Chapter 7 - The Hostage
The live video feed crackled with static, but Lorenzo’s cruel, victorious smile was perfectly clear on the glowing laptop screen.
"I told you I would get what I wanted tonight, Tessa," Lorenzo mocked through the computer's small speakers.
I grabbed the edges of the laptop, tears streaming down my face as I watched Sarah thrash helplessly against her ropes.
"Please do not hurt her, she has absolutely nothing to do with this mafia war!" I screamed at the screen.
"She has everything to do with it, because she is the only leverage I have left to make you surrender," Lorenzo laughed darkly.
"Bring the iron key and yourself to the old shipping docks in twenty minutes, or I will carve your friend into pieces."
The video feed abruptly cut to black, leaving me completely devastated in the center of the empty vault.
I turned to Mateo, my chest heaving with desperate, uncontrollable sobs.
"I have to go to the docks, Mateo, I cannot let Sarah die because of my family's cursed bloodline," I pleaded, grabbing his tuxedo jacket.
Mateo looked down at me, his jaw clenched so tightly that a muscle ticked dangerously in his cheek.
"I am not letting you trade your life for hers, Tessa, it is a suicide mission," Mateo stated with absolute, unyielding authority.
"You don't own me!" I shouted, hitting his hard chest with my fists. "I am going, and you cannot stop me!"
Mateo caught my wrists effortlessly, pulling me flush against his body until I was completely trapped in his powerful embrace.
He looked deeply into my tear-filled eyes, his own gray eyes burning with a fierce, possessive fire I had never seen before.
"I swear on my life that I will save your friend, but I am not losing you tonight," Mateo vowed in a rough whisper.
Before I could argue again, Mateo lowered his head and crashed his lips down onto mine in a desperate, bruising kiss.
The kiss was hot, urgent, and filled with all the unspoken terror and adrenaline of the night.
I gasped against his mouth, my hands instinctively sliding up to grip his broad shoulders as a dangerous warmth flooded my entire body.
He pulled away slowly, resting his forehead against mine as we both struggled to catch our breath in the cold vault.
"I will burn this entire city to the ground to keep you safe," Mateo promised, his thumb gently wiping a tear from my cheek.
Suddenly, a deafening explosion rocked the subterranean level of the bank, sending massive chunks of concrete falling from the ceiling.
Thick gray smoke poured into the corridor outside the vault as the blaring security alarms began to shriek.
Mateo pushed me behind him, raising his stolen pistol just as a dozen heavily armed men charged through the smoke.
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I recognized the crest on their tactical vests and realized with sheer horror that these were not Lorenzo's men.
They were Vitiello family soldiers, and they were pointing their weapons directly at Mateo.
