at the camera,
his eyes cold and dead.
He spoke into his radio.
“Tell Valenti that he just signed his own death warrant.”
“And tell him I’m coming for his daughter.”
The monitors went black.
A few minutes later,
the door to the safe room opened.
Giovanni walked in.
He was limping slightly,
and there was a graze on his cheek.
He didn't look at me first.
He looked at Luca.
“Is he okay?”
“He’s scared,
but he’s fine,”
I said,
standing up.
Giovanni took a deep breath,
the adrenaline starting to fade.
He looked at me,
his expression unreadable.
“I’m ending this tonight,”
he said.
“All of it.”
“What are you going to do?”
“I’m going to make sure the Valentis never breathe the same air as my son again.”
He turned to Marco.
“Prepare the cars.”
“We’re going to the city.”
He looked back at me one last time.
“I’ll be back by dawn.”
“Don’t leave this room.”
I watched him go,
knowing that the man who returned wouldn't be the one who had kissed me on the balcony.
May you like
He was the Mafia Boss now.
And he was going to war for his heir.
