Chapter 12 - The Reckoning at Pier 42 and the Lion Unleashed
Jake grinned wildly, stepping closer to Emma and resting the barrel of his revolver against the metal pillar inches from her head.
"Look at you, Castellano!" Jake mocked, rain plastering his hair to his forehead. "The great King of Seattle, bowing before me! Sign over the port deeds and the offshore routing numbers, or Arthur Carter's bloodline ends tonight!"
Don Moretti stepped forward, a thick cigar clamped between his teeth. "You lost, Luca. Your father took this city from mine thirty years ago. Tonight, I take it back with interest."
Luca didn't look at Moretti. His eyes were locked entirely on Emma, whose teary eyes widened when she spotted him.
"Big doggy man..." Emma whimpered.
"It's okay, little bird," Luca said softly, his voice cutting through the wind. "Papa is here."
Papa.
The word struck Jake like a slap in the face. "Shut up! She’s my daughter! She’s my property!"
"She is not your daughter," Luca said, his voice dropping into that chilling, lethal resonance. "A father protects his child. A father bleeds for his child. You are nothing but a coward who hides behind babies."
"SIGN THE PAPERS!" Jake screamed, raising the detonator.
"Now, Dante," Luca whispered.
A high-caliber sniper round tore through the stormy sky from atop a crane three hundred yards away.
The bullet struck Jake’s right wrist, obliterating the hand holding the detonator in a shower of crimson.
Jake shrieked in agony, dropping to his knees as the detonator fell harmlessly to the wet concrete.
"FIRE!" Moretti roared.
The terminal exploded into utter chaos.
Dozens of Castellano soldiers opened fire simultaneously from the surrounding shipping containers. Muzzle flashes lit up the darkness like a strobe light. Bullets pinged violently against steel crates and shattered concrete.
Luca didn't take cover. He sprinted directly through the crossfire toward Emma.
Two Moretti mercenaries moved to intercept him. Luca drew his sidearm, firing three double-taps with terrifying precision, dropping both men before their bodies hit the ground.
I broke from the shadows, sprinting toward my daughter.
"Ava, no!" Dante yelled, firing his rifle to cover my advance.
A Moretti gunman stepped directly into my path, raising his shotgun.
Pure maternal adrenaline took over. I raised the 9mm pistol Dante had given me, aligned the sights, and pulled the trigger twice.
The man collapsed. I didn't stop. I ran straight to the metal pillar, throwing myself over Emma as bullets ricocheted off the steel overhead.
"Mama!" Emma sobbed, burying her face into my chest.
"I have you, baby! Mama’s here!" With shaking hands, I pulled a pocket knife from my belt and sliced through the zip-ties binding her tiny wrists.
Across the platform, Don Moretti attempted to flee toward a waiting speedboat. Luca cut him off.
Luca tackled Moretti into the flooded concrete, disarming him in a single, brutal twist of the wrist. With one hand around Moretti’s throat, Luca lifted the elderly don off the ground and slammed him against the edge of the pier.
"This is for Arthur Carter," Luca snarled.
May you like
Luca drove a combat blade straight into Moretti’s heart.
The head of the Moretti syndicate gasped, his eyes rolling back, before Luca shoved his lifeless body over the railing into the churning, black depths of Puget Sound.
