CHAPTER 9 — Ten Minutes to Save a Family
The countdown echoed through the underground vault.
09:31...
09:30...
Every second felt louder than the gunfire.
Dust drifted from the cracked ceiling as alarms screamed throughout the bunker.
Vincent looked at Giovanni.
"You'd destroy your own empire?"
Giovanni smiled without emotion.
"Empires can be rebuilt."
"But witnesses..."
"...cannot."
He disappeared through a hidden steel door before anyone could stop him.
The blast door slammed shut behind him.
Marcus rushed forward and emptied his pistol into the thick steel.
The bullets bounced harmlessly onto the floor.
"We're trapped!"
Tony was already kneeling beside the control panel, pulling away damaged wires.
"No..."
He whispered.
"This isn't just a bomb."
"It connects to every exit."
"When the timer reaches zero..."
"The doors lock forever."
Elena quickly opened one of the black files.
Inside wasn't blackmail.
It was engineering blueprints.
Her eyes widened.
"Wait..."
She grabbed another file.
Then another.
Finally she found a faded map of the underground complex.
"There!"
She pointed toward an old maintenance tunnel hidden behind a collapsed wine rack.
"It bypasses the blast doors."
Tony looked at the map and shook his head.
"That tunnel was sealed twenty years ago."
Elena met his eyes.
"Not completely."
"My father designed these tunnels."
"I used to play here when I was little."
Without another word, everyone rushed toward the narrow passage.
Behind them...
The countdown continued.
07:18...
The tunnel grew tighter with every step.
Broken pipes blocked their path.
Collapsed walls forced them to crawl through clouds of dust.
Suddenly—
A loud crack echoed overhead.
The ancient ceiling gave way.
Huge slabs of concrete crashed down.
Vincent shoved Isabella and Elena forward.
Marcus tried to jump clear.
Too late.
A massive stone beam crushed his leg.
He screamed in agony.
"Go!"
Vincent turned back immediately.
Marcus pointed his gun at him.
"Leave me!"
"You don't have time!"
For years Marcus had dreamed of seeing Vincent die.
Now...
The man he had hated was risking everything to save him.
Vincent ignored the gun.
He knelt beside Marcus.
"I lost thirty-one years with my son."
"I'm not losing the next thirty-one."
Together, Vincent and Tony lifted the enormous concrete beam.
Marcus cried out in pain, but finally pulled himself free.
His ankle was shattered.
He could barely stand.
For the first time in his life...
He looked directly into Vincent's eyes.
"Dad..."
The word escaped almost as a whisper.
Vincent closed his eyes.
It was the first time he had ever heard it.
He smiled through tears.
"We'll finish this together."
The countdown reached—
02:44...
They finally emerged into an abandoned underground railway beneath the city.
Fresh air.
Freedom.
They had survived.
Or so they believed.
A slow clap echoed through the darkness.
Giovanni stepped from the shadows.
He wasn't alone.
Nearly twenty armed mercenaries surrounded the family.
Giovanni smiled.
May you like
"I knew you'd find the tunnel."
"I designed it."
