Chapter 4 - The Betrayal at the Harbor
Three weeks had passed since the night at the Grand Regency Hotel.
The city had shifted into late autumn. The leaves were gone from the oak trees surrounding the DeLuca estate, leaving bare branches silhouetted against grey, stormy skies.
Inside the estate, Ivy’s life had transformed completely.
She was no longer the frightened girl sitting alone in a basement kitchen. Under Carmine’s protection, she had begun taking private art history classes online, rebuilding her confidence day by day. She moved freely through the estate, respected and cared for by the entire staff.
And her connection with Carmine had grown into something deep, intense, and unspoken.
Every evening, Carmine would return from his corporate office, shed his jacket, and meet her in the library. They would sit by the roaring fire, drinking wine, talking for hours about history, art, and the life they wanted to build beyond the shadows of the syndicate.
Carmine was changing, too. He was slowly divesting from his illegal gambling operations, shifting the DeLuca empire into legitimate commercial real estate and shipping logistics—a move inspired by his desire to build a clean world for Ivy.
But danger in the underworld never truly disappears; it only waits in the dark for a moment of weakness.
On a rainy Tuesday afternoon, Ivy decided to visit her mother’s grave at St. Jude’s Cemetery on the north side of the city. It was something she did every month, a quiet tradition to honor the woman who had fought so hard to raise her.
Carmine had insisted on maximum security.
An armored black SUV sat waiting in the driveway. Matteo and Luca—Carmine’s two most trusted bodyguards—sat in the front seats, fully armed with tactical gear.
“We’ll be right behind you the entire time, Miss Ivy,” Luca said as he opened the rear door for her. “Boss said we take no chances today. Moretti’s been too quiet lately.”
“Thank you, Luca,” Ivy said, pulling her warm wool coat around her as she stepped inside.
The ride to the cemetery was quiet, the heavy raindrops hammering against the reinforced glass of the SUV. Ivy watched the city blur past—the neon signs, the busy sidewalks, the tall brick buildings she used to scurry past on her way to night shifts.
At the cemetery, Ivy spent twenty minutes at her mother’s marble headstone, laying a bouquet of fresh white lilies on the stone. Luca stood thirty feet away under an umbrella, his eyes constantly scanning the tree line.
When she finished, she wiped a tear from her cheek, smiled at her mother’s name, and walked back to the armored vehicle.
“All set, Miss Ivy?” Matteo asked from the driver’s seat.
“Yes, Matteo. We can go home now.”
The SUV pulled out of the cemetery gates, turning south onto the harbor highway that wound along the industrial docks.
Then, everything went wrong.
As the SUV passed beneath a dark concrete overpass near Pier 42, a massive eighteen-wheeler flatbed truck suddenly pulled out of a side alley, jackknifing directly across the three-lane highway!
“Hold on!” Matteo roared, slamming his foot on the brakes.
The heavy SUV skidded across the rain-slicked asphalt, stopping ten feet from the truck’s trailer.
Before Luca could hit the reverse gear, a second black van slammed into the rear bumper of their vehicle, boxing them in completely!
“It’s an ambush!” Luca yelled, unholstering his submachine gun. “Miss Ivy, get down on the floor! NOW!”
Ivy dropped to the carpeted floor beneath the rear seat, her heart hammering against her ribs like a trapped bird.
Outside, gunfire erupted.
RAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT!
Heavy tactical rounds slammed into the armored glass of the SUV, spider-webbing the reinforced windows. Matteo opened his door, returning fire through the gap, but a heavy grenade bounced under the engine block.
THOOM!
The explosion lifted the three-ton SUV off its tires, shattering the side doors and filling the cabin with acrid smoke and burning metal.
Ivy was thrown against the side panel, her head slamming hard against the window frame. Darkness flickered at the edges of her vision. She saw Luca bleeding from his shoulder, fighting valiantly against three masked men who dragged him out into the rain.
A heavy hand grabbed Ivy by her ankles, dragging her out of the smoking wreck into the cold, pouring rain.
She fought wildly, kicking and clawing at her attacker, but a heavy gloved hand clamped over her mouth and nose. A sweet, chemical stench filled her lungs.
Chloroform.
Ivy’s strength drained away instantly. As her vision dissolved into pure blackness, she saw a man step into her line of sight, pulling off his mask.
May you like
It was Vinnie Rossi.
“Tell Carmine his maid is coming to the docks,” Vinnie sneered, looking down at her unconscious body.
