Chapter 4 - PASTS COLLIDE
"Clara!" Sam screamed across the courtyard, his voice wild, erratic, and slurred by alcohol or drugs. "I knew you were hiding here! You bitch! You ran away with my money!"
I stepped backward instinctively, pressing myself against the solid structure of Lorenzo’s back. My hands gripped the fabric of his wet shirt as terror, cold and familiar, gripped my throat.
"Who is this trash?" Lorenzo asked quietly, not even raising his gun yet, treating Sam like an annoying fly.
"He's... he's my ex," I choked out, my voice trembling. "The one who... who caused me to lose my baby. He owes money to loan sharks. He must have tracked me through my payroll records."
Sam stumbled forward over the wet cobblestones, his eyes bloodshot and crazed, waving the shotgun wildly between Lorenzo and me. He clearly had no idea who Lorenzo Rossi was; he only saw a wealthy man in a ruined suit standing next to the woman he considered his property.
"You think you can just hide in some rich guy's house, Clara?!" Sam yelled, wiping rain from his eyes. "You owe me! The guys I owe money to are gonna break my legs if I don't get fifty grand tonight! You're coming with me!"
Lorenzo slowly turned his full attention toward Sam. The atmosphere around us seemed to drop ten degrees. The air grew so heavy with threat that even Sam paused his erratic drunken rambling, taking a half-step back as he finally registered the terrifying presence of the man standing before him.
"You touched her?" Lorenzo asked softly.
"What?" Sam sneered, trying to sound tough despite his hands trembling on the shotgun stock. "She was my girlfriend! What happens between us is my business! Give me the girl and your wallet, old man, or I'll blow a hole through both of you!"
Lorenzo didn't draw his gun. He took two slow, measured steps toward Sam, completely unfazed by the weapon pointed at his chest.
"You laid your hands on a pregnant woman," Lorenzo said, his tone deadly calm, almost conversational. "You took the life of an innocent child."
"She tripped down the stairs!" Sam lied loudly, panic creeping into his voice as Lorenzo closed the distance between them. "It was an accident! Stay back! I swear to God I'll shoot!"
Lorenzo didn't stop. "You do not know who I am, do you, boy?"
"I don't care who you—"
Before Sam could pull the trigger, Lorenzo moved with lightning speed. He grabbed the barrel of the shotgun with his bare hand, twisting it violently sideways. The gun went off with a deafening BOOM, blasting a hole into the gravel drive. In the same fluid motion, Lorenzo drove his elbow directly into Sam’s jaw.
The sound of bone shattering echoed across the courtyard.
Sam crumpled to the wet ground like a sack of stones, groaning, blood pouring from his mouth and nose. Lorenzo stepped over him, placing his polished leather shoe directly on Sam’s throat, pressing down just enough to cut off his breath.
"Mr. Rossi, please!" I cried out, holding Leo tightly against me.
Lorenzo looked back at me over his shoulder. His face was a mask of cold, unyielding judgment. "He hurt you, Clara. He destroyed your child. In my world, that carries a singular sentence."
"No," I wept, rain mixing with my tears. "I don't want any more death tonight! Please... just let the police take him! Don't do this in front of your son!"
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Lorenzo stared at me for three agonizing seconds. Slowly, he lifted his foot off Sam’s throat. Sam gasped violently for air, curling into a fetal position on the mud.
"Drag him to the cellar," Lorenzo ordered two of his guards who had approached from the garage. "Make sure he survives until tomorrow. I will deal with him after my son is safe."
