Chapter 4 - The Sound of Silence
Lorenzo did not turn around.
He recognized the distinct sound of a suppressed pistol being aimed at the back of his head.
"Fifteen years, Marco," Lorenzo said, his voice terrifyingly calm in the pitch-black security room.
"How much did the Romano family pay you to forget fifteen years of loyalty?"
"Enough to buy my own island," Marco replied, stepping closer.
"Nothing personal, Lorenzo, but your hearing is going, and a deaf Don is a dead Don."
Lorenzo closed his eyes, using his right ear to track Marco's exact position on the hardwood floor.
His left ear was completely useless now, a permanent casualty of Serena's slow-acting poison.
He waited for the heavy scuff of Marco's leather shoe.
When Marco shifted his weight to fire, Lorenzo dropped to the floor and swept his leg backward.
The suppressed gun fired with a muffled cough, shattering the computer monitor above Lorenzo's head.
Lorenzo drove his elbow upward, catching Marco violently in the ribs.
The larger man collapsed, dropping the weapon as Lorenzo pinned him to the ground by his throat.
"Who else?" Lorenzo demanded, pressing his thumb directly into Marco's windpipe.
"Who else is working for Serena?"
Marco gasped for air, his face turning purple under Lorenzo's iron grip.
"Everyone," Marco wheezed, spitting blood onto the floor.
"Your drivers, your cooks, your captains... they all know you're weak, Lorenzo."
Lorenzo’s stomach plummeted as he realized the true scale of the conspiracy.
He wasn't just fighting his fiancée; he was standing alone against his entire empire.
He knocked Marco unconscious with a swift strike to the temple, dragging his body into a storage closet.
Lorenzo knew he could not stay in the main house tonight.
He made his way down to the underground bunker where he had hidden Maria and Leo.
When he opened the heavy steel door, he found the silent toddler sitting on the floor, playing with a set of keys.
Maria was frantically pacing the room, looking terrified.
"He won't give them to me," Maria whispered, pointing at her son.
Lorenzo knelt down, looking at the heavy brass keys in the boy's tiny hands.
They were not the keys to the bunker.
They were the keys to Lorenzo's armored car, which he always kept locked in a biometric safe upstairs.
Leo looked up at Lorenzo, pointing a chubby finger toward the ceiling.
May you like
Suddenly, the reinforced ceiling of the bunker shook violently.
The deafening sound of a massive explosion rocked the estate, throwing Lorenzo to the floor.
