Chapter 8 - The Sniper's Mark
Camille stepped out from the shadows of the catwalk, her arm heavily bandaged but her eyes burning with pure fury.
She had refused to stay at the clinic, forcing the underground doctor to bring her to the gallery.
Alessandro kept his uncle's attention entirely focused on himself to give Camille the advantage.
"You won the war, uncle," Alessandro lied smoothly, kicking his pistol further away across the polished floor.
"Just let the child go, and you can put a bullet in my head right now."
The old man laughed, a cruel, wheezing sound that echoed through the quiet gallery.
"I don't just want you dead, Alessandro, I want your legacy completely erased."
His uncle revealed a terrible, sickening truth with a malicious smile.
"I was the one who ordered the hit on you six years ago, not the Lucchese family."
"I paid them to ambush you in that garage so I could finally take the throne."
Alessandro felt a dark, ancient rage boil up from the deepest part of his soul.
"You destroyed my entire life for a chair," Alessandro whispered, his voice trembling with sheer hatred.
"And now I will finish the job," his uncle declared, raising a golden revolver toward Alessandro's chest.
Before the old man could pull the trigger, Camille dropped a heavy bronze sculpture directly onto his shoulder from the catwalk above.
The bone cracked loudly, and his uncle screamed in absolute agony, dropping the golden revolver.
But as he fell, his grip slipped entirely from Sophie's jacket.
The little girl stumbled backward, teetering dangerously on the very edge of the deadly balcony.
Alessandro lunged forward with explosive, desperate speed, diving toward the edge of the drop.
He grabbed Sophie's small hand just as she fell backward over the railing.
He slammed hard into the glass barrier, his shoulder dislocating with a sickening pop, but he held onto his daughter.
His uncle, completely enraged and clutching his broken shoulder, reached down to retrieve his dropped weapon.
He aimed the barrel directly at Alessandro's exposed back as he struggled to pull Sophie up.
"Goodbye, nephew," the old man hissed, pulling the trigger.
A deafening gunshot echoed through the massive gallery.
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Alessandro felt the brutal, agonizing impact punch directly through his back.
He collapsed onto the floor, pulling Sophie safely over the edge just as his vision began to fade into total blackness.
