Chapter 6 - THE LION’S REVENGE
On the upper floor landing, Luca’s wheelchair was pinned behind a heavy marble pillar.
Bullets chipped away at the stone, spraying white powder into the air as two mercenaries laid down suppressing fire while Aldo Vega advanced up the left staircase.
Luca looked down at his useless legs, his breath heavy, his hands gripping the arms of his chair.
"You can't run, Luca!" Vega taunted, his boots clicking closer on the hardwood floor. "A king who can't walk is just a target!"
Luca reached beneath his wheelchair cushion, pulling out a small remote detonator he had installed two years ago.
"I don't need to run, Aldo," Luca whispered into the darkness. "I built the floor you're standing on."
Luca pressed the red button.
A series of small, non-lethal breaching charges installed beneath the grand mahogany staircase detonated simultaneously. The entire wooden structure collapsed in a cloud of splinters and dust, sending Vega and three of his mercenaries plunging fifteen feet down into the ground floor foyer.
Screams of pain echoed through the dust cloud.
Marco rushed up the secondary service stairs, aiming his flashlight into the debris below. Vega lay trapped under a heavy oak beam, his leg broken, his rifle thrown ten feet out of reach.
Luca wheeled himself to the edge of the broken landing, looking down through the rising smoke at his fallen enemy.
"Three years ago, you shot me from eight hundred yards away like a coward, Aldo," Luca said, his voice cold and unwavering. "Tonight, you walked into my house."
Vega looked up through the dust, coughing blood, his face pale with utter terror. "Luca... wait... we can make a deal! The syndicate money—"
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"The syndicate is mine," Luca said calmly. "And tomorrow... I stand up."
Marco signaled the surviving Moretti security team, who surrounded Vega and disarmed the remaining mercenaries in seconds.
