Chapter 4 - The Siege of Villa Moretti
The glass in the windows rattled violently. Alarms began to blare across the estate, red emergency lights flashing along the vaulted ceilings.
Alessandro pulled me up from the chair in a single swift motion, shoving me behind his broad frame as he pulled a black sidearm from a hidden holster under his arm.
“Marco!” Alessandro roared into his wrist comm.
“Boss!” Marco’s panicked voice crackled over the radio amidst the sound of intense gunfire. “Mortar fire from the front gates! A strike team of Corvo mercenaries just rammed through the perimeter wall with an armored transport!”
“Secure the inner stairs!” Alessandro ordered. “I’m taking the girl and her mother to the vault!”
He turned to me, his hands grabbing my shoulders firmly. “Clara, wake Emma. Now!”
I ran to the bed, lifting Emma into my arms. She woke up instantly, frightened by the loud booms and red flashing lights, crying softly against my neck.
“Shh, baby, I’ve got you,” I soothed, holding her tight.
Alessandro grabbed a tactical submachine gun from a concealed wall safe, racked the slide, and took the lead. He led us out of the suite into the secondary service corridor behind the master bedroom.
As we reached the grand stairwell, six men dressed in black tactical gear with red Corvo armbands burst through the double doors at the bottom of the landing.
“Moretti!” one of them yelled, raising an assault rifle.
Alessandro didn't hesitate. He pushed me behind a thick marble column, stepped directly into the open, and opened fire. The deafening pop-pop-pop of his weapon echoed through the marble hallway. Three mercenaries dropped instantly, blood spraying across the ornate wallpaper.
The remaining three opened fire, bullets chipping away at the marble column right above my head. Stone dust rained down on us.
Alessandro retreated behind the column, pulled a tactical grenade from his belt, pulled the pin with his teeth, and tossed it down the stairs.
“Cover your ears!” he shouted.
I slammed my hands over Emma’s ears, pressing her face into my chest.
BOOM!
The force of the detonation shook the floorboards. Screams rang out below, followed by silence.
Alessandro leaned out, fired two double-taps to clear the landing, then grabbed my arm. “Move! Now!”
We descended the smoking, blood-splattered stairs into the subterranean level beneath the villa. Alessandro pressed his hand against a biometric scanner set into a solid titanium door.
The door hissed open, revealing a reinforced, high-tech bunker equipped with monitors, weapons racks, and medical supplies.
Alessandro ushered us inside, slammed the door shut, and locked the manual steel wheels. He slumped against the heavy door, his chest heaving, his weapon held low.
Emma peeked out from behind my shoulder, looking at Alessandro with awe and fear. “Are the bad men gone, Mr. Alessandro?”
Alessandro looked up, wiping a streak of sweat and black soot from his forehead. He walked over, knelt down, and placed a gentle hand on her head.
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“They’re gone, sweetheart,” he said, his voice raspy. “No one can touch us in here.”
He looked up at me, his eyes burning with a dark, primal fierce devotion. “The Corvo just threw everything they had at my home. Which means they are desperate. And desperate men make mistakes.”
