Chapter 6 - THE RECKONING IN THE COURTYARDBefore Valentin could lift his rifle, a dozen red laser dots blossomed across his chest.
From the shadows of the balcony, the upper galleries, and the hidden architectural alcoves of the foyer, Moretti’s loyal capos emerged, their weapons locked and loaded. The trap had never been about stopping the leak; it had been about drawing the rat’s master straight into the cage.
"Drop your weapons!" Mateo roared from the landing, pumping a round into the ceiling.
Valentin’s remaining men looked at each other, dropped their rifles to the marble floor, and raised their hands in instant surrender. Honor among criminals was a myth; survival was the only law that mattered.
Valentin stood alone in the center of the foyer, his chest heaving, his face blackened by soot. He slowly let his assault rifle slide from his grip, glaring up at Aleandro with pure, unadulterated venom.
"You tricked us all," Valentin hissed, his voice trembling with rage. "Isabella really believed she was breaking you. She thought she was avenging her brother."
"Isabella was a pawn playing a grandmaster's game," Aleandro said coldly as he descended the grand staircase step by step, his boots clicking against the marble. "She traded her soul for a ghost, and she lost."
He stopped two feet away from Valentin. Without a word, Aleandro raised the butt of his heavy pistol and brought it crashing down across Valentin’s jaw with bone-cracking force. Valentin crumpled to the floor, unconscious before he even hit the ground.
"Tie them up," Aleandro commanded without looking back. "Ship the survivors to the salt mines in upstate New York. Let them think about what happens when they touch my father's house."
"And Miss Romano, boss?" Mateo asked cautiously, stepping out of the dining room where Isabella was still being held by two guards.
May you like
Aleandro stopped. He looked toward the dining room doors, where the faint sound of weeping could be heard—not the cry of a ruthless assassin, but the pathetic whimpering of a woman who realized she had gambled everything on a lie and lost her entire world.
"Lock her in the blue room," Aleandro said quietly, his voice devoid of anger, leaving only an empty, freezing void. "Let her look out the window at the docks she tried to burn. But never let her speak my name again."
