Chapter 5 - THE VIPER’S LAST STRIKE
Four months had passed, and winter had turned into a crisp, beautiful spring.
The connection between Alessandro, Elena, and Mia had blossomed into something extraordinary.
Every Sunday afternoon, Alessandro’s convoy would quietly pull up to the estate on Long Island, not for syndicate meetings, but for Sunday family dinners.
The once-cold, gloomy mansion was now bursting with life. Mia’s joyous laughter echoed through the long corridors as she rode her small bicycle across the marble halls, while Elena spent hours in the grand kitchen teaching Alessandro’s traditional Italian chefs how to make her famous Southern recipes.
Alessandro himself had changed dramatically. The dark, terrifying coldness in his eyes had been replaced by a deep, protective calm. He spent his evenings sitting on the plush carpets of the drawing room, letting Mia paint his fingernails with washable glitter polish while he taught her how to play chess.
He was falling deeply, irrevocably in love with Elena—and he loved Mia as if she were his own flesh and blood.
However, in the dark underbelly of the city, dangerous shadows were gathering.
Julian Vance—the wealthy, corrupt ex-fiancé of Victoria Sterling—had lost everything when Alessandro exposed the Sterling family. His corporate assets had been frozen, his high-society status destroyed, and his illegal smuggling routes seized by the Moretti family.
Driven mad by humiliation, vengeance, and financial ruin, Julian assembled a group of desperate, rogue mercenaries from a rival syndicate. He knew he couldn't defeat Alessandro in a direct confrontation, so he targeted the one thing Alessandro now valued more than his life.
It was a sunny Tuesday afternoon. Elena was walking through the quiet, leafy grounds of The St. Jude Academy, waiting near the front gates for school dismissal.
Suddenly, a black panel van with false license plates swerved around the corner, mounting the curb and grinding to a halt right in front of the gates!
Four masked men clad in dark tactical gear burst out of the side doors, armed with suppressed pistols!
Parents screamed in panic as people scattered in every direction!
One of the masked men grabbed Elena from behind, clapping a heavy, chemically soaked rag over her mouth and nose! Elena thrashed violently, kicking and biting, but the sweet, suffocating fumes quickly invaded her lungs, making her vision go dark!
At the same time, Mia stepped out of the front doors of the school, holding her drawings.
“Mommy!” Mia shrieked in terror as she saw her mother being shoved into the back of the van!
The second gunman grabbed Mia by her arm, hoisting her off her feet, and threw her into the vehicle alongside her unconscious mother! The side doors slammed shut, and the van sped away into the Manhattan traffic!
Ten seconds later, Frank—Alessandro’s undercover security driver—burst out of his concealed vehicle across the street, his gun drawn. He immediately hit the speed-dial on his encrypted satellite phone.
At the Moretti headquarters in Wall Street, Alessandro was sitting in an executive board meeting with six syndicate captains.
His satellite phone buzzed. He answered it instantly.
“Speak,” Alessandro commanded.
“Boss!” Frank’s voice panicked over the line. “They took them! A black panel van just snatched Miss Elena and Mia from the front gate of the school! They took them heading south toward the Brooklyn Navy Yard!”
BANG!
Alessandro slammed his massive hand down onto the mahogany boardroom table with such force that the inch-thick wood cracked down the center!
Every captain in the room jumped out of their seats in shock!
Alessandro stood up, his face transforming into a mask of pure, apocalyptic rage. The air in the room instantly plummeted to zero degrees.
“Marco!” Alessandro roared, his voice sounding like thunder before a hurricane.
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“I’m here, Boss!” Marco barked, drawing his weapon.
“Mobilize every soldier, every vehicle, and every shooter in the city,” Alessandro ordered, his hazel eyes burning with a terrifying, demonic fire. “Block every bridge, every tunnel, and every dock from Manhattan to Brooklyn. If a single hair on their heads is harmed... I will burn this entire city to the ground.”
