Chapter 5 - The Siege of Bellagio
A convoy of eight black, fully armored Suburbans tore through the winding, fog-shrouded roads running alongside Lake Como as the first pale light of dawn broke over the mountains.
I sat in the middle row of the lead vehicle, wrapped in a heavy wool coat Alessandro had given me, with Emma nestled sound asleep between us.
Beside me, Alessandro was meticulously checking his weapons. The cold efficiency with which he loaded heavy steel magazines into his custom sidearm was mesmerizing and terrifying all at once.
"Ten minutes out, Boss," Marco called out from the front passenger seat, monitoring a satellite map on a rugged tablet. "Lorenzo’s security team has set up three lookouts near the Romano villa’s iron gates. They believe the Navigli mill trap went off as planned."
"Good," Alessandro growled softly, racking the slide of his pistol with a loud metallic CLACK. "Let them believe they are celebrating a victory."
He looked over at me, his dark eyes softening instantly. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small, sleek silver cylinder.
"Take this," Alessandro said, pressing it into my hand.
I looked at it. "What is it?"
"A panic beacon," he explained, closing my fingers over the cold metal. "If anything happens to me, if the line breaks... press that red button. A automated signal will alert Don Ricci’s secondary strike force in Como to evacuate you and Emma via helicopter instantly."
"Nothing is going to happen to you," I whispered, clutching the beacon tightly, looking into his eyes. "You promised Emma you’d keep her bunny safe."
A soft, genuine smile touched the corners of Alessandro’s lips. "I intend to keep that promise, Clara."
The convoy slowed down, pulling into a dense olive grove five hundred yards from the iron gates of the massive Romano villa overlooking the lake.
The rain had begun to fall—a soft, gray mist that blurred the dark cypress trees surrounding the property.
"Marco," Alessandro ordered softly. "Bring Vivian to the front gate. Standard protocol."
Three minutes later, the iron gate clicked open as Vivian—forced by Marco’s gun pressed to her lower back—stepped up to the security camera, her voice trembling as she spoke to the intercom: "It’s me... Vivian. Open up. The Moretti empire is fallen."
The heavy iron gates swung open smoothly.
In an instant, thirty Moretti enforcers poured out of the olive groves like shadows, moving with silent, lethal grace into the estate grounds.
POW! POW! POW!
Suppressed gunfire echoed softly through the mist as Lorenzo’s outer guards were neutralized before they could raise an alarm.
Alessandro stepped out of the vehicle, holding his weapon low, turning to me through the open door.
"Stay inside the armored vehicle with Marco," Alessandro instructed smoothly. "The glass is heavy enough to stop a fifty-caliber round. Do not open these doors for anyone except me."
"Alessandro..." I called out, my heart dropping into my throat as I watched him step out into the rain. "Be careful."
He paused, looking back over his broad shoulder, his dark eyes burning through the gray mist.
"I have something worth coming back to now, Clara," he said softly.
He slammed the armored door shut.
May you like
Within two minutes, the peaceful silence of the Bellagio estate was shattered by the roar of heavy automatic gunfire, exploding glass, and shrieking shouts echoing from inside the main villa.
I clutched Emma tightly against my chest inside the dark leather interior of the SUV, staring through the fogged bulletproof glass, praying with every breath in my body for the King of Milan to return alive.
