Chapter 2 - Blood in the Soil
The concussive shockwave of the explosion threw me violently backward into the dirt.
A deafening roar consumed the quiet countryside as metal fragments rained down like shrapnel.
Thick black smoke immediately choked the hot afternoon air.
I scrambled to my feet, my ears ringing with a sharp, high-pitched whine.
The burning wreckage of the SUV effectively blocked the main dirt road.
Through the dancing flames, I could hear the panicked shouts of Marcus's surviving men.
They were already regrouping in the dense tree line.
I sprinted toward the porch and grabbed Elena by her trembling arm.
"We have to move into the woods right now," I commanded.
Mia was already running ahead of us, her small legs carrying her swiftly toward the treeline.
She still hadn't dropped that ridiculous metal wrench.
We plunged into the thick underbrush just as automatic gunfire shredded the wooden porch where we had stood.
Branches whipped against my face as I dragged Elena deeper into the unforgiving wilderness.
"How do you know my uncle's name?" I demanded, panting heavily as we ran.
Elena stumbled over an exposed tree root, forcing me to catch her before she hit the ground.
She looked up at me, her eyes filled with a lifetime of buried secrets.
"I know exactly who you are, Adrian Moretti," she gasped.
"And I know exactly who Dante is because he has been hunting us for six years."
Gunfire echoed through the trees again, snapping branches inches above our heads.
I pulled her behind a massive oak tree to catch our breath.
"Why would a dead Mafia boss care about a mechanic and her kid?" I hissed.
Elena glanced toward Mia, who was quietly watching us with unnerving calmness.
"Because her father wasn't just some random mechanic," Elena confessed.
"Her father was your older brother, Lorenzo."
The revelation hit me harder than the blast wave from the exploding vehicle.
Lorenzo had been murdered in a drive-by shooting two years before I took over the family.
He was the rightful heir, the golden child of the Moretti bloodline.
Before I could process the fact that my brother had a secret child, a sniper's bullet tore through the bark of the oak tree.
May you like
Elena screamed in agony as the high-caliber round clipped her shoulder.
She collapsed into the dirt, her bright red blood rapidly soaking into the dry brown soil.
