Chapter 10 - The Serpent's Strike
The trap was executed with terrifying precision on a rainy Thursday afternoon.
Isabella had taken Bella and Emma to a private children's art gallery in Soho—a venue Lorenzo’s security detail swept thoroughly every hour. Four armored vehicles were parked outside, and six plainclothes guards were stationed inside the gallery.
At 3:15 PM, a delivery van pulled up to the intersection outside. A sudden, massive explosion ripped through the underground power junction beneath the street, plunging the entire block into absolute darkness. Simultaneously, tear gas canisters were hurled through the gallery’s skylights.
Panicking crowds surged toward the exits. Amid the blinding white smoke and chaos, figures wearing thermal night-vision goggles slipped through the shattered glass doors.
"Protection formation!" the lead guard shouted, drawing his weapon, but a silenced volley dropped two guards instantly.
Isabella, holding Bella tightly against her chest and gripping Emma’s hand, retreated toward the gallery’s reinforced back office. "In here! Quick!" she urged, shoving the children behind a heavy steel desk.
A tall figure stepped through the smoke, dressed in a sleek black suit, a silver viper pin gleaming on his lapel. He carried a suppressed pistol, his pale gray eyes assessing Isabella with cold, aristocratic disgust.
"Isabella Conti," the man spoke, his voice carrying a heavy Sicilian accent. "Or should I say, Mrs. DeLuca. You look remarkably well for a woman who was supposed to die in a ravine four years ago."
"Matteo Moretti," Isabella said, her voice steady despite the adrenaline roaring in her ears. She stepped in front of the desk, shielding her daughter and Emma with her body. "You're a long way from Palermo."
"I came to collect a debt," Matteo replied smoothly, raising his pistol. "Lorenzo humiliated my family. He destroyed my brother. He stole our legacy. Today, I take his."
Before Matteo could pull the trigger, the wall behind him blew inward with a deafening roar.
C-4 charges tore through the brickwork as a shadow dropped from the ceiling above. It was Lorenzo. He didn't fire a gun; he moved like a force of nature. In a fraction of a second, he slammed Matteo into the concrete wall, disarming him with a brutal wrist-lock that shattered the older man's bones.
Gunfire erupted across the smoke-filled gallery as Marco and a dozen DeLuca enforcers poured through the breach, eliminating Matteo’s strike team within seconds.
Lorenzo pressed his gun barrel directly beneath Matteo's jaw, his face twisted in a terrifying, feral fury. "You dared to touch my family?"
"Kill me..." Matteo choked out, spitting blood onto Lorenzo’s cheek. "It doesn't matter... my men... they already have the third girl..."
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Lorenzo’s heart stopped. He turned his head frantically toward the desk.
Isabella was holding Bella, sobbing uncontrollably, pointing toward the shattered rear emergency door. "Sophia!" Isabella screamed. "Lorenzo, Sophia went to get the car... they took her!"
