Chapter 7 - THE SIEGE OF MORETTI MANOR
"Get Claire to the safe room," Luca ordered immediately, reaching into his desk drawer and pulling out a sleek black custom pistol.
"No!" I shouted, grabbing his arm. "I'm not leaving you!"
"Claire, listen to me," Luca said firmly, turning to look me dead in the eyes. "Marcus Vane is a psychopath. He doesn't care who gets caught in the crossfire. The safe room beneath the wine cellar is reinforced with six inches of solid steel. You go down there with Daniel right now."
"I just found my brother," I said, tears brimming in my eyes again. "I am not hiding while you fight for your life!"
Luca stared at me for a beat, a mix of frustration and profound pride flashing across his face.
"Fine," Luca growled, pulling a small silver revolver from his holster and handing it to me. "Do you know how to use this?"
"My mother made me take safety classes when I worked night shifts," I replied, taking the firearm with a steady grip.
"Good. Stay behind me, shoot anyone who doesn't wear a Moretti pin on their lapel, and don't stop moving."
Out in the grand courtyard, the heavy iron gates crashed inward as three armored black SUVs smashed through the security barriers. Tires screeched across the cobblestone as dozens of heavily armed men poured out into the rain, rifles raised.
From the second-floor balcony overlooking the grand foyer, Luca stood in full view, his dark coat blowing in the wind. I stood a step behind him in the shadows, my revolver raised.
Down below, Marcus Vane walked through the shattered glass front doors. He was a tall, scarred man in an expensive white leather coat, twirling a gold pocket watch between his fingers. Beside him were Victor and Vanessa Bellini, whom Vane’s men had just broken out of the holding quarters.
"Luca!" Marcus Vane’s gravelly voice echoed through the massive foyer. "You always were an arrogant bastard! Locking up your own fiancée and her father? That's bad business, even for you!"
Vanessa looked up at the balcony, her eyes landing on me standing beside Luca.
"Kill her!" Vanessa shrieked, pointing her finger at me. "Marcus, kill that bitch first! She’s the one who ruined everything!"
Marcus Vane smirked, looking up at Luca. "Victor told me an interesting story while we were breaking him out, Luca. He says you aren't even a real Moretti. He says you're a fake. A street rat bought in a basket."
Luca didn't flinch. He didn't even raise his gun. He simply smiled down at Marcus with terrifying arrogance.
"And yet, Marcus," Luca said calmly, his voice carrying effortlessly over the heavy rain outside, "this 'street rat' has controlled Chicago's underworld for ten years while you hid in the shadows like a beaten dog."
Marcus’s smile vanished. "You're outnumbered, Luca. I brought thirty men. You have ten guards inside this house. Surrender the estate, sign over your shipping contracts, and I might let you and your little maid walk out of here alive."
"I don't make deals with dead men," Luca replied cold-bloodedly.
He pressed a button on his wrist.
Instantly, heavy steel blast shutters dropped down over every window and door in the foyer, sealing the mansion completely. The lights plunged into total darkness.
Gunfire erupted instantly.
The darkness was torn apart by flashes of muzzle fire. Luca grabbed my waist, pulling me down behind the thick marble balustrade as bullets chipped away at the stone pillars above our heads.
"Daniel, execute Protocol Delta!" Luca shouted into his comms unit.
Suddenly, the mansion's emergency backup power kicked on, flooding the foyer with blinding red tactical light. From the upper catwalks, Luca’s elite security force—dressed in full tactical gear—opened fire on Marcus Vane’s men from superior high-ground positions.
The foyer turned into an absolute warzone.
I peeked around the marble pillar, my heart hammering like a drum. Down below, Victor Bellini was scrambling toward the exit, trying to save his own skin while his daughter Vanessa screamed in terror, ducking behind a heavy velvet couch.
Suddenly, one of Marcus Vane's men charged up the grand staircase toward our position, a shotgun raised!
"Luca! Right!" I screamed.
Before Luca could turn, I raised my silver revolver, took aim, and pulled the trigger.
BANG!
The heavy bullet caught the gunman right in the shoulder, sending him tumbling backward down the marble stairs.
Luca looked back at me, his eyes wide with amazement. "Remind me never to get you angry, little sister."
"Focus!" I yelled back, reloading the chamber.
Down below, Marcus Vane realized he had walked straight into a violent trap. Half of his men were already down, and Luca’s tactical team was closing in from both flanks.
"Retreat! Fall back to the vehicles!" Marcus screamed, scrambling toward the rear exit with Victor and Vanessa right behind him.
"Not so fast," Luca growled into his radio. "Daniel, seal the courtyard gates."
Two heavy iron grates slammed down, trapping Marcus, Victor, and Vanessa inside the enclosed courtyard.
Five minutes later, the gunfire died down completely. The foyer was secured.
Luca walked down the grand staircase, his custom pistol held casually at his side, his shoes clicking against the blood-stained marble. I walked right beside him, my revolver held low.
We stepped out into the rain-soaked courtyard.
Marcus Vane, Victor Bellini, and Vanessa were surrounded by twenty armed Moretti guards, their hands raised in absolute defeat.
Vanessa was covered in mud, her red silk dress ruined, her hair wild and matted. When she saw Luca and me walking out together, totally unharmed, she broke down into hysterical sobs.
"Luca... please!" Vanessa begged, falling to her knees in the wet cobblestones. "I was forced into this! My father made me do it! I love you! Please don't kill me!"
Luca stood over her, looking down at his former fiancée with absolute indifference.
"You don't love me, Vanessa," Luca said softly. "You love money and power. And tonight, you lost both."
He turned his eyes to Marcus Vane and Victor Bellini.
"Take them all to the federal authorities," Luca commanded Daniel. "Hand over the wiretap recordings, the financial fraud documents, and the video evidence of tonight's armed assault. Let them spend the next thirty years in a federal prison."
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"No! Please! Luca!" Victor screamed as the guards dragged them away in handcuffs.
Vanessa looked at me one last time, her eyes filled with pure hatred as she was shoved into the back of a police van. I simply stood beside my brother, looking back at her without a single trace of fear left in my heart.
