Chapter 10 - The Ambush at Mercy GeneralThree weeks passed.
The estate had returned to its pristine, peaceful state.
The bullet holes were patched, the gardens replanted.
Sienna had returned home from the hospital, looking healthier every single day.
I spent my mornings monitoring her heart medications and my afternoons studying medical textbooks in the grand library.
Luca had kept every single promise.
My father was thriving in his rehabilitation suite, already beginning to walk with a cane again.
Everything felt like a dream.
Until Tuesday afternoon.
Sienna had a routine cardiology follow-up at Mercy General Hospital downtown.
I accompanied her in the back of the armored Maybach, with Daniel driving and two security chase cars behind us.
Luca had stayed behind at the estate for an emergency business meeting.
“Are you nervous about starting classes next week, Emma?” Sienna asked, adjusting her sunglasses.
She looked radiant.
The color had returned to her cheeks.
“Terrified,” I laughed. “I haven't taken a chemistry exam in three years.”
“You'll ace it,” she said warmly. “Luca says you have the sharpest instincts he’s ever seen.”
I felt a warm flush creep up my neck.
Whenever Luca was mentioned, my pulse quickened.
Over the past three weeks, our late-night conversations in the library had become the center of my days.
The Maybach pulled into the underground parking garage of Mercy General.
The chase cars pulled in behind us.
The garage was dimly lit, rows of concrete pillars stretching into the shadows.
Daniel put the car in park.
“Wait here, Miss Sienna. Let the perimeter team clear the elevator bank first.”
Daniel unclipped his seatbelt and stepped out of the vehicle.
Suddenly, an alarm went off in my head.
I looked through the tinted window toward the elevator doors.
Two men in hospital orderly uniforms were standing by the doors.
One of them was adjusting his coat.
Beneath the hem of his white jacket, I saw the distinct shape of a submachine gun barrel.
“Daniel! Get back in the car!” I screamed.
RAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT!
A hail of bullets tore through the garage air.
Daniel dove back into the driver's seat, slamming the reinforced door shut just as bullets chipped against the ballistic glass.
“Ambush!” Daniel yelled into his radio. “Hostiles in sector four! Code Red!”
The chase car behind us erupted in flames as an explosive device was detonated beneath its engine block.
Sienna screamed, covering her ears.
“Who are they?!” she cried. “Bernardo is dead!”
Daniel slammed the Maybach into reverse, tires screeching against the concrete.
“Bernardo had allies in the Detroit syndicate!” Daniel shouted, steering wildly with one hand while drawing his gun with the other. “They want revenge for the territory grab!”
Another black SUV screeched around the corner, blocking our only exit ramp.
We were trapped between the burning chase car and the blockade.
Five gunmen in tactical gear stepped out from behind the pillars, advancing toward our armored car.
They were carrying heavy sledgehammers and thermite charges.
Ballistic glass could stop bullets, but it couldn't stop high-temperature incendiary charges.
“They're going to burn us inside the car,” Daniel said, his face pale.
“Not today,” a voice roared over the garage intercom.
A heavy black armored truck smashed through the concrete barrier of the entrance ramp at sixty miles per hour.
It slammed directly into the side of the enemy SUV, sending it spinning into a concrete pillar with a deafening metallic crunch.
The door of the truck flew open.
Luca Moretti stepped out into the smoke.
He wasn't wearing a suit.
He wore black tactical gear, his eyes burning with pure, unadulterated fury.
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In his hands was an automatic combat rifle.
“Touch my family again,” Luca bellowed over the roar of the engines, “and I will erase your entire bloodline!”
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