Chapter 5 - THE SIEGE OF MORETTI MANOR
"Get inside! NOW!" Dante roared, throwing his body over Sarah, tackling her through the glass balcony doors into the master bedroom just as a hail of high-caliber bullets shattered the stone railing where they had been standing a second ago.
Glass rained down around them like ice.
"Mia! Bella!" Sarah screamed through the deafening noise, scrambling to her knees on the carpet. "Dante, the girls!"
"Enzo! Get Sarah to the safe room below the study!" Dante ordered, leaping to his feet, pulling two heavy black pistols from a hidden holster under his shoulder. "I'm getting my daughters!"
"Dante, no! It's a full-scale assault!" Enzo yelled over the sound of breaking glass and screaming guards downstairs. "Don Carmine brought thirty shooters! They came through the woods!"
Dante didn't answer. He turned and sprinted down the dark, smoke-filled hallway toward the nursery, his boots pounding against the floorboards as bullets chewed through the silk wallpaper around him.
Inside the nursery, Mia and Bella were huddled together under their bed, screaming in absolute terror as the sound of explosions and gunfire rocked the mansion foundation.
Dante kicked the nursery door open, firing three rapid shots down the hallway at two masked intruders who were advancing up the stairs, dropping them both instantly. He rushed into the room, slid across the floor, and pulled both little girls out from under the bed, tucking one under each arm like footballs.
"Daddy's here!" Dante shouted over the din, holding them tight against his body. "I've got you! Daddy's got you!"
He sprinted back down the corridor, but as he reached the top of the grand marble staircase, a dark silhouette stepped out from the smoke at the bottom of the landing.
It was Don Carmine himself—a ruthless, white-haired veteran of the Chicago Outfit, holding an automatic shotgun, flanked by four heavily armed guards.
"End of the line, Moretti!" Carmine sneered, raising the heavy shotgun toward Dante and the children. "Three years ago, I missed you with that car bomb. Tonight, I finish the job and take the shipping lines!"
Dante froze on the landing. He had two children in his arms. He couldn't drop them to draw his weapon without leaving them exposed to Carmine's fire.
"Daddy..." Mia sobbed into his collarbone, hiding her face.
Carmine smiled viciously, his finger tightening on the trigger—
BANG! BANG! BANG!
A series of sharp, precise gunshots echoed from the shadow of the study entrance below.
Carmine’s eyes went wide with shock as three red blooms erupted across his chest. He dropped the shotgun, stumbled backward, and crashed dead onto the marble floor.
Standing in the doorway of the study was Sarah Jenkins. She was shaking violently, holding Enzo’s discarded machine pistol in both hands, smoke drifting from the barrel. Enzo stood behind her, leaning against the wall with a bleeding shoulder wound, giving her an amazed, breathless nod.
"Don't you dare touch my family," Sarah shouted, her voice ringing clear and fierce through the smoke-filled foyer.
Dante didn't waste a millisecond. He vaulted down the remaining stairs, shielding the girls, while his remaining security forces poured into the grand hall, executing the remaining Outfit attackers in a final, overwhelming counter-strike.
Within ten minutes, the gunfire died down. The heavy iron emergency shutters slammed down over all the estate windows, securing the perimeter as police sirens began to wail in the far distance.
The foyer was a ruin of shattered chandeliers, broken marble, and spent shell casings.
Dante set Mia and Bella down near the sofa, where Arthur immediately wrapped them in thick wool blankets, ushering them into the secure inner pantry.
Dante turned and walked slowly toward Sarah.
She had dropped the gun onto the table and was sitting on the bottom step of the staircase, her hands buried in her face, her whole body shaking with post-adrenaline shock. She had never held a gun in her life, let alone fired one.
Dante knelt down in front of her. He gently pulled her hands away from her face, taking her cold, trembling fingers into his massive, warm hands.
"You saved my life, Sarah," Dante said, his voice thick with a profound, emotional intensity he had never shown to another human being. "You saved my daughters."
Sarah looked up at him through tears, seeing the dirt, gunpowder, and blood on his sharp face. "I couldn't let him hurt you, Dante. I couldn't lose you."
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Dante pulled her up into his arms, wrapping his large frame around her, pulling her so tight she could barely breathe. He buried his face in her auburn hair, kissing her head, her cheeks, and finally her lips with a fierce, possessive love that filled the entire destroyed mansion with warmth.
"You're never losing me, Sarah," Dante swore against her mouth, his voice unbreakable as steel. "Tomorrow, this war ends forever. And then... I make you my wife."
