Chapter 8 - The Siege on Floor Fifty
At 7:45 PM, the upper floors of Moretti Financial Holdings were quiet. Most of the corporate staff had gone home for the evening, leaving only a skeleton crew of night custodians and floor security.
In the fifty-floor executive suite, Elena was sitting at her glass desk, reviewing a final audit report. Lily was sitting on a plush rug nearby, quietly drawing pictures of a big black car with colorful crayons.
Suddenly, the lights in the office flickered twice and went completely dark.
Elena froze, setting her pen down. "What the..."
The emergency red backup lights clicked on a second later, bathing the vast glass room in an eerie, bloody glow. Then, the distinct, rhythmic sound of heavy footsteps echoed from the hallway outside.
CRACK! CRACK!
The sound of suppressed gunshots echoed through the marble corridor. Elena gasped, springing out of her chair and throwing her body over Lily on the rug.
"Mama! What's that noise?!" Lily cried, clinging to her mother's sweater.
"Shh! Lily, baby, stay quiet!" Elena whispered frantically, her heart hammering against her ribs like a trapped bird.
Elena dragged Lily behind the heavy mahogany desk, pulling open a hidden bottom drawer that Dominic had shown her two weeks ago. Inside lay a sleek black 9mm handgun and an emergency panic transmitter.
Elena grabbed the panic button and pressed it three times, holding the weapon with shaking hands just as the heavy glass doors to her office exploded inward in a rain of sharp splinters.
Four men wearing black tactical gear and heavy ballistic masks stormed into the room, holding silenced assault rifles. Behind them walked an older man with silver hair, an expensive camel-hair coat, and a scar running from his ear down to his collar.
Donato Falcone.
"Well, well," Falcone spoke, his heavy Sicilian accent cutting through the quiet room. "The famous Elena Vance. The little accountant who ruined my friend Paulie."
Elena stood up slowly from behind the desk, keeping her body positioned directly between Falcone and where Lily was crouched under the wood. She kept the handgun hidden behind her back.
"Who are you?" Elena demanded, trying to keep her voice from shaking.
"I am the man who owns this city after tonight, my dear," Falcone smiled, pulling an old-fashioned silver cigarette case from his pocket. "Dominic Moretti thinks he can turn his family into a legitimate business. He thinks he can hide behind lawyers and female accountants. He forgot that this world belongs to blood."
Falcone gestured toward his men. "Grab the girl. We take them to the docks. When Dominic arrives to bargain for them, we put a bullet in his head."
Two of the tactical guards stepped forward, reaching out toward Elena.
"Don't touch her!" Elena screamed.
She pulled the gun from behind her back and fired two shots—
BANG! BANG!
One of the guards collapsed to the floor, clutching his leg in pain. The second guard lunged forward, grabbing Elena's wrist and twisting it violently until the gun clattered against the glass desk. He slammed her down onto the marble floor, pressing his heavy knee into her back.
"Mama!" Lily shrieked, running out from under the desk, throwing her small hands against the guard's leg. "Leave my mama alone! Leave her alone!"
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Falcone chuckled darkly, reaching down and grabbing Lily by her collar, lifting her off her feet like a ragdoll. "Brave little bird. Just like your mother."
Suddenly, the private elevator doors at the end of the hall exploded open with a sound like thunder.
