Chapter 4 - The Bait and the Trap
Three days later, the trap was sprung.
As expected, the Lucchese family, realizing Mickey Sullivan had been eliminated, sent a secondary team to intercept my "escape" from the estate.
At 2:00 a.m., the silent alarms of the Romano mansion flared.
I stood in the center of the nursery, holding Luca tightly against my chest. The little boy was fast asleep, his head resting peacefully on my shoulder, completely oblivious to the soft, muffled thuds of suppressed gunfire echoing from the gardens below.
The nursery door hissed open.
A man in a tactical mask slipped into the room, a silenced pistol raised. "Don't make a sound, girl. You're coming with—"
He didn't finish the sentence.
Vincent appeared from the shadows behind the door like a wraith. In one fluid, brutal movement, he grabbed the intruder's wrist, twisting it until the bone shattered with a wet pop. Before the man could even scream, Vincent swept his legs out from under him and pressed the barrel of his own gun against the man's throat.
"Who sent you?" Vincent asked, his voice devoid of any human emotion.
The intruder gasped for air, his eyes wide with terror as he looked up at the legendary mafia boss. "Vito... Vito Lucchese... he's waiting at the docks... he has the shipping manifests..."
"Excellent," Vincent said. He turned his head slightly, looking at me and Luca. "Ruby. Take the boy to the safe room. I have a debt of my own to collect."
"Vincent," I called out as he began to drag the groaning man out of the room.
He stopped, looking back at me.
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"Be careful," I said.
For the first time since I had walked into his house, a genuine, warm smile touched Vincent Romano's lips. "They entered my home, Ruby. They threatened my son. And they threatened my family. The only people who need to be careful tonight are the Luccheses."
