Chapter 5 - The Blood on the Marble
Hunter felt her blood run entirely cold at the sound of her abuser's cruel voice. Tommy was standing right outside the heavy steel door, holding a detonator in his hand. "I knew you would eventually run to a rich man, Hunter," Tommy mocked through the intercom. "But you are going to die in a steel box alongside him and his pathetic baby." Lorenzo ignored the taunts and pressed a clean towel against his bleeding shoulder. He looked at Hunter, his dark eyes burning with a terrifying, protective fury. "Is that the man who killed your daughter?" Lorenzo asked in a deadly whisper. Hunter nodded slowly, her entire body shaking with unresolved trauma and fear. Lorenzo dropped the bloody towel and pulled a massive combat knife from his boot. He bypassed the electronic lock and manually pulled the heavy steel lever to open the panic room door. "What are you doing?" Hunter screamed in sheer panic. "I am taking out the trash," Lorenzo replied coldly as the door swung heavily open. Tommy barely had time to raise his weapon before Lorenzo was upon him like a wild animal. The mafia boss grabbed Tommy by the throat, slamming him violently against the marble wall. Tommy gasped for air, wildly trying to press the button on the explosive detonator. Lorenzo drove the combat knife deep into Tommy's hand, pinning the detonator to the wall. Tommy screamed in excruciating agony as his own blood sprayed across the expensive wallpaper. "This is for the child you stole from her," Lorenzo growled, his voice vibrating with pure rage. With one swift, brutal motion, Lorenzo ended the miserable life of the hitman. The remaining attackers quickly retreated when they realized their leader was dead. Lorenzo walked back into the panic room, his hands covered in the blood of his enemy. Hunter stared at him in complete awe, realizing he had just avenged her precious Lily. She carefully set the baby down in a secure chair and rushed over to the wounded boss. She ripped the sleeve of his expensive shirt to inspect the bullet wound on his shoulder. "It is just a graze, I will survive," Lorenzo muttered, though he looked incredibly pale. Hunter used the medical supplies in the panic room to clean and bandage his injury. Her soft, gentle hands traced his muscular chest, sending a wave of warmth through his cold heart. Lorenzo looked down at her beautiful face, feeling a profound connection he had not felt since Sophia died. Suddenly, his head of security burst into the room holding a recovered enemy radio. "Boss, Tommy was not leading this attack, he was just hired muscle," the guard revealed. "The radio chatter confirms that someone on your own payroll gave them the security codes."
