Chapter 7 - THE BRASS KEY
The heat of the burning crater lashed against Luca’s face. He stood in front of Elena and Leo, blocking them from Carmine’s view. Adrian stood shoulder-to-shoulder with him, his rifle aimed squarely at their uncle’s chest.
Carmine smiled, a sickening, grandfatherly expression that didn't reach his cold, dead eyes.
“Put the gun down, Adrian,” Carmine coughed into a silk handkerchief. “You’re outnumbered fifty to two. You fight, you all die. You surrender, and I’ll make it quick.”
“You’ve been dead to me for six years, old man,” Adrian growled. “I’m not dying today.”
“So dramatic,” Carmine sighed, leaning on his cane. “Just like your father. He couldn’t see the big picture either. He handed the empire to you two boys—a paranoid brute and a soft-hearted ghost—while I, the man who built the foundation, was pushed aside to rot.”
Carmine tapped his cane against the wet asphalt.
“I forged the hit on Adrian to watch you tear each other apart,” Carmine confessed casually. “I pushed Marco to poison Luca tonight. But you boys are annoyingly resilient. So, I will finish it myself.”
He raised his hand. His fifty men raised their weapons, a chorus of clicking safeties echoing like a death knell.
Luca looked at Adrian. There was no way out. No hidden explosives left. No backup coming.
Then, Luca felt a small, cold object being pressed into his palm from behind.
He glanced down. Elena had slipped a heavy, antique brass key into his hand.
“The catacombs,” Elena whispered, her lips barely moving. “There’s an old smuggler’s tunnel behind the altar. This key opens the iron gate. Take Leo. Go.”
Luca’s heart stopped. “What about you?”
“Adrian and I will hold them off,” Elena said, her voice shaking but fiercely determined. She pulled her pistol, racking the slide. “We can buy you three minutes. It’s enough to get him into the tunnels.”
“I’m not leaving you both to die,” Luca said fiercely.
“He’s your blood, Luca!” Adrian barked, not taking his eyes off Carmine. “You’re the boss! You protect the family! Now protect him!”
Luca looked down at the terrified five-year-old boy clinging to Elena’s leg. Leo looked up at him, tears streaming down his dirty face.
This was the legacy of the Moretti family. Blood traded for blood.
“Go,” Elena sobbed, kissing Leo’s forehead before shoving the boy gently toward Luca. “Run with your uncle, Leo. Don't look back.”
Luca grabbed Leo’s hand. He gripped the brass key tight.
“Now!” Adrian roared.
Adrian and Elena opened fire simultaneously.
The element of surprise caught Carmine’s front line off guard. Three mercenaries dropped instantly. Carmine ducked behind the armored limousine as return fire erupted, tearing into the stone facade of the church.
“Run!” Luca yelled, dragging Leo through the ruined wooden doors of the church.
Bullets chewed the stone pillars around them as they scrambled back down into the crypt. Above them, the deafening roar of a massive firefight shook the dust from the ceiling.
Luca sprinted past the stone altar to the back wall of the catacombs. He found a rusted iron gate, hidden behind centuries of moss and decay.
His hands shook as he jammed the brass key into the lock. He twisted it hard. The lock groaned, then snapped open with a heavy metallic click.
Luca pulled the gate open, revealing a dark, narrow tunnel smelling of seawater and mildew. It led toward the river.
“Go, Leo! Go!” Luca pushed the boy inside.
Leo stopped in the tunnel, looking back, his little lip quivering. “Where’s my mommy?”
“I’m going to get her,” Luca promised, his voice cracking. “I swear to you, I will bring her back. Keep running until you see the water. Hide in the reeds.”
Leo nodded, turning and running into the dark.
Luca slammed the iron gate shut, locking it from the outside so nobody could follow the boy.
He drew his pistol and turned back toward the stairs.
He was breaking the golden rule of the underworld. He was supposed to run. He was supposed to survive to rebuild.
But Luca was done building empires on the graves of the people he loved.
He charged up the stone stairs, bursting back out into the rain.
The graveyard was a slaughterhouse.
Adrian was kneeling behind a shattered tombstone, his rifle empty, clutching his side where blood poured freely through his fingers. Elena was beside him, firing her last magazine desperately at the advancing mercenaries.
They were completely overrun. A dozen men were advancing on them, pinning them down.
Luca didn't seek cover.
He walked straight out into the open, a predator unleashed.
He fired with terrifying, cold precision. One shot. One kill. He dropped four men before they even realized he was behind them.
“Luca!” Adrian yelled, his eyes wide. “Get down!”
But Luca didn't stop. He marched forward, drawing the entirely of the enemy fire onto himself.
Bullets whipped past his head, tearing through his coat.
He saw Carmine peeking out from behind the limousine, screaming orders.
Luca raised his gun, aiming directly at the old man’s face.
He squeezed the trigger.
Click.
Out of ammo.
In that split second, a mercenary stepped out from behind a statue, leveling a shotgun directly at Adrian’s wounded body.
Elena screamed, throwing herself in front of Adrian.
Luca didn't think. He didn't hesitate.
He threw himself across the open ground, diving directly into the path of the blast.
The shotgun roared.
A horrific impact slammed into Luca’s chest, throwing him violently backward into the mud.
“LUCA!” Adrian’s voice tore through the night, a sound of pure, unadulterated agony.
Luca lay in the mud, staring up at the pouring rain. He couldn't breathe. The world around him faded into a muted, ringing silence.
He saw Elena pull a combat knife from her boot, plunging it into the shotgunner’s leg.
May you like
He saw Carmine laughing in the distance.
And then, the darkness rushed in to claim him.
