Chapter 5 - The Dungeon’s Secret
"Get Mara to the panic room!" Alessandro ordered, racking the slide of his automatic rifle as the first explosions shook the outer walls of the mansion!
"No!" Mara yelled, grabbing Alessandro’s arm with incredible strength. "I’m not hiding in the dark anymore, Alessandro! I fled for six years while you fought alone! I am a Romano, and I am staying with you!"
Alessandro looked at his younger sister. The fear in her eyes was gone, replaced by a fierce, terrifying light that matched his own bloodline. He handed her his custom lightweight sidearm.
"Do you know how to use this?" he asked softly.
"Our mother taught me how to shoot when I was ten," Mara replied coldly, checking the magazine with practiced efficiency. "She made sure I knew how to defend myself."
A feral, proud smile cut across Alessandro’s face. "Then aim for the center of their chests."
BOOM!
The reinforced oak front doors of the mansion were blown inward by a breaching charge! Smoke and splinters showered the grand foyer as dark-clad mercenaries poured into the hall, their automatic rifles spitting lead into the plaster walls!
From the second-floor balcony, Gideon and four loyal Romano guards unleashed a deadly crossfire, cutting down the first wave of attackers instantly.
"FLANK THEM FROM THE WEST WING!" Gideon barked, dropping an empty magazine and slapping a fresh one into his rifle.
Meanwhile, deep in the sub-basement vaults, the shockwaves of the explosions rattled the stone ceiling, showering dust over Victoria where she hung chained to the concrete pillar.
The heavy steel door of the dungeon creaked open.
Victoria gasped, expecting her father’s men to rescue her. But instead, Alessandro stepped into the room, holding his father’s golden revolver, his face spattered with blood from the firefight above.
"Alessandro!" Victoria wept, pulling at her iron chains. "They’re going to kill us all! My father brought his entire mercenary army! Let me go!"
Alessandro stepped up to her, pointing the barrel of the revolver between her eyes. "Your father is panicking because he knows I have the Archon codes. Where is he holding the syndicate's master comms hub, Victoria? Tell me, or I leave you chained to this pillar while the house burns around you."
"The Grand Opera House!" Victoria screamed, completely breaking down into violent sobs. "He... he set up his central command post in the VIP suite of the Grand Opera House downtown! The Commission meeting is happening there at midnight! All five syndicate heads are gathering to vote on transferring your territory to my father!"
Alessandro’s eyes narrowed. "The Commission is meeting tonight?"
"Yes! They think you’ve gone rogue!" Victoria pleaded, her voice hoarse. "My father told them you murdered me and stole the family treasury! If you go out there now, the entire syndicate will kill you on sight!"
Alessandro lowered the gun, a cold, calculating brilliance lighting up his face. "They think I’m a rogue murderer? Good. Then it’s time I give the Commission a real show."
He turned to Gideon, who had just rushed down the stone stairs, his arm bleeding from a graze wound. "Gideon, how many men do we have left?"
"Eight solid operators, Boss," Gideon reported, wiping sweat and gunpowder from his brow. "We’ve contained the breach in the foyer, but Vincent’s main force is falling back. They’re setting up a blockade around the estate roads."
"They aren't trying to destroy the house," Alessandro realized, stepping past Victoria toward the exit. "Vincent was just creating a distraction to keep me trapped here while he goes to the Opera House to finalize the Commission vote."
Alessandro looked back at Victoria one last time. "Leave her chained. If we survive tonight, she stands trial before the Commission."
"And if we don't?" Gideon asked.
May you like
Alessandro looked at Mara, who was standing at the top of the stairs, her gun ready, her face calm amidst the storm.
"We are Romanos," Alessandro said quietly. "We don't lose."
