Chapter 7 - The Trap Snaps Shut
Before Enzo could pull the trigger, Victor Rossi moved with desperate, feral speed.
He grabbed Sarah by her jacket collar, hauling her body in front of him as a human shield while pulling a compact 9mm pistol from his ankle holster.
"Nobody move!" Victor screamed, his arm wrapped tight around Sarah’s throat, cutting off her air supply. "Nobody fucking move or I blow her head off!"
The four other captains gasped, scrambling back from the table, their chairs clattering against the hardwood floor as their own bodyguards drew weapons.
Enzo didn't lower his gun. He stood at the head of the table, his sight fixed directly on the half-inch of Victor’s forehead visible behind Sarah’s dark wig.
"Put her down, Victor," Enzo said, his tone entirely devoid of emotion.
"You set me up!" Victor shrieked, his eyes wild with panic, backing toward the heavy glass French doors that led out to the rear stone terrace overlooking the Sound. "You brought this fucking bitch here to trap me!"
"You sold my six-year-old son to Dominic Moretti," Enzo said, taking a slow step forward. "Why, Victor? I gave you everything. I made you a captain at thirty-four."
"You gave me scraps!" Victor spat, blood spray hitting Sarah’s cheek as he yelled into her ear. "Moretti offered me half of Manhattan! He offered me the docks, the real estate, everything! All he wanted was your head and your brat's body!"
Sarah felt the cold steel of Victor’s pistol pressed hard against her temple. Pain flared through her wounded shoulder as he squeezed her frame tighter against his chest.
I can't let him take me again, Sarah thought. I won't let him hurt Leo.
"Sarah," Enzo said softly, his eyes meeting hers over the barrel of his gun. "Trust me."
Sarah didn't hesitate. She remembered what she had told six-year-old Leo beneath the table at the Halston Hotel: He is not broken. He just needed help.
Using every remaining ounce of strength in her legs, Sarah dropped her weight completely, bending her knees and pulling her body down toward the floor.
The sudden loss of his human shield threw Victor off balance for a fraction of a second.
BANG!
Enzo’s shot was instantaneous.
The high-caliber round took Victor Rossi right in the shoulder, throwing him backward through the heavy glass French doors. Shards of glass shattered into a million glittering pieces as Victor crashed onto the rain-slicked stone terrace outside.
"Marco! Secure the house!" Enzo roared, vaulting over the dining room table like a man half his age.
Sarah hit the floor hard, glass crunching beneath her knees, but she didn't stop. She crawled behind the heavy oak sideboard as gunfire erupted outside on the terrace.
Victor wasn't alone.
A black speedboat was idling in the dark waters of the Sound below the bluff. Four heavily armed men in wet suits scrambled up the iron fire escape stairs from the beach, firing automatic rifles toward the terrace to cover Victor’s escape.
"Retreat!" Victor screamed, staggering to his feet, blood pouring from his shattered shoulder as he stumbled toward the cliffside stairs. "Get me on the boat!"
"Gianni! Aldo! Take the left flank!" Enzo shouted, firing through the shattered terrace frame, stepping over broken glass with cold, calculated precision.
Sarah looked around the dining room.
On the floor near the broken French doors lay Victor’s fallen pistol, along with his inner suit jacket, which had torn open during his fall.
Protruding from the inner pocket was a thick black leather notebook tied with a gold ribbon.
Sarah crawled out from behind the sideboard, reached through the shattered glass frame, and grabbed the notebook just as a stray bullet pinged off the stone doorframe inches above her head.
She opened the cover.
Inside were names, offshore bank account numbers, dates, and shipping vessel manifests—the entire log of Victor Rossi’s treason, including the location of Dominic Moretti’s primary command estate in Upstate New York.
"Mr. Caruso!" Sarah screamed over the roar of gunfire, holding the notebook up into the dim light. "I have it! I have his book!"
Enzo turned, his dark eyes fixing on the notebook in her hands.
Outside, the roar of the speedboat’s twin engines echoed off the stone cliffs as Victor and his mercenaries fled into the foggy darkness of the Long Island Sound.
Enzo didn't pursue them down the stairs. He walked back into the dining room, holstered his weapon, and knelt down beside Sarah, taking the black notebook from her hands.
He flipped through the pages, his face darkening with every line he read.
"You just handed me the entire Moretti network," Enzo whispered, looking up at her with profound respect. "Every safehouse. Every dirty politician. Every bank."
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He reached out, gently pulling Sarah to her feet, supporting her weight with his arm.
"Now, Sarah," Enzo said, looking out at the dark waters of the Sound. "We don't wait for them to attack us again. Tomorrow morning, we burn Dominic Moretti’s empire to the ground."
