Chapter 7 - The Trap at the Docks
Cold rain whipped across Sophia’s face as her sneakers splashed through the mud along the garden path. The lake was roaring now, black waves crashing violently against the stone embankment.
She pulled out her phone, her fingers trembling as she dialed Luca’s private number.
“Sophia?” Luca’s voice answered on the first ring, laced with instant panic. “Marco just got an alert from the estate grid! The power went down!”
"Luca! Matteo's men breached the kitchen!" she panted, taking cover behind a thick marble statue of Neptune near the boat house. "Viktor is down! I'm outside near the docks!"
“Listen to me!” Luca’s voice was a terrifying roar over the speaker, engine noise screaming in the background as his car sped down the mountain highway. “Stay hidden! Do not try to fight them! I am five minutes away!”
"They cut the main power grid from the dock junction, Luca," she said, her eyes fixing on the small stone boathouse ahead. "If I can flip the emergency breaker in the shed, the perimeter security floodlights and automated iron gates will lock down!"
“Sophia, no!”
The call went dead as a bolt of lightning struck the ridge above, killing the cell signal completely.
Sophia shoved her phone into her pocket, took a deep breath, and sprinted the last twenty yards to the boathouse door.
She reached for the heavy iron latch, but before her fingers touched the metal, the wooden door swung open from the inside.
A strong, wet hand grabbed her by the neck of her sweater, yanking her violently into the dark interior of the boathouse.
Sophia hit the wooden floorboards, rolling onto her back, gasping for air as the door slammed shut behind her, cutting off the wind and rain.
A flashlight clicked on, blinding her.
Behind the beam of light stood Matteo. He looked frantic, his hair wet, his tailored suit ruined by rain and dirt. In his right hand, he held a heavy silver revolver.
"I knew you were smart, little baker," Matteo sneered, his voice hoarse and unstable. "I knew you'd come for the backup generator."
Sophia sat up slowly, wiping rain and blood from a small scrape on her knee. She looked around the boathouse. Two dead security guards lay near the speedboats, and two of Matteo’s remaining mercenaries stood near the water slip, armed with submachine guns.
"You're pathetic, Matteo," Sophia said, her voice remarkably steady despite the gun pointed at her chest. "You couldn't take Luca in front of the Council, so you came to attack a house guarded by five men while he was gone."
Matteo walked over, bringing the cold barrel of the revolver down until it pressed against her forehead.
"Shut up!" Matteo hissed, his eyes wide with unhinged fury. "He embarrassed me! He took my inheritance! He took my seat! When he gets here, he’s going to watch me take the only thing he actually cares about!"
Sophia didn't flinch away from the barrel. She looked straight past the iron sights into Matteo’s desperate, panicked eyes.
"You really don't get it, do you?" Sophia whispered softly.
Matteo frowned. "Get what?"
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"Luca isn't dangerous because of his size or his seat on the Council," she said quietly, a small, cold smile touching her lips. "He's dangerous because he loves me. And you just brought him right to your door."
Outside, the heavy iron boathouse doors exploded inward.
