Chapter 4 - THE SIEGE OF CATSKILL
The roar of gunfire erupted across the snowy perimeter of the Catskill estate with shattering force. Outside, tactical flares burst into the night sky, illuminating the dark pine forests in blinding crimson and blinding white light.
From the glass windows of the upper hallway, I could see the chaos unfolding. Dozens of heavily armed men in black winter camouflage were surging over the stone walls, firing automatic weapons at the compound. But Victor’s security force was far more prepared than they had been in Manhattan. Automated defense turrets mounted on the roof opened fire, cutting through the snow-laden trees and holding the frontline.
Marco grabbed my arm gently, guiding me and Lily—who was securely strapped into a chest carrier against my vest—down a spiral stone staircase into the subterranean depths of the mansion.
"This way, Miss Hannah! Quickly!" Marco urged, his submachine gun raised as he scanned the concrete corridors.
"Is he going to be okay?" I cried over the sound of thundering explosions above us. "Victor... my father... can he survive this?"
"The Boss built this fortress specifically for a war like this," Marco said grimly, though his jaw was tense. "He’s survived three assassination attempts in Italy and two in South America. But Nikolai brought his heavy mercenaries tonight. They are desperate."
We reached the subterranean hangar—a massive concrete bunker holding two heavily armored matte-black SUVs and a sleek high-speed winter transport vehicle equipped with reinforced snow tracks. Three of Victor's elite guards were already securing the perimeter of the hangar.
Suddenly, the heavy blast doors at the top of the hangar ramp groaned. Sparks showered down as a heavy cutting torch began slicing through the steel hinges.
"They breached the upper security doors!" one of the guards shouted, taking cover behind a concrete pillar.
"Get in the armored truck!" Marco ordered, pushing me toward the rear door of the track-vehicle. "Do not come out no matter what you hear!"
Before I could climb inside, the blast doors were blown inward with a deafening BOOM. Concrete debris flew across the hangar. Smoke billowed into the space, and out of the haze stepped a tall, sinister figure wrapped in a dark fur-collared coat.
He was an older man with silver hair slicked back, a thin mustache, and cold, reptilian blue eyes. He walked with a golden-headed cane in his left hand and held an ivory-handled revolver in his right. Behind him stood a dozen heavily armed mercenaries.
Nikolai Ivanov.
"Well, well..." Nikolai’s raspy, accent-heavy voice echoed off the concrete walls. "Elena’s little girl. You really do possess your mother’s stubborn air."
Marco instantly raised his weapon, but before he could pull the trigger, two mercenaries fired, striking Marco in the shoulder and leg. He collapsed to the ground with a grunt of pain, his gun sliding across the slick concrete floor.
"Marco!" I screamed, backing away until my back hit the cold steel of the armored vehicle, shielding Lily with both my hands.
"Do not move, my dear," Nikolai purred, stepping over the debris with terrifying calmness. He raised his ivory revolver, aiming it directly at my forehead. "You have caused me thirty years of headaches. First your mother stole my shipping routes, then Victor ruined my expansion in America, and now you carry the very key to my destruction."
"Leave her out of this, Nikolai!" a thunderous voice roared from the smoke above.
Nikolai froze, turning his gaze toward the upper metal catwalk.
Standing at the railing, illuminated by the flashing red emergency lights and drenched in rain and gunpowder soot, was Victor. He held an assault rifle in one hand and a tactical detonator in the other. His eyes were burning with an unholy rage.
"Victor..." Nikolai sneered, though a subtle twitch of hesitation passed over his face. "Always arriving too late to save the women you love. You failed Elena. And now you fail her daughter."
"I didn't fail," Victor said softly, his voice echoing with terrifying authority through the hangar. "I led you exactly where I wanted you."
Nikolai’s eyes widened in sudden realization. He looked down at the concrete floor beneath his feet.
Stenciled in red paint across the hangar floor were high-explosive demolition markings. The entire subterranean garage was rigged with structural charges designed to collapse the mountain above it.
"You're insane!" Nikolai shouted, his composure shattering. "You’ll bury us all!"
"I’d burn down the entire world before I let you lay a finger on my daughter or my granddaughter," Victor roared.
Without hesitation, Victor leaped from the high catwalk, dropping fifteen feet onto the top of an armored SUV. He hit the roof with a loud metal crunch, rolled off, and opened fire with brutal precision.
The hangar erupted into a chaotic gunfight. Victor moved like a whirlwind of death, using the armored vehicles as cover as he systematically eliminated Nikolai’s mercenaries. Marco, despite his injuries, managed to crawl behind a pillar and fire his sidearm, taking down another gunman approaching me.
Nikolai hissed in rage, turning his revolver back toward me, desperate to take his prize before the room collapsed. "If I die, the Rossi bloodline dies with me!"
"No!" I screamed.
Driven by pure motherly instinct and adrenaline, I didn't cower. I picked up a heavy steel wrench lying on the mechanics bench beside me and swung it with all the strength in my body, striking Nikolai’s wrist.
The ivory revolver flew from his hand, clattering across the floor. Nikolai gasped in pain, staggering back.
Before he could recover, a dark silhouette loomed over him. Victor grabbed Nikolai by the lapels of his fur coat and slammed him violently against the concrete wall.
"This is for Elena," Victor snarled, his voice breaking with twenty-five years of pent-up grief and fury.
With a devastating strike, Victor disarmed and subdued his lifelong rival, throwing Nikolai to the floor where Marco quickly cuffed him with heavy tactical restraints.
The ceiling of the hangar began to crack, dust raining down as the structural integrity weakened from the upper explosions.
"The roof is giving out!" Marco yelled, clutching his bleeding shoulder. "We have to go!"
Victor rushed over to me, grabbing my face in his hands, checking me and Lily for any injuries. His eyes were wide with desperate concern. "Are you hurt? Is Lily okay?"
"We’re fine! We’re fine, Dad!" I cried, using the word for the very first time.
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Victor’s eyes filled with tears at the sound of the word Dad. He didn't waste a second. He pulled me into a fierce, protective embrace, then guided me into the passenger seat of the snow-track armored vehicle. He helped the injured Marco into the rear, tossed Nikolai into the secure holding trunk, and climbed into the driver's seat.
Victor slammed his foot on the accelerator. The heavy track-vehicle roared to life, plowing through the heavy subterranean steel exit doors just as tons of rock and concrete collapsed into the hangar behind us, burying the remains of the fortress and ending the battle of the Catskills forever.
