Chapter 3 - The Shadow in the SanctuaryBANG!
A shot shattered the night, but it didn't come from Mateo's rifle.
Mateo gasped as a high-velocity round tore through his right shoulder, forcing him to drop his rifle onto the wet asphalt. He staggered backward against the side of the SUV, clutching his bleeding collarbone.
Dante dropped from the second-story fire escape platform, landing on the hood of a dumpster with a heavy crash before stepping smoothly onto the pavement. He looked like an vengeful specter in the rain, his gun pointed directly between Mateo’s eyes.
"Five years ago, Mateo," Dante said, his voice terrifyingly calm despite the storm surrounding us. "I swore I would lay down my life for yours."
Mateo laughed, a bloody, bitter sound. "And you should have, Dante! You built this empire on the backs of men like me, but you soft-hearted fool, you were going to hand half the syndicate's trust over to Gabriel's daughter! A ten-year-old orphan!"
"Gabriel was my brother," Dante said coldly, stepping closer. "Sophia is a Moretti."
"Gabriel was a fool who thought he could clean up our money!" Mateo spat. "And Bianca’s father offered me forty percent of the syndicate's distribution routes if I helped them erase Gabriel’s bloodline once and for all."
"Where is Bianca?" Dante asked softly.
Mateo smirked through the pain. "She's at the penthouse, Dante. Waiting for the news that you're dead. The entire syndicate believes you were ambushed by rival families tonight. By tomorrow morning, I take the crown."
Dante didn't hesitate. He pulled the trigger.
Click.
The gun was empty.
Mateo’s eyes widened with manic triumph. He instantly drew a concealed sidearm from his hip belt—
THUD!
I swung a heavy metal trash can lid with every ounce of strength I had left, smashing it full-force into the side of Mateo's head. He stumbled, dazed, and Dante instantly closed the distance, disarming him with a violent twist of the wrist, breaking Mateo's arm before driving a brutal knee into his ribs. Mateo crumpled to the pavement, unconscious.
Dante looked up at me, his chest heaving, his dark eyes locked onto mine. The rain poured down over us, washing away the plaster dust and blood.
"You hit him with a trash can," Dante said, a hint of breathless disbelief in his gravelly voice.
"I managed your schedule for two years, Dante," I panted, wiping rain from my eyes. "I know how to handle garbage."
Dante stepped closer, taking my face in his warm, calloused hands. His thumbs gently brushed over the rain-soaked skin of my cheekbones. "Are you hurt?"
"I'm fine," I whispered, my heart hammering against my ribs. "But where do we go now? Every safehouse you own is compromised if Mateo was the one managing them."
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Dante looked at Sophia, who was standing shivering under the overhang of the building. Then he looked back at me.
"There is one place no one in the syndicate knows about," Dante said softly. "The place where my brother Gabriel hid his final secrets before he died."
