Chapter 6 - BLOOD AND PROMISES
Pain is a remarkable clarifier. As I lay bleeding against the rough stone of the fireplace, watching Dante step over the splintered remains of my sanctuary, I didn't think about my empire, my money, or my pride. I thought about the heavy steel door beneath the rug. I thought about the little girl who painted my face and the woman who had brought color into my grayscale world.
Dante stood over me, the barrel of the shotgun leveled at my chest. “Any last words, boss? I’ll make sure to tell Vincenzo you died on your knees.”
I coughed, blood speckling my lips. I looked up at him, forcing a manic, bloody grin. “Yeah. Look behind you.”
Dante smirked. “Oldest trick in the book.”
It wasn't a trick. Marcus, bleeding heavily from his shoulder, had managed to crawl to his dropped sidearm. He raised the gun with a trembling hand and fired a single shot. The bullet caught Dante in the back of the knee. The traitor roared in agony, his leg buckling. The shotgun fired wildly into the ceiling, raining plaster down on us.
Adrenaline overrode the searing pain in my side. I lunged forward, tackling Dante to the ground. I grabbed the heavy iron poker from the fireplace stand and brought it down across his jaw with sickening force. Dante went limp.
Silence descended on the cabin, save for the pouring rain and Marcus’s heavy, labored breathing. I dragged myself across the floor, leaving a trail of dark crimson, and collapsed next to Marcus.
“You alive, old man?” I gasped, clutching my bleeding side.
Marcus let out a wet chuckle, clutching his shoulder. “Been better, boss. We got ‘em all, but we can’t stay here. The local cops will be here in ten minutes, or Moretti will send a cleanup crew.”
I nodded, the room spinning slightly. I forced myself to my feet, gritting my teeth against the blinding pain, and limped toward the rug. I moved it aside and knocked on the steel door. Three slow knocks, then two fast. The code.
The bolts slid back, and the door pushed open. Elena’s face appeared, pale and terrified. When she saw me covered in blood, she let out a choked scream and scrambled out, dragging Lily with her.
“Adrian! Oh my god, you’re shot!” Elena dropped to her knees beside me, her hands hovering over the wound, not knowing what to do. Lily hid behind her mother’s leg, her eyes wide, clutching her rabbit.
“I’m fine,” I lied, my voice tight. “We have to go. Now.”
Elena didn’t panic. She ripped the hem of her shirt, wadding the fabric and pressing it hard against my side. I hissed in pain, but her grip was firm. “Keep pressure on it. Where are we going?”
“There’s a secondary vehicle hidden in the barn,” Marcus said, struggling to his feet.
We made it to the barn, the cold rain washing away the blood on my hands. We piled into the dusty, reinforced sedan. Marcus drove, ignoring his shattered shoulder, fueled by pure survival instinct.
We drove for hours, heading south toward an abandoned warehouse district on the outskirts of Chicago. It was a ghost town, a relic of my early days in the syndicate. We holed up in a dusty, windowless office on the second floor.
Elena went to work. She found a first-aid kit in the trunk of the car. With trembling but determined hands, she cleaned the wound in my side. The bullet had passed clean through, missing vital organs, but the blood loss was severe. Lily sat in the corner, unusually quiet, watching her mother stitch the skin of the most feared man in the city.
When it was done, I leaned my head back against the brick wall, exhausted. Elena sat beside me, resting her head on my uninjured shoulder.
“This can’t go on, Adrian,” she whispered, her voice laced with exhaustion and despair. “They won’t stop. They will keep coming until you are dead, and they will kill us to get to you.”
I looked at her, my heart breaking. She was right. The only reason they were in danger was because of me. My presence was a poison. Vincenzo Moretti would never stop hunting me, and as long as they were with me, they were caught in the crossfire.
I made the hardest decision of my life in that dark, dusty room.
“You’re right,” I said softly. I reached into my pocket and pulled out a secure, untraceable black card. I pressed it into her hand. “There is ten million dollars on this card. It’s untraceable. Marcus has fake passports for both of you in the car. Tomorrow morning, you are taking a private charter to a safe location in Europe. You will change your names, and you will never look back.”
Elena froze, pulling away to look at me, betrayal flashing in her eyes. “What? No. I am not leaving you. We are a team, Adrian—”
“We are not a team!” I snapped, forcing my voice to be cold and cruel. I had to push her away. I had to break her heart to save her life. “You are a housekeeper, and I am a mob boss. This was a mistake. I let myself get distracted, and it almost cost me my empire.”
Tears spilled down her cheeks. “You’re lying. You love us. I know you do.”
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I looked at Lily, who was watching me with big, sad eyes. It took everything I had not to pull them both into my arms. “I don’t know how to love, Elena. I only know how to destroy. Tomorrow, you leave. That’s an order.”
I stood up, ignoring the agonizing pain in my side, and walked out of the room, leaving her weeping in the dark. I stood in the hallway, leaning against the cold brick, and let out a silent, ragged sob. I was going to send them away to save them, and then, I was going to kill Vincenzo Moretti, even if it cost me my life.
