Chapter 4 - BLOOD IN THE PENTHOUSEThe flashing red emergency lights cast long, jagged shadows across the polished marble floors of the Moretti citadel.
"Stay here," Dante ordered, his voice dropping into a tone that brooked zero argument. He reached inside his jacket and pulled out a suppressed H&K MP5 submachine gun, checking the magazine with a practiced, lightning-fast flick of his wrist.
"Dante, no—Sophia is down the east hall!" Elena cried, stepping forward.
"Exactly," Dante said, his eyes hard as flint. "Which is why you are staying behind the ballistic glass barricade. If anyone breaches this room, press the master lock sequence on the console. Do you understand?"
Before Elena could answer, the heavy steel-reinforced door of the east suite echoed with a dull, concussive boom.
They were using a thermal breaching charge.
Dante didn't hesitate. He pivoted sharply, sprinting down the hallway toward the east suite just as a second deafening explosion blew the reinforced door inward in a shower of sparks and pulverized steel.
From her vantage point near the command console, Elena watched in absolute horror.
Three figures clad in black tactical gear and night-vision goggles swarmed through the smoke into the suite.
"Uncle Dante!" Sophia’s terrified scream cut through the din of gunfire.
Clack-clack-clack.
Dante’s submachine gun barked in rapid succession. The first intruder spun around and hit the floor hard, neutralized instantly by a round to the vest. But the other two soldiers were professionals—Bellini’s elite ghost squad, trained in urban warfare and hostage extraction.
"Boss! We've got two more coming up the exterior glass elevator shaft!" Vance’s voice shouted over the comms system. "They bypassed the lockout!"
Elena’s heart hammered against her ribs. She looked at the command console. The holographic grid showed a second team of armed operatives scaling the outside of the 80th-floor tower using magnetic suction ascenders. In less than thirty seconds, they would smash through the panoramic windows right behind her.
She didn't freeze. Years of managing Dante’s high-stakes empire had taught her one vital lesson: In a crisis, you adapt or you die.
Elena’s fingers flew across the console touchpads. She overrode the standard lockdown protocol, rerouting the high-voltage electrical grid directly into the exterior window frames.
BZZZZT!
A blinding arc of blue plasma lightning flashed across the glass as the two operatives on the outside hammered their suction cups against it. A synchronized scream of agony echoed through the glass, followed by the sickening sound of two bodies plummeting eighty floors into the foggy Manhattan night.
At the same time, down the east hallway, Dante ducked behind a marble pillar as automatic gunfire chipped shards of stone inches from his head.
"Vance! Now!" Dante roared.
From the ceiling vents above the hallway, heavy steel security grates dropped with a thunderous crash, trapping the remaining two intruders in a narrow, inescapable corridor.
Dante stepped out from behind the pillar, his weapon raised. Two silent, precise shots echoed down the hall.
Silence fell over the east suite.
Dante lowered his weapon, his chest heaving slightly, and rushed into the bedroom. A second later, he emerged carrying a trembling Sophia in his arms.
"She's safe," Dante said, walking back into the main penthouse area and setting Sophia down gently beside Elena. "Are you hurt?" he asked, his dark eyes scanning Elena from head to toe.
"I'm fine," Elena breathed, trembling as she knelt to pull Sophia into a fierce, protective hug. "Are you?"
Dante didn't answer. He looked down at his right shoulder. A dark crimson stain was slowly spreading across the fabric of his charcoal shirt where a stray bullet had grazed him during the firefight.
"Dante!" Elena gasped, scrambling to her feet. "You're bleeding."
"It's nothing," Dante dismissed it with a cold wave of his hand, his eyes fixed on the intercom console, which was suddenly flashing with an incoming encrypted call.
Vance’s voice came through, sounding graver than ever. "Boss... you need to see this. Senator Bellini just broadcast an emergency press conference live across every major news network in the Tri-State area."
Dante tapped the main speaker icon.
Senator Arthur Bellini’s smooth, practiced political voice filled the silent penthouse, ringing out with venomous authority.
"...It is with a heavy heart and profound shock that I announce my daughter’s wedding has been canceled due to the criminal instability and erratic behavior of Dante Moretti. Furthermore, federal and state authorities have just issued an arrest warrant for Moretti and his rogue associate, Elena Parker, for the kidnapping of my granddaughter, Sophia Moretti, and the embezzlement of over fifty million dollars from the Moretti-Bellini trust."
Elena went completely pale.
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Dante stared at the screen, a terrifying, predatory smile slowly spreading across his scarred face.
"They declared war," Dante whispered softly. "Good. That saves me the trouble of playing polite."
