Chapter 6 - The Price of Blood"She doesn't know who you are, Alessandro," Victor said coldly, raising a remote control. "Four years of high-dose amnestics and psychological conditioning have erased her mind. To her, you are just a stranger. And tonight, both of you finally die together in an unfortunate lab fire."
Julian raised his gun, pointing it straight at Alessandro’s chest. "It’s over, brother. The shipping terminals are signed over. The heir is in hiding. And you... are history."
BANG!
A shot echoed through the concrete bunker, but it didn't come from Julian’s gun.
Julian gasped, staggering backward as a bullet hole bloomed on his shoulder. Down the stairs rushed Marco Rossi, followed by a squad of tactical operatives dressed in black gear.
"Drop your weapons! Now!" Marco screamed, automatic fire tearing through the room.
The basement exploded into chaos. Gunfire rattled against the concrete walls. Alessandro didn't hesitate—he lunged forward, tackling Victor to the ground before the lawyer could inject the needle. They smashed into a medical cart, sending vials and glass crashing down.
Victor pulled a scalpel from his pocket and slashed across Alessandro’s cheek, but Alessandro caught his wrist, twisted it until the bone snapped, and slammed Victor’s head against the concrete floor, knocking him cold.
"Alessandro! Behind you!" Marco yelled.
Julian was crawling toward the steel door, holding a detonator. "If I can't have the empire, nobody can!" he shrieked, slamming his thumb onto the red button.
A loud electronic beep echoed through the facility. A red strobe light began flashing, and a mechanical voice chimed: "SELF-DESTRUCT INITIATED. THREE MINUTES TO INCINERATION."
"Julian, you insane bastard!" Alessandro roared.
Julian cackled, blood leaking from his mouth. "She’s trapped in there! The door is reinforced steel! You can't save her!"
Alessandro grabbed a heavy iron pipe from a fallen shelf and charged at the steel door. He smashed the pipe against the electronic lock once, twice, three times. Sparks flew. The heavy bolts clicked open.
He threw the door wide.
Sophia looked up. Her hollow brown eyes locked onto his face. For a second, there was no recognition—only fear.
"Sophia! It’s me! It’s Alessandro!" he cried, grabbing her shoulders. "We have to go!"
She shrank back, trembling. "No... no... they said the shadow man would come to hurt me..."
The timer on the wall was down to 00:45. Flames were beginning to pour from the ceiling vents above.
Alessandro remembered the words Ruth had said. He reached into his pocket and pulled out the small, worn photograph of Sophia holding Annie, which he had recovered from the Brooklyn apartment. He held it out to her.
"Annie is safe," Alessandro sobbed, tears cutting tracks through the soot on his face. "Our daughter is safe, Sophia. Please... come home."
Sophia’s eyes drifted from the photo to his face. She reached out a trembling hand, her fingers touching the scar on his cheek—the exact scar he had gotten the night they first met.
"Ale... xandro?" she whispered.
May you like
"Yes! Yes, my love!"
He swept her into his arms, lifted her off her feet, and sprinted through the burning basement, stepping over the fallen bodies as the facility began to collapse around them.
