Chapter 5 - Fire in the Snow
The wind howled around the two men as they circled each other on the blood-stained snow of the driveway. Victor sneered, his yellowed teeth flashing in the emergency floodlights of the lodge.
"Isabella was a casualty of war!" Victor shouted, raising his revolver. "And that brat of yours should have died with her!"
That was all Alessandro needed to hear. He fired twice, but Victor dove behind an armored SUV, returning fire. The bullets hit the snow near Alessandro’s feet, spraying ice into the air.
Alessandro moved with tactical perfection, flushing Victor out from behind the vehicle with a well-placed shot to the tire, causing the heavy frame to drop and compromise Victor’s cover. Victor scrambled backward, panicked, firing wildly.
Alessandro stepped out of the shadow, ignoring the bullet that grazed his shoulder. He closed the distance in three long strides, kicked the revolver from Victor’s hand, and smashed the butt of his gun into Victor’s jaw.
Victor crashed onto the frozen ground, gasping for air, spitting blood onto the white snow. Alessandro stood over him, the barrel of his Sig Sauer pressed directly against Victor’s forehead.
"Please..." Victor wheezed, his bravado instantly evaporating. "Mercy, Moretti... we can share the city... name your price..."
"My price was paid eleven months ago," Alessandro said coldly.
Crack.
The noise echoed through the silent pine forest. Victor went limp. The threat that had haunted Alessandro’s night terrors for nearly a year was finally gone.
Marco hurried out of the lodge, bleeding from a cut on his arm, but alive. "The area is clear, Boss. His backup was wiped out by our perimeter teams."
Alessandro lowered his weapon, breathing heavily as the adrenaline began to fade. He looked back at the lodge, where the faint light of the bunker exit was visible. He didn't feel the empty, hollow sensation he had expected after taking revenge. Instead, he felt an urgent need to get back inside—to the warm room where his daughter and Elena were waiting.
He walked back into the bunker. When Elena saw him walk through the door alive, she didn't hold back. She rushed forward, wrapping her arms around his neck in a desperate embrace.
Alessandro froze for a fraction of a second, unused to human warmth, before wrapping his arms around her tightly, burying his face in her hair.
"You're safe," he whispered. "It's over."
Mia ran up, pulling on Alessandro’s pant leg. "Mr. Alex! Look! Sophia picked her own rabbit!"
Alessandro pulled back from Elena, smiling down at the toddlers. Sophia was crawling toward him, holding a brand-new pink stuffed bunny Marco had brought her weeks ago. She held it out to Mia, sharing it just as Mia had shared her rabbit on that cold night in Long Island.
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The darkness that had consumed Alessandro for eleven months was finally breaking. But as they gathered their belongings to prepare for the return to New York, Marco approached with a encrypted satellite phone.
"Boss," Marco said quietly, his face serious. "It's the Commission. The five families heard about Victor's death. They're calling an emergency summit in Manhattan tonight. They want to know if you're taking the Crown... or if they need to fight for it."
