Chapter 10 - In the DarkIn the sudden darkness, the sound of scrambling tactical gear and frantic shouting filled the room.
Clack. Bang!
A muzzle flash tore through the gloom from the right corner of the room as one of Julian’s operatives opened fire blindly into the empty air. The bullet shattered a porcelain vase on the mahogany desk, raining white shards across the Persian rug.
Alessandro didn't need light. He had memorized the dimensions of his own study since he was ten years old. Dropping flat to one knee, his Glock barked twice—thump, thump—with the heavy, suppressed efficiency of a professional executioner. Two distinct bodies hit the floor with heavy, lifeless thuds.
"Secure the exits!" Julian’s voice screamed from near the balcony doors, laced with sudden panic. "Kill them both! Burn the ledger!"
Another muzzle flash illuminated the room. Alessandro saw Julian lunging toward the French doors leading to the stone balcony, dragging Sophia by her wrist as a human shield.
"Sophia!" Alessandro roared, sprinting through the dark.
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He cleared the distance between the desk and the balcony in three long strides just as Julian shoved Sophia backward over the stone railing toward the sheer twenty-foot drop below. Alessandro didn't shoot. He dove forward, catching Sophia by the collar of her white dress with one hand while his other arm whipped out, grabbing Julian by the silk lapel of his tuxedo.
With a surge of pure, cold adrenaline born of fifteen years of vengeance, Alessandro yanked Julian backward across the stone threshold, crashing both of them hard onto the marble floor of the study.
