Chapter 5 - The Purge of the Estate
Sophia stood up slowly, her legs shaking so violently she had to hold onto Aleandro’s arm to keep from collapsing onto the parquet floor.
Aleandro wrapped a firm, protective arm around her waist, supporting her entire weight. To the guests watching from across the room, it looked like a passionate, romantic moment between a powerful man and his emotional bride.
"Marco," Aleandro spoke into his hidden collar mic.
"Boss," Marco’s voice came back instantly through the earpiece. "We have Mateo locked in the soundproof basement study. What are your orders?"
"Keep him alive until I get down there," Aleandro said flatly. "And tell the security team to begin Phase Two. Quietly clear the remaining guests. Tell them there is a gas leak warning in the east wing. Get everyone into their cars and off the property within fifteen minutes."
"Understood, Boss."
Within minutes, the announcement was made smoothly by the estate manager. The guests, though mildly disappointed that the party was ending early, accepted the explanation without question, ushered along by the polite, firm guidance of Moretti security personnel.
As the grand hall emptied, the music stopped, leaving only the sound of the rain beating against the high windows.
The ballroom, once filled with light and laughter, now looked like a desolate battlefield—empty glasses, abandoned plates of food, and wilted white lilies covering the tables.
Aleandro led Sophia out of the main hall and down the grand stone staircase toward the basement level of the estate—a fortified, reinforced bunker beneath the wine cellar where the true business of the Moretti family was conducted.
Standing outside the heavy steel door of the study was Elena, holding little Emma in her arms.
When Emma saw Aleandro walking toward them, her face lit up.
Aleandro stopped in front of the housekeeper and her daughter. He dropped down on one knee, ignoring the soot on his suit trousers, and looked into the eyes of the four-year-old girl who had saved three hundred lives.
"Emma," Aleandro said, his voice softer than anyone in the syndicate had ever heard it.
"Did you find the fireworks, sir?" Emma asked innocently, hugging her drawing notebook to her chest.
Aleandro reached into his pocket and pulled out a heavy, solid-gold signet ring—a piece of Moretti family history worth more than a small house. He gently placed it into the palm of her small hand and closed her fingers over it.
"I found them," Aleandro said softly. "And because you were brave today, you and your mother are going to live in a beautiful house near the ocean in Italy. You will never have to work in a kitchen again, and you will never have to be afraid of anything in this house."
Elena gasped, her eyes filling with overwhelmed tears. "Mr. Moretti... sir, we couldn't possibly—"
"She saved my life, Elena," Aleandro said, standing up and looking the mother in the eye. "She saved my wife's life. The Moretti family pays its debts. Marco has a car waiting at the back gate to take you to a secure private airport. Go."
Elena nodded frantically, clutching her daughter tight, and hurried down the corridor toward the exit.
Aleandro turned toward the heavy steel door of the study. He pulled his pistol from his shoulder holster, racked the slide with a sharp, metallic clack, and gripped the handle of the door.
Sophia stepped up beside him, her face pale, but her eyes filled with a new, dark resolve.
"I want to come in," she said.
Aleandro looked at her. "You don't need to see this, Sophia."
"He held my sister hostage," she said, her voice dropping into an icy tone that matched his own. "He turned my wedding day into a execution floor. I am going to be your wife, Aleandro. I need to see how a Moretti handles a traitor."
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Aleandro stared at her for a long second, seeing for the first time the true strength that lay beneath her quiet beauty. A slow, dark smile touched his lips.
He pushed the heavy steel door open.
