Chapter 8 - The Queen of Harbor Light"Let him go," Ruby’s voice cut through the smoke-filled foyer like a razor blade.
Moretti looked up, his eyes widening in mock surprise as he spotted her standing beside Luca at the top of the stairs, clad in a velvet bathrobe with an iron fireplace poker gripped in her fist like a medieval broadsword.
"Ah, the pet nurse," Moretti mocked, his smile turning cruel. "I wondered who was keeping the beast fed. Tell me, sweetheart, does the Marchetti dog sleep in your bed too?"
Luca’s finger tightened on the trigger. The air in the room grew so dense it felt impossible to breathe. One single word from Luca, and a bloodbath would erupt that would leave everyone in the room dead.
Moretti raised a remote detonator in his left hand, his thumb hovering directly over the red button. "One twitch, Marchetti, and I fry the dog’s nervous system. Drop the guns. Both of you."
The guards behind Moretti raised their rifles, locking their sights directly on Luca and Ruby.
Ruby didn't look at Luca. She didn't look at the guns. Her eyes were fixed entirely on the iron cage, where Caesar’s amber eyes met hers through the bars. The dog stopped thrashing. Despite the electricity snapping across his collar, his breathing slowed down. He looked at her the exact same way he had looked at her in the back of her clinic—with absolute, unwavering trust.
He chose me, Ruby thought. Not the billionaire. Not the mafia boss. Me.
"Caesar," Ruby called out, her voice remarkably steady, carrying across the silent, smoke-filled hall.
The dog’s ears twitched.
"Break it," Ruby commanded softly.
Moretti laughed aloud. "Are you out of your—"
He didn't get to finish the sentence.
With a roar that shook the crystal chandelier overhead, Caesar didn't just push against the cage—he exploded through it. The reinforced steel bars, weakened by the initial blast, snapped like dry twigs under a hundred and fifty pounds of sheer, unadulterated muscle and rage.
The electrical collar short-circuited in a shower of blue sparks as the heavy iron frame collapsed outward.
Before Moretti’s men could raise their weapons, Caesar cleared the distance across the foyer in a single terrifying bound. He didn't attack the guards. He hit Moretti dead in the chest like a cannonball, sending the older mob boss crashing backward through the shattered oak doors onto the stone portico.
Chaos erupted.
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Gunfire fractured the air, but Luca was already moving. He fired three rapid shots, taking out Moretti’s lead enforcers before they could steady their aim. Viktor and the estate security detail poured from the side corridors, overwhelming the remaining intruders in seconds.
Ruby didn't wait for the smoke to clear. She dropped the iron poker, ran down the grand staircase as fast as her Crocs would allow, and pushed through the shattered front doors into the rainy night air.
