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Chapter 7 - The Trap at the Warehouse

The roof of the warehouse shattered as a dozen armed mercenaries, wearing unmarked black tactical gear, descended on ropes, their automatic weapons firing indiscriminately into the crowd.

RAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT!

It wasn't a meeting. It was an ambush—not just for Austo, but for the Belluccis as well. A third, shadow family had decided to use the conflict to wipe out both syndicate heads in one clean strike.

"Tobia! Secure the perimeter!" Austo roared, drawing his heavy silver pistol and firing three rapid shots into the rafters, sending two of the mercenaries crashing to the concrete floor.

He grabbed Veronica by the waist, throwing his own body over hers as they scrambled behind the reinforced steel chassis of the limousine. The sound of gunfire was deafening, the air instantly filling with the acrid smell of gunpowder, burning rubber, and the screams of dying men.

"Who are they?" Veronica screamed, her hands covering her ears as a volley of bullets tore through the side panel of a nearby SUV.

"The Morello family," Austo growled, his face covered in soot but his eyes burning with a dark, lethal fire. "They wanted us to start a war so they could sweep up the remains. They made a mistake."

He turned to her, his large hands capturing her face, forcing her to look into his eyes amidst the chaos.

"Stay here," he commanded, his voice tight. "Do not move from behind this wheel. Do you hear me?"

"Austo, no! Don't leave me!" she cried.

But he was already gone, surging into the smoke with the lethal grace of a hunting wolf. She could hear his pistol firing with a rhythmic, terrifying precision, followed by the screams of the mercenaries as he systematically dismantled their assault.

From the corner of her eye, Veronica saw a shadow moving near the back of the limousine.

It was Olindo.

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He was bleeding from a graze on his forehead, his face twisted into a demonic mask of rage as he pointed his pistol directly at her.

"If I can't have you, Veronica," he choked out, his finger tightening on the trigger, "no one will!"

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