Chapter 8 - The Shadow's Last Stand
The defeat of Don Moretti at the gala sent shockwaves through the city's underground. Within forty-eight hours, federal agents raided Moretti’s headquarters based on the financial evidence Iris had compiled, effectively ending his syndicate's influence forever.
However, a cornered rat is always the most dangerous.
Two weeks after the gala, a heavy snow fell over the Valenti estate. Enzo had been called into an emergency meeting in the city to finalize the purchase of a new veterinary research center for Iris.
Iris was in the grand conservatory, reviewing blueprint designs for the animal rescue center she was building, with Orion resting peacefully at her feet.
Suddenly, the lights throughout the estate flickered and went black.
The emergency generators failed to kick in.
Orion’s ears instantly stood tall. He stood up, letting out a low, warning rumble from his throat.
Iris stood up from her chair, picking up a heavy iron fireplace poker. "Orion, stay close."
The heavy glass doors of the conservatory were shattered open with a loud CRASH!
Cold winter wind blew snow inside. Through the darkness, three armed figures stepped into the glass room. At the center stood Don Moretti himself, holding a silenced pistol, his face twisted with desperate, murderous madness.
"You ruined me, you little bitch!" Moretti screamed through the storm wind. "You and your husband took everything I owned! Now I'm taking his precious wife!"
Moretti raised his pistol, aiming directly at Iris’s heart.
"Orion, ATTACK!" Iris shouted without hesitation.
The blind dog didn't pause. Even without sight, his incredible hearing picked up the sound of Moretti’s heavy boots on the broken glass floor.
Orion launched himself across the room like a cannonball.
BANG!
A shot rang out in the darkness, but Orion’s sheer momentum carried him forward. He slammed into Moretti’s chest, knocking the mob boss violently through the broken conservatory doors onto the snowy terrace outside.
"Argh! Get it off me! Shoot it!" Moretti shrieked as Orion pinned him down into the snow, his jaws locking onto Moretti’s gun arm, crushing the bones in his wrist until the weapon dropped into the snow.
Moretti’s two henchmen raised their rifles to shoot Orion, but before they could squeeze their triggers—
BOOM! BOOM!
Two gunshots echoed through the winter air.
The two henchmen fell into the snow, disarmed and neutralized instantly.
Enzo Valenti sprinted across the terrace, his coat billowing behind him, flanked by a dozen heavily armed security guards. He had rushed back the moment the security alarms on his phone went off.
Enzo ran into the conservatory, throwing his arms around Iris, pulling her tightly into his chest. "Iris! Are you hurt?! Tell me you're okay!"
"I'm fine, Enzo! I'm fine!" Iris gasped, burying her face in his neck, holding him tight. "Orion protected me!"
Enzo looked out onto the snowy terrace. Moretti lay crying in the snow, his arm broken, completely pinned down under Orion’s massive paws.
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Enzo walked out onto the snowy terrace, looking down at his fallen enemy with supreme disdain. "You broke into my home, Moretti. You threatened my wife."
Enzo signaled his head of security. "Hand him over to the federal authorities. Let him spend the rest of his miserable life in a maximum-security cell."
