Chapter 4 - The Ambush
I spun around and looked out the reinforced rear window of the vehicle.
A massive black truck was aggressively tailgating us through the heavy rain.
Marcus's voice oozed from the phone speaker, mocking my absolute terror.
He explained that faking his death was the only way to escape his gambling debts.
He had joined the rival syndicate as a foot soldier and used his knowledge of my life to track Alessandro.
Marcus bragged that he was the one who paid Raymond to open the penthouse doors.
He demanded that I hand over Alessandro, promising to let me and Mia live if I cooperated.
Alessandro snatched the phone from my hand and crushed it against the dashboard.
He warned me never to trust a man who was willing to sell the mother of his child to the mafia.
Alessandro swerved the armored car sharply, taking a sudden exit toward the Brooklyn bridge.
The heavy truck followed us, violently ramming our rear bumper.
The impact sent my head crashing against the leather seat, but I kept my grip on Mia.
Alessandro cursed in Italian and pushed the engine to its absolute limit.
We tore through the narrow, rain-slicked streets of a deserted industrial district.
He managed to lose the truck in a maze of abandoned shipping containers near the waterfront.
He parked the battered vehicle inside an empty warehouse and killed the engine.
The silence that followed was heavy and suffocating.
He turned to me, gently checking to see if Mia and I were injured.
His fingers grazed my cheek, wiping away a stray tear with surprising tenderness.
He promised me that Marcus would never lay a hand on us again.
He told me we were going to a highly secure safe house located just three blocks away.
We abandoned the vehicle and ran through the freezing rain, hiding in the deep shadows of the alleyways.
We finally reached a rusted metal door hidden behind a dumpster.
Alessandro punched a code into a hidden keypad, and the heavy door swung open.
We stepped into a dark, dusty apartment that smelled like old paper and copper.
He locked the door behind us and finally holstered his weapon.
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I let out a heavy sigh of relief, thinking we were finally safe for the night.
The wall behind us suddenly exploded inward with a blinding flash of light.
