Chapter 8 - Standing in the Storm
He was towering. Six-foot-four of pure, unyielding rage.
His legs were shaking slightly from two years of disuse, his muscles straining against the remaining traces of the toxin, but his sheer willpower held him upright. He stepped out from behind the desk like an ancient god of war awakened from a long sleep.
Matteo dropped his pistol, his jaw hanging open in sheer terror. "You... you can walk?!"
"I stopped taking Sterling’s oral pills three days ago when Nora expressed her doubts," Alessandro said, his voice echoing like thunder in the room. "My body flushed enough of the poison to give me back my strength."
Alessandro closed the distance in two broad strides. He grabbed Matteo by the throat, lifting his cousin off the ground with one massive arm, slamming him violently against the stone fireplace mantle!
"You betrayed your blood," Alessandro growled, his knuckles white as he choked the breath out of Matteo. "You threatened the woman who saved my life. You threatened her child."
"Please... Alessandro... mercy!" Matteo gasped, his face turning purple, his feet dangling in mid-air.
"There is no mercy for traitors in the Moretti family," Alessandro whispered cold-bloodedly.
Marco and his tactical team poured into the room, securing the perimeter.
"Boss," Marco said, eyeing Alessandro standing on his own two feet with profound respect. "The estate is secure. The Capos have been notified. Matteo’s faction downtown is being rounded up as we speak."
Alessandro threw Matteo onto the floor at Marco’s feet. "Take him to the basement vault. Call the District Attorney. Give them every piece of financial fraud Matteo committed over the last five years. Let him rot in a federal supermax facility for the rest of his miserable life."
"And Sterling?" Marco asked.
"Strip his medical license and hand him to the federal prosecutors as an accomplice to attempted murder," Alessandro commanded.
The guards dragged Matteo and Sterling out of the room, their cries for mercy fading down the long hallway.
The quiet returned to the study.
Alessandro stood in the center of the room, breathing heavily, his hands resting on his hips as his strength wavered.
I pushed open the hidden safe-room door and ran out into the room.
"Alessandro!" I cried out, rushing to his side just as his knees buckled.
I caught him under his arm, taking his immense weight, guiding him gently back into his leather armchairs.
May you like
Emma ran out right behind me, wrapping her tiny arms around Alessandro’s knee. "Mr. Alessandro! You stood up like a superhero!"
Alessandro looked down at Emma, then looked up at me. Tears filled his gray eyes—the same hardened eyes that had never wept through two years of agony. He reached out, pulling both of us into his broad chest, holding us as if we were the most precious treasures on earth.
