Chapter 8 - The Reclamation of Loyalties
I rushed over to Matteo, who was tied securely to a heavy steel chair at the center of the room. His face was a mask of bruises, his lip split wide open, but as he looked up through his swollen eyes and saw Nicholas standing there, a genuine, bloody grin broke across his face.
"I knew you were... listening, Boss," Matteo croaked, his voice trembling with emotion. "I told the nurse... you trusted the wrong men... but I knew you'd hear."
I used the silver letter opener I had kept in my pocket to slice through the heavy nylon ropes binding his wrists. The moment he was free, Matteo stumbled forward, falling to one knee before Nicholas, his head bowed in absolute reverence. "Forgive me, Boss. I let them take the floor."
"Stand up, Matteo," Nicholas said, reaching down with his left hand to pull his old friend to his feet. "You held the line as long as you could. The betrayal stops tonight. Can you walk?"
Matteo wiped the blood from his chin, his eyes locking onto the revolver in my hands, then back to my face. "I can walk. And it looks like our nurse knows how to hold a perimeter too."
"Clara is the reason I am breathing, Matteo," Nicholas said, checking his watch. "It’s eleven-forty. The family council is gathering at the Castiglione Estate in the hills. Leo thinks he’s about to give his coronation speech. We have twenty minutes to get there."
"My car is parked in the ambulance bay," I said, the words slipping out before I could think about the madness of what I was offering. "It's an old Honda, but it runs."
Nicholas looked at me, a soft, incredibly warm expression breaking through his hardened features for a brief second. "An old Honda will do just fine for a revolution, Clara."
We moved quickly through the remaining tunnels, exiting into the cool, rain-slicked air of the ambulance bay behind the hospital. The storm was still raging, the wind howling through the alleys. We piled into my modest sedan—Nicholas in the passenger seat, his massive frame barely fitting into the small space, and Matteo in the back, checking the remaining ammunition.
May you like
As I shifted the car into drive and slammed my foot on the gas, I looked at the rearview mirror. The hospital was fading into the distance, its red emergency lights still pulsing against the dark sky. I had started the evening as an invisible nurse making twelve dollars an hour. Now, I was driving the most feared man in the state toward a confrontation that would decide the fate of a billion-dollar empire.
And for the first time in my life, I wasn't afraid.
