Chapter 7 - The Brother's Betrayal
The rain in Chicago was torrential, hammering against the metallic hull of the grounded jet like a drumbeat of death.
Alejandro stepped down the air stairs first, shielding Mama and me behind him. His body was exhausted, his clothes soaked in dried blood and rainwater, but his posture remained regal.
"Leo," Alejandro said, his voice cutting through the heavy downpour. "Put the guns down. We made it."
Standing twenty feet away under a large black umbrella was Leo Moretti—Alejandro’s younger brother. He wore a sharp grey suit, a thick diamond ring on his pinky finger, and a cold, emotionless expression. Surrounding him were thirty Chicago syndicate soldiers, all carrying submachine guns aimed directly at our group.
Leo didn't lower his weapon.
"I'm sorry, brother," Leo said softly, his voice almost lost in the sound of rain. "You shouldn't have survived Italy."
Alejandro stopped. Marco immediately drew his sidearm, but three red laser dots instantly settled on Marco’s chest.
"Leo..." Alejandro’s voice dropped to a deadly whisper. "What is the meaning of this?"
"The meaning is simple," Leo sneered, stepping forward. "You've grown soft, Alejandro. You let a maid’s child dictate the fate of our empire. You let Frank DeLuca burn our ancestral home to the ground because you were too busy playing protector to a servant and her bastard daughter!"
"They saved my life!" Alejandro shouted, his fists clenching.
"And that was your biggest mistake!" Leo spat back. "DeLuca made me an offer three months ago. A fifty-fifty split of the entire North American drug trade. All I had to do was make sure you didn't leave Italy alive. When Dominic failed, I gave Vance the coordinates to your escape route. When Vance failed, I sent the trojan virus to your jet."
Mama gasped, covering my ears, but I heard every word.
The brother he had trusted to rescue us was the true mastermind behind everything.
"So," Leo smiled, thumbing back the hammer of his gun. "It seems I have to finish the job myself. Don't worry, brother. I'll give you a proper mafia funeral. And as for the maid and the little brat... I'll make sure they're thrown into the lake with concrete shoes."
I felt Mama trembling so hard her knees buckled. I squeezed her hand tight.
Alejandro didn't flinch. He slowly raised his left hand, looking directly at Leo’s eyes.
"You always were impatient, Leo," Alejandro said calmly. "You never looked at the bigger picture."
"What are you talking about?" Leo frowned, his finger tightening on the trigger.
"Did you really think Marco was calling your phone on the satellite feed?" Alejandro smiled—a terrifying, cold smile that sent chills down my spine.
Suddenly, bright floodlights erupted from the surrounding industrial warehouses!
WHIRRRRRRR!
Four massive military helicopters descended from the storm clouds above, their searchlights blinding Leo’s men! Dozens of armored tactical vehicles smashed through the perimeter fences, surrounding Leo’s men from all sides!
From the lead vehicle stepped an older, iron-jawed man wearing a trench coat, flanked by fifty heavily armed men in dark tactical gear bearing the crest of the European High Council—the supreme governing body of the global syndicate.
It was Don Carmine—Alejandro’s godfather and the most powerful patriarch in Europe.
"Leo Moretti!" Don Carmine’s voice boomed through a loudspeaker. "By order of the High Council, your rebellion is condemned! Drop your weapons or be annihilated!"
Leo’s face drained of every drop of blood. He looked back at Alejandro in absolute horror. "How... how did you—"
"Marco didn't call you," Alejandro revealed coldly. "He called Don Carmine the moment we boarded the plane in Italy. We knew you were the mole six months ago, Leo. We were just waiting for you to expose every single traitor in your network."
Leo’s soldiers, realizing they were completely outgunned, dropped their weapons one by one, raising their hands in the air.
Panicking, Leo grabbed his gun and aimed it directly at me! "If I'm going down, I'm taking the brat with me!"
BANG!
A single sniper shot rang out from the lead helicopter.
Leo’s gun flew out of his shattered hand. He collapsed onto his knees in the mud, howling in pain, holding his bleeding wrist.
Alejandro walked over slowly, standing over his weeping brother. He picked up Leo’s fallen gun from the mud.
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"You broke the cardinal rule of our family, Leo," Alejandro said softly, looking down at him with immense sadness and lethal finality. "You tried to kill a child."
Hook: Alejandro raised the gun, but before he could pull the trigger, I ran forward through the pouring rain and grabbed the edge of Alejandro's coat, shouting a single sentence that froze everyone on the tarmac.
