Chapter 2 - The Screams Beyond The Heavy Oak
The desperate, muffled cry of his seven-year-old daughter ripped through Luca’s chest like a serrated hunting knife.
He didn’t wait for his men to report back from the third floor.
Luca moved with explosive, predatory speed, vaulting over the shattered banquet table and charging toward the sweeping staircase.
The wealthy guests scrambled out of his path like frightened sheep, terrified of being trampled by the enraged syndicate king.
Vanessa tried to shrink back into the shadows beside a towering Roman column, but Luca’s hand shot out like an iron vice.
His fingers clamped violently around her slender wrist, the very wrist adorned with the diamond tennis bracelet he had bought her.
Vanessa let out a shrill gasp of pain as Luca dragged her forward with effortless, terrifying power.
“You are coming with me,” Luca growled, his voice so deep and raspy it sounded demonic.
“Luca, please! You’re hurting me! It was an accident! She was throwing a tantrum!” Vanessa cried, her glamorous mask finally cracking into sheer terror.
Luca didn't respond with words; he simply hauled her up the polished mahogany stairs two steps at a time.
Behind them, Sofia was being helped to her feet by two loyal maids, while the rest of the mansion descended into breathless chaos.
Up on the third floor, the sound of heavy metal striking solid wood reverberated down the long, carpeted corridor.
BANG!
BANG!
Marco and three tactical guards were taking turns slamming a steel battering ram against the reinforced oak door of the old wine vault.
The door was a relic of the mansion’s Prohibition history, reinforced with half-inch steel plates designed to resist federal raids.
Inside, the faint, suffocating sounds of small fists pounding against the cold metal inside the wood could be heard.
“Daddy! I can’t breathe! Daddy, please open it!” Lily’s tiny voice was growing dangerously hoarse and weak.
Luca pushed past his guards, practically hurling Vanessa onto the carpet where she landed in a crumpled heap of emerald silk.
“Move!” Luca roared at his men, grabbing the heavy iron handle with his bare hands.
The electronic deadbolt on the frame was illuminated with a mocking crimson light.
Someone had entered the master security override code and physically disabled the keypad from the outside.
“Give me the key, Vanessa,” Luca said without looking back, his voice dangerously, chillingly calm.
Vanessa scrambled backward on her elbows, shaking her head frantically as mascara ran down her cheeks in dark rivers.
“I… I don't have it, Luca! I swear to God! The housekeeper had it!” Vanessa stammered, lying through her porcelain teeth.
Marco stepped forward, cocking his pistol and pointing it directly at Vanessa’s forehead with dead eyes.
“I watched Miss Sterling visit the hardware wing this afternoon, Boss,” Marco reported coldly.
“She had a custom deadbolt key made from the master mold two days ago.”
Vanessa gasped, her eyes darting between the barrel of Marco’s gun and Luca’s broad, vibrating back.
Luca didn’t wait for her to confess.
He turned back to the reinforced door, his heart hammering against his ribs in a frantic rhythm of paternal desperation.
He reached down to his waistband, drawing his custom matte-black Kimber 1911 pistol.
“Lily! Step away from the door, sweetheart! Step all the way to the back wall!” Luca shouted through the iron seam.
“I’m at the back, Daddy! Hurry! It's so dark!” the little girl cried back, her voice shaking with hypothermic tremors.
Luca didn't hesitate for another second.
He raised the weapon and emptied six high-caliber rounds directly into the locking mechanism and heavy iron hinges.
Sparks flew in blinding showers, the deafening gunshots echoing through the narrow hallway like thunderclaps.
The smell of hot gunpowder and scorched steel instantly filled the air.
With a roar of pure fury, Luca delivered a devastating mule kick directly beside the smoking deadbolt.
CRACK!
The heavy reinforced door tore free from its splintered frame and swung inward into the suffocating darkness of the vault.
A wave of freezing, musty air rolled out into the hallway.
The vault had no windows, no heating vents, and the air intake had been deliberately blocked by a rolled-up wool blanket.
The temperature inside was barely above freezing because the antique refrigeration unit for wine storage had been cranked to maximum.
Luca stepped into the darkness, his weapon lowering as his eyes searched the shadowy corners.
There, curled up in the corner beneath a stack of empty wooden crates, was seven-year-old Lily.
She was wearing only her thin cotton pajamas with cartoon bunnies on them, completely soaked in ice-cold condensation.
Her lips were a terrifying shade of pale blue, and her tiny body was shivering violently.
Clutched in her arms was a tattered, torn teddy bear that had once belonged to her deceased mother.
“Lily…” Luca whispered, his voice cracking with an emotion none of his mafia lieutenants had ever heard from him before.
The ruthless Don of Chicago dropped his gun onto the concrete floor and dropped to his knees.
He scooped the frozen, shivering little girl into his arms, wrapping his thick cashmere tuxedo jacket completely around her tiny frame.
Lily buried her cold face into the crook of her father’s neck, weeping so hard she could barely draw breath.
“Daddy… she said… she said you didn’t want me anymore…” Lily choked out between violent shivers.
“She said you loved her now, and bad little girls have to live in the dark forever…”
Luca held his daughter tighter, closing his eyes as a single, burning tear of pure hatred rolled down his cheek.
He kissed Lily’s frozen forehead, feeling the unnatural chill radiating from her skin.
“Daddy is here, my little angel,” Luca murmured against her hair, his voice vibrating with absolute protection.
“Nobody will ever hurt you again.”
Luca slowly stood up, holding his daughter securely against his chest with his left arm.
He walked out of the vault into the brightly lit hallway, his eyes locking onto Vanessa, who was still trembling on the carpet.
When Vanessa saw the little girl alive, her eyes widened in sheer, unadulterated panic.
Luca looked at his security chief with eyes that promised death.
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“Lock down every exit of this estate,” Luca commanded softly.
“No one enters. No one leaves. And bring that viper downstairs.”
