Chapter 4 - The Retaliation
The war did not wait for the rain to stop.
Two days after the disastrous engagement party, the front page of every major newspaper carried the scandal. The Cole family’s reputation was in ruins, their stock prices plummeting as rumors of bankruptcy and fraud began to leak from the Moretti financial network.
But a wounded predator is always the most dangerous.
I was in the kitchen, preparing a light lunch for Emma, when the sound of shattering glass echoed from the front foyer.
"Clara! Down!" Gianni’s voice roared from the hallway.
Before I could react, the deafening crack-crack-crack of automatic gunfire ripped through the quiet afternoon. I threw myself onto the floor, crawling frantically toward Emma, who was playing with her blocks near the pantry. I grabbed her, covering her small body with my own as wood splinters and plaster rained down on us like snow.
"Mama! Mama!" Emma screamed, her tiny hands clutching my shirt.
"I’ve got you, baby, I’ve got you," I cried, pressing her head against my chest, praying the bullets wouldn't pierce the thick oak cabinets.
The gunfire stopped as suddenly as it had begun, replaced by the deep, booming roar of Alessandro’s security team returning fire. Tires screeched on the gravel driveway outside, fading into the distance.
The kitchen door was kicked open. Alessandro stood there, a black tactical pistol in his hand, his eyes wild with a panic I had never seen in him before.
"Clara!" he yelled, dropping to his knees beside me. He threw his gun aside and grabbed my shoulders, checking me over frantically. "Are you hurt? Is Emma hurt?"
"We're okay," I sobbed, my body shaking violently. "We're okay. What was that?"
Alessandro pulled both of us into his arms, holding us so tightly I could hear the rapid, frantic beating of his heart. "It was Cole's men," he whispered into my hair. "They are desperate. They wanted to take you. They wanted to silence the witness."
Gianni stepped into the kitchen, his arm bleeding from a graze wound, but his face was grim. "Two shooters, boss. They had a getaway van. We hit one of them, but they got away. They’re targeting the girl."
Alessandro stood up, pulling me and Emma up with him. The gentle, quiet man who had poured me tea two nights ago was gone. In his place stood the true Don of the Moretti family—cold, lethal, and utterly ruthless.
"They touched my house," Alessandro whispered, his voice sending a shiver down my spine. "They tried to kill my family."
He turned to Gianni. "Pack the armored vehicles. We are moving Clara and Emma to the safehouse in the Catskills immediately. And Gianni—"
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"Yes, boss?"
"Find Arthur Cole. Bring him to me. I don't care if you have to drag him out of his Senate office in handcuffs. The war is over. I am ending it tonight."
