Chapter 8
422words
"Alright."
We rushed downstairs, only to find the living room had already turned into a battlefield.
Armed men from the Valerys sprayed gunfire wildly with submachine guns. Our soldiers took cover behind couches and pillars, firing back.
Blood splattered across the walls and floor. The air was thick with gun smoke and the stench of iron.
"Mamma, cover me. I'm taking out their boss!" Fabrizio said.
With both guns in hand, he rolled behind a couch and dropped two enemies with clean shots.
I braced myself at the staircase landing and raised my sidearm. Drawing on the tactical instincts from my years leading the family, I locked onto a sniper at a second-floor window and pulled the trigger.
The bullet tore through the air, and the sniper fell instantly.
"The Donna's back!"
The soldiers downstairs roared in excitement when they saw me fire, their morale surging.
The Valerys' Don, Roberto Valery, spotted me, his eyes turning bloodshot. "Liliana Medici! I'll kill you to avenge my daughter's death!"
He lifted a rocket launcher and aimed it straight at the staircase.
Fabrizio's pupils shrank. "Mamma, watch out!"
I twisted aside just in time. The rocket slammed into the railing, sending chunks of stone flying. Fabrizio seized the opening and fired, the bullet punching clean through Roberto's shoulder.
"Get him!" Fabrizio roared. Enzo and several soldiers lunged forward at once, slamming the wounded Roberto to the ground.
With their leader taken down, the Valery men fell into instant chaos.
Fabrizio and I fought back to back, both guns blazing, every shot finding its mark.
As I looked over the battlefield, it felt as if I had been thrown back ten years, to the night I led the family in driving off rival gangs. The blood in my veins burned with the thrill of combat.
"For the family!" I shouted, firing a final shot straight through the last enemy's chest.
When the fighting ended, bodies covered the villa floor, and smoke still hung in the air.
Every Valery gunman was dead. Roberto was chained to a pillar, baring his teeth in pain.
Fabrizio stepped in front of him and looked down coldly. "When Giovanna hurt my mother, she should've seen this coming."
Roberto tried to talk back, but Enzo smashed a fist into his face, knocking teeth loose.
Fabrizio turned to Enzo and gave a calm order. "Take him to the docks. Deal with him as you did with Giovanna. Make him shark feed."
