Chapter 10 - The Blood Binding
The explosion violently shook the stone walls of the cellar.
Dust and debris rained down, blinding the guards for a crucial second.
Mateo didn't hesitate.
He lunged upward, driving his shoulder into the closest guard's knees and ripping the assault rifle from his hands.
Mateo fired a short, controlled burst, dropping three of Giancarlo’s men before they could clear the dust from their eyes.
Giancarlo stumbled backward, his silver cane clattering to the floor.
"Move!" Mateo roared, grabbing Tessa’s arm and dragging her out the iron door.
They left Salvatore and Giancarlo behind in the chaos of the cell.
Alarms blared throughout the massive estate, drowning out the shouting men.
"What was that explosion?" Tessa yelled as they sprinted up the spiral stairs.
"Isabella," Mateo replied, a grim smile flashing across his face.
"I told her where we were going before we got on the plane."
They burst into the main hallway of the mansion, which was now a war zone.
Isabella and a heavily armed strike team of Vitiello loyalists were storming through the front doors.
Gunfire shattered the priceless chandeliers, raining crystal down on the marble floors.
Mateo pulled Tessa behind a massive oak pillar as bullets chewed up the wall beside them.
"We have to get out of here!" Tessa screamed over the deafening noise.
Mateo checked his magazine, realizing he only had a few rounds left.
He looked at Tessa, his gray eyes burning with an intensity that terrified her.
"I am not leaving without ending this war."
Before Tessa could stop him, Mateo stepped out from cover and provided covering fire for Isabella's advancing team.
The Romano soldiers began to fall back, overwhelmed by the sudden ambush.
Within ten minutes, the gunfire died down to isolated skirmishes in the upper floors.
Isabella walked through the smoke, her face smeared with soot, and tossed Mateo a fresh magazine.
"The perimeter is secure," Isabella announced coldly.
"Giancarlo?" Mateo asked.
"Escaped through the servant tunnels during the chaos," Isabella cursed.
Mateo exhaled a heavy breath, his adrenaline fading to reveal his exhaustion.
They had won the battle and secured the estate.
Tessa slumped against the wall, sliding down to the floor as the reality of surviving washed over her.
Mateo knelt beside her, gently taking her shaking hands in his.
"It is over, Tessa," he promised softly.
"The immediate threat is gone, and I will personally ensure no one ever hunts you again."
Tessa looked up at his bruised, bloody face and felt a strange, terrifying flutter in her chest.
She had trusted him, and he had saved her.
David Mercer was dragged into the hallway by two of Isabella’s men, bleeding heavily from a gunshot to the leg.
Mateo stood up, his face hardening back into the mask of a mafia enforcer.
He drew his gun and aimed it directly at David's chest.
"Wait!" David screamed, coughing up blood.
"Giancarlo didn't run away because he was losing the fight."
Mateo paused, his finger resting lightly on the trigger.
"He ran away because he already got what he wanted."
Tessa frowned, instinctively patting her pocket where the locket used to be.
It was empty.
"He picked it up during the explosion," Tessa realized with horror.
David laughed, a wet, rattling sound that echoed in the silent hall.
"Giancarlo never cared about the ledger, you fools."
David looked directly at Tessa, his eyes filled with malicious pity.
"Elisabetta wasn't Giancarlo’s twin sister."
The temperature in the room seemed to drop ten degrees.
"She was his wife," David whispered, blood pouring from his mouth.
"And Salvatore didn't steal her; he helped her fake her death to escape Giancarlo's abuse."
Mateo lowered his gun, his mind failing to process the magnitude of the lie.
Tessa felt the breath leave her lungs entirely.
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David smiled one last time before his eyes glazed over.
"You just handed the Romano empire directly back to your actual grandfather."
