Chapter 9 - Shadows on the Docks
Midnight at the Rossi shipping terminal was a labyrinth of towering shipping containers, blinding halogen lights, and the heavy, salty smell of the ocean. Gabriel stood beside a black SUV, his face illuminated by the eerie blue glow of his smartphone. Two dozen armed men fanned out across the dark piers, their breath pluming in the freezing night air.
Tessa stood a few yards away, wrapped in a heavy wool coat Gabriel had insisted she wear. She wasn't supposed to be here, but when the emergency call came in, she refused to stay locked away in the high-rise penthouse like a caged bird.
“You shouldn't have come,” Gabriel said tightly, not looking away from the dark water ahead. “This isn't a restaurant dispute, Tessa. This is blood.”
“I know what it is,” she answered firmly, her voice steady. “Your father trusts me, and your men treat me like an outsider who’s about to break. If I’m part of this family now, I see how it works.”
Before Gabriel could reply, the sharp screech of tires echoed across the asphalt. Three unmarked black vans tore through the security gates, their high beams blinding the perimeter lights. Armed figures poured out from the vehicles, weapons drawn, opening fire with deafening bursts of automatic gunfire.
Chaos erupted instantly. The Rossi men scrambled behind concrete barriers and container stacks, returning fire with lethal precision. Glass shattered, metal shrieked under a hail of bullets, and the acrid stench of gunpowder filled the damp night air.
Gabriel shoved Tessa down behind the heavy steel bumper of the SUV, his body shielding hers. “Stay down! Don't move an inch!” he barked over the deafening roar of combat.
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Tessa’s heart hammered against her ribs, but her mind remained razor-sharp. Through the gaps in the wheels, she saw a flank of Moretti gunmen slipping around the side of container block four, moving directly toward Gabriel’s blind spot. They were going to trap him in a crossfire.
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