Chapter 14 - The Midnight Intruder3:14 AM.
The Villa Rinaldi was shrouded in heavy, suffocating darkness. The only sound was the rhythmic crashing of the waves against the limestone cliffs far below.
Serena woke up instantly.
Years of hyper-vigilance from her past life had trained her nervous system to react to the slightest shift in the air. Beside her in the king-sized antique bed, Victor was already awake, his eyes wide and sharp, his right hand sliding instinctively under the mattress toward his firearm.
“Someone’s in the corridor,” Serena whispered, her voice barely a breath.
Victor didn't answer. He slipped out of bed with silent, predator-like grace, pulling a sleek suppressed pistol from beneath the pillows. He signaled for Serena to stay back, edging toward the heavy oak bedroom door.
Click.
The door handle turned with agonizing slowness.
Before Victor could swing the door open, the lock mechanism clicked, and the door flew inward.
A shadow lunged into the room holding a long, gleaming stiletto dagger.
Victor moved like lightning, grabbing the intruder’s wrist, twisting it with a sickening crunch that made the blade clatter uselessly to the marble floor. With a swift, brutal sweep kick, Victor slammed the intruder face-down onto the floor, pressing his boot directly into the center of the man’s spine and jamming the barrel of his pistol against the back of his neck.
“Who sent you?” Victor snarled, his voice a low, murderous growl.
The man groaned in pain, blood trickling from his nose onto the stone. “Salvatore... Don Salvatore... he wants the American out of the picture... he says the bloodline is tainted...!”
Victor cocked the hammer of his gun. “Tell Salvatore his time is up.”
“Wait,” Serena said, stepping out from the shadows of the bed, wearing a silk robe, her expression cold and calculating. She knelt down beside the pinned assassin, grabbing him roughly by the collar of his black shirt and forcing him to look her in the eyes.
“Tell Salvatore something else for me,” Serena whispered, her voice laced with chilling calm. “Tell him that if he ever tries to disrupt my children’s sleep again, I won't let my husband shoot him. I’ll handle him myself.”
The assassin whimpered, nodding frantically.
May you like
Victor looked down at Serena, a slow, fiercely admiring smile breaking across his face. He signaled to two armed guards who had just rushed down the hallway.
“Take him to the dungeons,” Victor ordered coldly. “And wake up Uncle Mateo. Tell him we’re having an unscheduled family meeting at sunrise.”
