Chapter 9 - The Ambush at Lake Shore Drive
By 11:30 PM, the Moretti manor had transitioned entirely into a fortress of war.
The civilian guests and minor associates had been evacuated under heavy armed escort through the subterranean tunnels, sworn to absolute secrecy under penalty of immediate execution.
I was still sitting on the leather sofa in Luca’s third-floor library when the reinforced doors unlocked, and Luca walked in. He was wearing full black tactical gear beneath a heavy Kevlar vest, a custom assault rifle slung over his broad shoulder.
I stood up immediately, clutching the wool blanket around my shoulders.
"Luca," I breathed, searching his face for any signs of injury. "Is it over downstairs?"
"The Bellinis are secured," he said, walking over to me. His eyes softened the moment they locked onto mine. He reached out with a gloved hand, gently cupping the unbruised side of my face. "You don't need to be afraid anymore, Olivia. The house is locked down."
"You're going to Cicero, aren't you?" I asked, my heart clenching with an unexpected, sharp ache of worry.
"Dmitri Volkov is waiting at the Cicero docks with fifty Russian soldiers," Luca said calmly. "He thinks he has the upper hand because of the codes Vanessa gave him. He doesn't know that we have already rewritten the terminal's automated defense grid."
"Please be careful," the words slipped from my lips before I could filter them.
Luca paused. A slow, genuine warmth spread across his rugged features. He stepped closer, his chest pressing lightly against mine, his gaze intense and unwavering.
"In ten years of running this city," he murmured softly, "no one in this house has ever asked me to be careful. They only ask me to be victorious."
"I want you to come back," I whispered, looking up into his dark, mesmerizing eyes. "Alive."
Luca leaned down. For a heartbeat, I thought he was going to step back. Instead, he tilted my chin up and pressed a soft, lingering kiss against my forehead, right above the edge of my bruised cheekbone.
His lips were warm against my cold skin.
"I will come back for you, Olivia," he promised against my hairline. "Wait for me here."
He turned and strode out of the room, accompanied by the heavy, rhythmic thud of combat boots echoing down the marble corridor.
For the next three hours, time lost all meaning.
I sat by the library window, watching the snow fall heavily over the Lake Forest estate. At 3:15 AM, the distant rumble of gunfire and explosions in the direction of the industrial shipping district rattled faintly against the horizon.
The battle for Chicago was happening miles away, but inside the master study, the silence was deafening.
Suddenly, at 3:45 AM, the library lights flickered and died.
The emergency red backup generators hummed to life, casting long, bloody shadows across the mahogany bookshelves.
From the hallway outside, the muffled thwip-thwip of suppressed gunshots shattered the quiet of the third floor.
My heart stopped.
I threw off the blanket and grabbed the nickel-plated revolver Enzo had dropped earlier, which I had hidden beneath the sofa cushion. I cocked the hammer back, holding the heavy gun with both hands, aiming it directly at the shattered library doors.
A heavy body collapsed against the outside of the door with a dull thud.
Then, the door was kicked open.
Stepping into the red glow of the emergency lights was Dmitri Volkov himself.
May you like
He was covered in soot and blood, his tactical jacket torn, his face smeared with grease. But in his right hand, he held a smoking automatic pistol.
"Well, well," Volkov rasped in his thick Russian accent, his teeth bared in a feral grin. "Moretti sent his entire army to Cicero to slaughter my boys... but he left the little rat who ruined my plan all alone in the castle."
