Chapter 9 - SINS OF THE MOTHER
The assault on the Moretti estate was a masterclass in tactical brutality.
My men breached the perimeter from three sides, overwhelming the Calabrese guards who were entirely unprepared for my resurrection. Gunshots lit up the night sky like morbid fireworks.
Elena and I slipped through the chaos, using the same servant’s passage we had used to escape days ago. We bypassed the main firefight, emerging directly into the west wing, right outside my mother’s private quarters.
Two of my mother’s elite bodyguards stood at the door. Before I could raise my weapon, Elena threw a heavy silver vase down the hall, distracting them. I lunged out of the shadows, taking them both down in swift, silent, lethal strikes.
I kicked the double doors open.
My mother sat at her vanity, drinking a glass of wine. She didn't look surprised. Only disappointed.
"I told them you wouldn't die easily," Isabella said smoothly, turning to face me. "You always were stubborn."
"It’s over, Mother. Your men are dead or surrendering. The Calabrese boss is currently being dragged through the front gates by my capos."
Isabella stood up, her eyes narrowing as she looked past me to Elena. "All this. The destruction of our empire, the blood on the floors… over a servant? Over a broken child?"
My blood boiled. I raised my gun, pointing it directly at the woman who had given me life.
"She is not a servant. She is a queen," I said, my voice vibrating with absolute certainty. "And my daughter is stronger than you will ever be."
"Shoot me, then," Isabella dared, stepping forward. "Carry the sin of matricide forever."
I held the gun steady. My finger twitched on the trigger. I wanted to end her. I wanted to wipe the smug, hateful look off her face.
But then a soft hand covered mine. Elena gently pushed the barrel of the gun down.
"She isn't worth your soul, Adrian," Elena said softly. "Let her rot in a cage. Death is too quick a punishment for someone so empty."
I looked at Elena, then back at my mother. I lowered the weapon.
"Marco!" I yelled.
My lieutenant appeared in the doorway, battered but victorious.
May you like
"Take her down to the holding cells in the basement," I ordered, turning my back on my mother. "Tomorrow, we ship her to the compound in Sicily. Tell the guards there that if she ever sees the sun again, I will kill them myself."
Isabella began to scream, cursing my name as Marco dragged her away, but I wasn't listening anymore. The war was over.
