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The heavy steel doors of the neonatal suite swung open, and Gabriel Moretti stood in the dim corridor, his shadow stretching across the linoleum like a stain. His dark coat was damp with melting snow, but he didn't feel the cold. The internal frost of losing Isabella had frozen everything else. / Chapter 7 / 8

Chapter 7 - The Final Reckoning

Midnight at the Moretti shipping docks on the Hudson River was a desolate, freezing wasteland. Snow fell in thick sheets, coating the stacked shipping containers in a layer of white frost.

Gianni Moretti stood inside Warehouse 4, surrounded by a dozen of his most loyal armed capos. A black limousine pulled up to the entrance, and Gabriel Moretti stepped out alone into the freezing air, his long dark coat billowing behind him.

“Well, look who decided to show up,” Gianni laughed, stepping forward with a smirk, holding a lit cigar. “Where’s your little craft-store girlfriend, Gabe? Did Marcus take care of her?”

Gabriel stopped ten feet away. His expression was completely blank, devoid of emotion. “Marcus is dead, Gianni. And so is your little conspiracy.”

Gianni’s smirk faltered for a fraction of a second, before he recovered with a dark chuckle. “Brave words from a man walking into a firing squad. You were weak, cousin. You let sentimentality cloud your judgment with Isabella, and now you’re going to die for a nobody.”

Gianni raised his hand to signal his men to open fire.

But before his fingers could snap, red laser dots appeared simultaneously across the chests of every single capo surrounding Gianni.

From the catwalks above, hidden in the shadows of the towering shipping crates, a dozen of Gabriel’s elite snipers racked their weapons in unison. At the same time, the heavy metal doors at the back of the warehouse blew open, and Vince marched in with heavily armed reinforcement teams, cutting off all escape routes.

Gianni’s face drained of all color. He looked around wildly, realizing he had walked straight into a meticulously planned trap.

“You... you set me up,” Gianni stammered, dropping his cigar into the snow.

“You killed my wife. You tried to murder my children,” Gabriel said, walking forward slowly until he stood towering over his treacherous cousin. “In our world, there is only one penalty for treason.”

Gianni lunged forward with a hidden pistol, desperate for a final shot, but Gabriel moved with blinding, lethal speed. He sidestepped the lunge, struck Gianni across the temple with the heavy butt of his own concealed firearm, and sent his cousin crashing violently onto the frozen concrete.

Gabriel stood over Gianni, pressing the barrel of his gun squarely between his cousin's eyes.

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The single gunshot echoed sharply across the empty Hudson River docks, swallowed instantly by the falling snow.

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