Chapter 5 - The Ambush
Three weeks later, I finally convinced Dante to let me take Leo to a private park near the edge of the estate.
The sun was shining beautifully, and for the first time in months, Leo laughed as he ran across the green grass.
Dante stood near the perimeter fence, watching the tree line with his usual hyper-vigilant intensity.
I was pushing Leo on a wooden swing when the heavy, terrifying sound of a gunshot shattered the peace.
The bark of the tree right next to my head exploded into sharp wooden shrapnel.
"Get down!" Dante roared, drawing his weapon as three black SUVs suddenly crashed through the iron gates.
Pure, blind instinct completely took over my body.
I grabbed Leo out of the swing, wrapped my body entirely around his, and threw us into the deep ditch near the playground.
Leo started screaming in pure terror, the sound triggering his worst memories of the car crash.
"I've got you, baby, I've got you," I chanted, pressing his face into my chest to muffle his cries.
Gunfire erupted all around us, loud and chaotic, as Dante and the estate guards engaged the attackers.
I heard men shouting in a foreign language, their heavy boots crunching against the gravel as they moved closer to our hiding spot.
I closed my eyes, silently praying that Ricardo would somehow know we were in danger.
Suddenly, the deafening roar of a sports car engine drowned out the gunfire.
Ricardo’s black Ferrari violently spun into the park, crushing one of the attackers against a stone wall.
Ricardo stepped out of the car with a heavy assault rifle, moving with a terrifying, lethal grace.
He did not look like a businessman anymore; he looked like the devil coming to collect his dues.
He fired with deadly precision, dropping the rival gunmen one by one without a single trace of hesitation.
The remaining attackers panicked, realizing they had completely underestimated the wrath of Ricardo Moretti.
They scrambled back into their vehicles and sped away, leaving their dead behind in the grass.
The moment the shooting stopped, Ricardo dropped his weapon and sprinted across the park toward the ditch.
He slid into the dirt beside me, his hands frantically checking both of us for blood.
"Are you hit? Clara, are you hurt?" he demanded, his voice thick with raw panic.
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"We are okay, we are okay," I sobbed, finally releasing my death grip on his son.
Ricardo pulled both of us into his arms, burying us against his chest right there in the dirt.
