Chapter 16 - The Dying Serpent
The news hit the room like a concussive grenade. Luca tried to sit upright immediately, his jaw clenching as the fresh surgical incision on his shoulder pulled violently, but I placed a firm hand on his uninjured chest, forcing him back against the mattress.
"Stay down, Luca!" I snapped. "You tore those stitches once already!"
"He escaped?" Luca demanded, his voice dangerously low as he glared at Marcus. "Salvatore is seventy years old with half his body paralyzed from a stroke! How does a broken old man slip out of a federal armored transport with four armed marshals inside?"
"He had inside help, Boss," Marcus answered, opening the file and laying crime-scene photographs across the bedside table. "The driver was an undercover operative on Moretti’s payroll for fifteen years. They hit the transport van on the FDR Drive, neutralized the federal guards with flashbangs, and transferred Salvatore into an unmarked ambulance. The FBI lost the trace near the Queens-Midtown Tunnel."
I stared at the black-and-white photos of the bloodstained transport van, cold dread creeping up my spine. "Why would he stay in New York? If he escaped, why wouldn't he flee across the Canadian border?"
"Because Salvatore doesn't care about surviving anymore," Luca said, his eyes darkening to obsidian. "He is an old, dying serpent with zero moves left on the board. He knows the feds will hunt him down within forty-eight hours. He didn't escape to hide, Elena. He escaped to settle his last score."
"With you," I whispered.
"No," Luca corrected grimly, looking directly into my eyes. "With you. In Salvatore's twisted mind, your father’s betrayal twenty-five years ago is what destroyed his dynasty. He blames David for leaving, and he blames you for inheriting the shipping empire. He won't leave this city until he burns David's bloodline out of existence."
Luca ripped the IV needle out of the back of his hand, ignoring the sudden bead of blood that welled on his skin. He swung his legs over the edge of the bed, his face pale with exertion, but his commanding presence filled the sterile room once more.
"Marcus, initiate Protocol Zero," Luca commanded, leaning on the nightstand for balance before finding his footing. "Lock down all exterior gates of the estate. Evacuate the non-essential domestic staff to the safehouse in New Jersey. Call the harbor security teams back to the perimeter. If so much as a stray cat crosses our property line, I want it identified on infrared."
"Already done, Boss," Marcus replied. "The outer walls are armed with thermal sensors. We have thirty loyal men stationed in the courtyard."
Luca walked slowly over to the heavy mahogany wardrobe at the back of the medical suite, pulling out a tactical black sweater and trousers. He dressed with deliberate, painful movements, his jaw set in stone.
"Elena," he turned to me, holding out a delicate silver chain from which hung an encrypted titanium keycard. "This opens the underground escape tunnel beneath the wine cellar. It leads through an abandoned subway drainage duct that opens near the public marina three miles north. Marcus will take you there now."
I looked at the silver chain, then looked straight into his dark eyes, crossing my arms over my chest. "I’m not leaving."
"Elena, this isn't a debate—"
"I don't take orders from you, Luca Rossi," I interrupted, stepping closer until my chest bumped his. "You told me yesterday that we walk into the light together. That means we stand in the dark together, too. You are half-healed, bleeding through your bandages, and you think I'm going to run down a drainage pipe while Salvatore comes to burn this house down? I stay right here. Hand me another weapon."
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Luca stared at me in stunned silence for three long seconds. Then, slowly, the cold fury in his face melted into an expression of awe and unyielding devotion. He reached into the nightstand, retrieved his secondary sidearm, checked the magazine, and placed it firmly into my hand.
"God help any man who tries to cross you, Elena," Luca whispered, his fingers curling around mine. "Because heaven knows I wouldn't have the strength to stop you."
