Chapter 6 - Shadows On The Estate
Dante fled the room without looking back, his leather shoes squeaking in frantic panic down the marble corridor. But as soon as the door closed, the superhuman strength that had driven Matteo to his feet evaporated. He stumbled sideways.
I rushed forward instinctively, catching his massive shoulder before he hit the ground. His skin burned with exhaustion, the sheer force of his will having depleted every reserve his comatose body possessed. Gwen and Rosalind hurried to help, guiding him back onto the mattress.
""You idiot,"" Rosalind wept, pressing a sterile gauze to his bleeding hand. ""You're going to tear your cardiac sutures.""
Matteo didn't look at his mother. He looked up at me. His chest heaved as he fought for oxygen, but his grip on my wrist was unyielding.
""Dante won't run,"" Matteo whispered hoarsely to me. ""He's cornered. When a jackal is cornered by the pack, he doesn't leave the territory. He tries to burn the den down.""
""Then we have to get the police,"" I said, panic rising in my chest. ""If he tried to kill you, he's dangerous!""
""There are no police in our world, Nell,"" Matteo replied, his eyes burning with cold clarity. ""Dante has mercenaries on the payroll who don't answer to the Sartori crest. He knows that once I regain full strength in forty-eight hours, he is a dead man. His only move is to strike tonight, before the family captains realize I am awake.""
He turned to his mother. ""Rosalind. Seal the perimeter gates. Call Marco and the inner guard from Queens. Nobody enters the estate grounds without biometric clearance.""
""Marco is in New Jersey,"" Rosalind said, her voice shaking. ""He won't be here until midnight.""
""Then we hold the mansion ourselves,"" Matteo said. He looked at Poppy, who had climbed onto an armchair and was humming quietly to her rabbit, completely untouched by the violence surrounding her. ""Take Nell and the child to the basement vault behind the wine cellar. The door is four-inch reinforced titanium. Nothing gets through it.""
""I am not leaving you,"" I blurted out before I could stop myself.
Matteo arched a dark brow, looking at me with sudden, sharp interest. ""You've known me for twenty minutes, Nell. Most people run screaming when they realize who I am.""
""You took a car crash to the chest trying to find my daughter,"" I said, my voice steady despite the trembling in my knees. ""Julian loved you. He told me his brother was a monster to the world, but an iron wall to the people he loved. You didn't wake up for money, Matteo. You woke up for her. I'm not leaving you alone in this bed to be slaughtered by your cousin.""
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Matteo stared at me for a long, silent moment. For the first time, the coldness in his eyes thawed into something profound and fiercely reverent.
""Mother,"" Matteo said quietly, never taking his eyes off mine. ""Bring me my sidearm from the study safe. And bring Nell a 9mm. If she's going to stand beside a Sartori, she'd better learn how to clear a corridor.""
