Chapter 3 - THE FIRE ON THE ROADFour days later, the storm that had been brewing over Pittsburgh finally broke.
It was a bitter Thursday evening. A heavy sleet fell from the black sky, turning the roads around the Marquetti estate into treacherous sheets of ice.
Hannah had been granted permission by Wallace to take Rosie to a pediatric appointment in the city center. Dante had personally insisted that they travel in one of his armored black SUVs, driven by Thomas—a veteran security guard who had served the Marquetti family for fifteen years.
It was 7:15 p.m. when the SUV turned onto the quiet, wooded access road two miles from the estate's front gates.
Inside the vehicle, Rosie was fast asleep in her car seat, her dinosaur backpack tucked under her arm. Hannah sat beside her, gently stroking her daughter's blonde curls, feeling a strange, peaceful warmth in her heart. She was thinking about Dante—about the way his eyes softened whenever Rosie showed him a new drawing, about the quiet, commanding presence that somehow made her feel safer than she ever had in her life.
Suddenly, the heavy SUV jolted violently.
A loud, terrifying CRASH shattered the night air as a heavy, commercial flatbed truck plowed out from a darkened side lane, smashing directly into the front passenger side of their vehicle.
The SUV spun twice on the icy asphalt, its tires screeching in protest, before crashing hard into a snowbank at the edge of the woods.
Airbags deployed with a deafening pop. Smoke began to pour from the crumpled hood.
Hannah groaned, her head throbbing painfully where it had struck the window glass. "Rosie!" she gasped, her mother’s instinct overriding the blinding pain. "Rosie!"
"Mommy!" Rosie sobbed from her car seat, terrified but unharmed thanks to the reinforced frame of the armored vehicle. "Mommy, I'm scared!"
"It's okay, baby, I'm here," Hannah cried, struggling to unbuckle her seatbelt.
In the driver's seat, Thomas was unconscious, blood trickling from a cut on his forehead.
Before Hannah could free herself, the SUV's rear door was violently yanked open from the outside. The freezing winter air rushed in, bringing with it the smell of gasoline and burnt rubber.
A tall man in a dark leather jacket, his face partially obscured by a black mask, reached into the vehicle. In his gloved hand, he held a heavy silver pistol.
"Get out!" the man barked, his voice rough and laced with aggression. "Out of the car, now! Leave the kid!"
"No!" Hannah screamed, throwing her body over Rosie's car seat, covering her child with her own frame. "No! Don't touch her! Take me, leave her!"
"I said get out!" the man snarled, grabbing Hannah by the shoulder of her coat and dragging her roughly backward out of the ruined SUV.
Hannah fought with everything she had, scratching, kicking, and screaming into the dark woods. "Dante! Help us! Dante!"
The gunman threw Hannah onto the frozen ground. She scrambled back toward the car, her hands bleeding from the ice, but a second masked man stepped in front of her, pointing his weapon at her face.
"Shut up, lady!" the second man yelled. "You're leverage for Julian Moretti now!"
Inside the mansion's command center, two miles away, an alarm blared violently.
Sal slammed his hand onto the console desk. "Boss! The SUV's GPS signal went dark on Sector Four! The impact sensors just triggered!"
Dante, who had been reviewing logistics files at his desk, bolted upright. His chair crashed backward against the floor. The color drained from his face, replaced instantly by an expression of pure, unadulterated savagery.
"Get the trucks," Dante roared, his voice echoing through the vast stone corridors like thunder. "EVERY MAN! NOW!"
Thirty seconds later, four heavy black vehicles roared out of the Marquetti courtyard, their tires tearing through the snow and ice.
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Dante sat in the lead vehicle, his hands gripping a heavy automatic rifle. His heart hammered against his ribs like a trapped beast. The image of Rosie’s innocent smile and Hannah’s gentle brown eyes flashed through his mind, mixing with the dark, blood-soaked memories of the night he had lost Aurora.
Not again, Dante swore silently, his teeth grinding together in pure, lethal fury. I will burn this entire city to the ground before I let them touch them.
