Chapter 13 - Blood and Fire in the Abandoned Cathedral
Inside the decaying cathedral, sunlight filtered through shattered stained-glass windows, casting fractured red and blue shadows across the cracked altar.
Khloe was tied to a wooden pillar, her face bruised from where Marcone's guard had struck her. Marcone stood before her, clutching a pistol, his eyes crazed with panic.
“Your lover won’t save you, little girl,” Marcone spat.
Khloe looked at him with icy defiance, spitting blood onto the stone floor. “Enzo won't just kill you, Marcone. He will erase you.”
Suddenly, the heavy iron doors of the cathedral blew inward with a deafening blast of C4.
Smoke poured down the center aisle as Enzo Bianke stepped through the wreckage, twin weapons in hand, flanked by his elite strike team.
“Kill them!” Marcone screamed.
A furious gun battle erupted beneath the vaulted ceiling. Enzo moved with terrifying speed and lethal accuracy, eliminating Marcone's mercenaries one by one as bullets chipped away at marble statues and wooden pews.
Marcone attempted to use Khloe as a human shield, raising his gun to her temple.
Khloe didn't wait. Using all her remaining strength, she threw her head backward, slamming her skull directly into Marcone’s broken nose.
Marcone howled in pain, stumbling back.
Enzo closed the distance in a heartbeat. He kicked the weapon from Marcone’s grip, drove him to the ground with a devastating strike, and pressed his boot against the fallen don’s throat.
“No... Enzo... please!” Marcone choked out.
Enzo didn't even look down at him. His eyes were fixed entirely on Khloe.
With a single pull of the trigger, Don Antonio Marcone’s reign was ended forever.
Enzo immediately dropped his weapon, rushed to Khloe, and sliced her ropes with his silver pocketknife. He pulled her into his arms, burying his face in her hair as his body shook with raw emotion.
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“I’m here,” Enzo whispered fiercely. “You’re safe. I will never let anyone touch you again.”
Khloe buried her face against his chest, clutching his shirt as tears finally fell. “I knew you would come.”
