Chapter 11 - The Confession Under Gunpoint
Our brief sanctuary was shattered on the fifth night.
A coded alert sounded through Matteo’s satellite comms.
Agent Harris had called an emergency secure briefing.
“Romano! Don Salieri’s top enforcer, Anthony 'The Ghost' Bianchi, has disappeared from federal surveillance in New York! We believe he obtained your Wisconsin coordinates through a leak in the federal marshals' office!”
Matteo immediately went into combat mode.
“Lock down all blast shutters! Arm every man!” he bellowed through the compound’s intercom.
He rushed to his mother’s room, escorting her into the interior reinforced vault.
“Claire, stay inside with my mother,” Matteo said, strapping on tactical body armor.
“Matteo, be careful,” I pleaded, clutching his arm.
He kissed me hard on the mouth.
“I will come back to you. I promise.”
Outside, the perimeter alarms shrieked.
Heavy sniper fire began cracking through the pine forest.
Salieri had sent thirty heavily armed commandos to eradicate the Romano bloodline once and for all.
From inside the monitoring room of the vault, Mrs. Romano and I watched the security monitors.
Matteo fought like a demon.
He moved through the hallways with tactical mastery, coordinating his men and eliminating the intruders one by one.
Suddenly, the security screen showing the compound’s auxiliary generator went black.
The lights in the vault flickered and died, plunging us into crimson emergency backup illumination.
The heavy steel door of the vault groaned under the pressure of a hydraulic breaching charge.
BOOM!
The hinges snapped.
The heavy door was kicked open.
Standing in the doorway, shrouded in smoke, was Anthony Bianchi himself—tall, scar-faced, holding a silenced submachine gun.
Behind him was Alessandra Vale, dressed in tactical dark clothing, her eyes wild with madness.
She had been broken out of federal transit by Salieri’s men.
“Look who we found,” Alessandra cackled, stepping into the vault. “The little maid and the old hag.”
Mrs. Romano stood up from her chair, standing tall and proud without her cane.
“You dishonor your father's name, Alessandra.”
“Shut up!” Alessandra screamed, raising her pistol toward Mrs. Romano. “Your son killed my family's legacy! Tonight, the Romano name ends!”
I stepped directly in front of Mrs. Romano, shielding her with my own body.
“If you want to shoot her, you have to go through me first,” I said coldly.
Alessandra sneered, her finger tightening on the trigger.
“With pleasure, you filthy—”
A shadow descended from the ventilation duct above the doorway.
Matteo dropped like a striking predator, landing directly on Bianchi.
With a single fluid motion, Matteo disarmed the hitman, snapped his wrist, and slammed his head against the concrete wall, knocking him unconscious instantly.
Alessandra gasped, spinning around to fire at Matteo.
I didn't hesitate.
I grabbed the heavy bronze desk lamp from the table and hurled it directly at Alessandra’s head.
The lamp struck her shoulder, throwing off her aim as her gun discharged harmlessly into the ceiling.
Matteo crossed the room in a fraction of a second, slapping the weapon from her grip and pinning her violently to the floor with his knee against her chest.
Alessandra sobbed in terror, looking up into the face of death.
“Matteo! Please! It was Salieri! He made me do it!”
Matteo pulled his sidearm and pressed the cold steel barrel directly against Alessandra’s forehead.
“Confess,” Matteo roared. “Confess on the federal audio feed!”
He reached up and clicked the open comm line connected directly to the Department of Justice recording server.
“I did it!” Alessandra screamed hysterically. “I put the digitalis in Carmine’s tea! Salieri provided the chemical! We forged the will to take the shipping ports! Just don't kill me! Please!”
Matteo stared down at her with cold disgust.
May you like
“You aren't worth the bullet.”
He struck her with the butt of his weapon, knocking her out cold.
