Chapter 10 - The Reckoning at the Docks
The heavy glass doors of the harbor office shattered inward as Luca kicked them off their hinges with brute force.
Armed guards inside barely had time to draw their weapons before Luca and Matteo neutralized them with surgical precision.
They surged up the grand staircase to the executive penthouse suite on the top floor.
Luca slammed his boot against the heavy mahogany double doors of Marco’s private office.
The doors flew open, crashing against the interior walls.
Sitting behind a massive glass desk with a glass of scotch in his hand was Marco Moretti.
Marco’s face turned white as paper as he looked up and saw Luca standing in the doorway, alive, healthy, and aiming a tactical rifle straight at his chest.
Behind Luca stood Claire, calm and composed, holding her medical bag like a badge of office.
“L-Luca?” Marco stammered, dropping his glass to the floor where it shattered into a thousand glittering pieces.
“Surprised to see me, cousin?” Luca asked, stepping into the room with slow, deliberate strides.
“You thought a cheap poison and a rented mercenary squad could steal my empire.”
“You forgot one fundamental rule of the Moretti family,” Luca snarled, cocking his weapon.
“Blood always answers to blood.”
Marco scrambled backward, knocking his leather chair over as he reached for a hidden pistol in his desk drawer.
Before his fingers could graze the weapon, Matteo fired a single warning shot that buried itself an inch from Marco’s hand in the wood.
“Don’t even think about it, Marco,” Matteo warned coldly.
Marco raised his hands in surrender, trembling violently as cold sweat beaded on his forehead.
“Please, Luca,” Marco begged, his voice cracking with pathetic desperation.
“We’re family!”
“Family?” Luca echoed, his voice dropping into a terrifying whisper.
“You sat at my table every Sunday while plotting my slow, agonizing murder.”
“You turned Blackthorn House into a slaughterhouse.”
“You don’t deserve to die by a bullet.”
Luca lowered his rifle slightly and motioned to Matteo.
“Tie him up, strip him of all syndicate authority, and hand him over to the federal authorities on every charge of corruption, treason, and attempted murder we have on file.”
“Let him spend the rest of his life rotting in a maximum-security federal penitentiary.”
Marco let out a horrified cry as Matteo grabbed him by the collar, dragging him out of the office in handcuffs.
Silence descended upon the penthouse suite.
Luca stood alone in the center of the room, letting out a long, shuddering breath as the heavy weight of the betrayal finally lifted from his shoulders.
He turned around slowly and looked at Claire.
She stood quietly by the window, watching him with an expression of profound understanding and unyielding strength.
Luca walked across the room, stopping just inches away from her.
“You saved my life, Claire,” Luca said softly, his voice stripped of all its dangerous pretense.
“You defied every rule, challenged my guards, locked the gates, and stood by my side when everyone else betrayed me.”
“What happens now?” Claire asked, holding his gaze without flinching.
May you like
“Now,” Luca smiled, taking her hand gently in his.
“You are no longer the thirteenth private nurse of Blackthorn House.”
