The Glass Shatters At Table Nine

"She's not going," Lorenzo stated, his voice absolute.

He was pacing the study, frantically making phone calls, only to find Carmela had been telling the truth. His lieutenants weren't answering. His accounts were locked.

"Enzo," Frank said quietly from the armchair. "She has the boy."

"I don't care!" Lorenzo yelled, sweeping a crystal glass off the desk. It shattered against the wall. "I am not trading the woman I love to a monster!"

Elena stood by the window, staring out at the dark lawn. The puppy was whining softly by the door, missing its master.

She looked at the heavy gold ring on her finger.

I will spend every breath I have making sure you are safe, Lorenzo had promised her.

Now it was her turn.

"I have to go," Elena said quietly.

Lorenzo stopped pacing. "No."

"Lorenzo, Leo is six years old," Elena said, turning to face him. "He's terrified. He's alone. She is my mother. She wants me. She won't kill me."

"You don't know her!" Frank pleaded. "Carmela doesn't have a heart, El. She only has ambition. She'll lock you in a gilded cage and use you to control the syndicates."

"I'm not a victim anymore, Dad," Elena said, her voice steady. She walked over to her father's old medical kit, the one she had used to patch him up after the shipyards.

She opened it and pulled out two vials of clear liquid and a syringe.

"I'm a nurse," Elena said, slipping the vials into her pocket. "And I survived seven years on the streets. I know how to play dead, and I know how to strike."

Lorenzo walked over and grabbed her shoulders. "Elena, please."

"You gather whatever men you have left," Elena instructed, looking deep into Lorenzo's desperate blue eyes. "You hit the front gates at exactly midnight. Make as much noise as possible."

"And what will you be doing?" Lorenzo asked, terrified.

"I'll be walking through the front door," Elena said, kissing him hard. "And I'll be bringing our son home."

At 11:45 PM, a black town car pulled up to the massive iron gates of the Costa compound in Queens.

Elena stepped out alone. She wore a simple black dress, her hair pulled back. She held nothing but a small leather purse.

Two armed guards patted her down. They didn't find the vials hidden in the lining of her bra.

They escorted her into a lavish, marble-floored foyer.

Standing at the top of a sweeping staircase was a woman who looked exactly like an older, sharper version of Elena.

Carmela Costa smiled. "My beautiful girl."

Elena didn't smile back. "Where is Leo?"

"In the drawing-room, eating ice cream," Carmela said, descending the stairs. "He is perfectly safe. As long as you understand your new reality."

"Which is?" Elena asked coldly.

"You are a Costa," Carmela said, reaching out to touch Elena's cheek. Elena flinched away. "You will divorce Moretti. You will take my name. And together, we will rule this city."

"And if I refuse?"

Carmela’s smile vanished. "Then I will send Lorenzo his nephew in pieces."

Suddenly, a massive explosion shook the compound walls.

The heavy front doors rattled. Gunfire erupted outside.

Lorenzo had arrived.

"He's early," Elena noted softly.

Carmela’s eyes flashed with rage. "Kill him!" she screamed at her guards. "Kill them all!"

As the guards rushed toward the front doors, distracted by the assault, Elena moved.

She didn't run toward the door. She ran toward her mother.

Carmela turned, surprised, but Elena was faster.

She grabbed Carmela’s arm, pulled her close, and jabbed the needle hidden in her palm directly into her mother’s neck.

Carmela gasped, her eyes going wide. "What did you..."

"Ketamine," Elena whispered fiercely. "Enough to drop a horse. Sweet dreams, Mother."

Carmela’s knees buckled, and she collapsed onto the marble floor, unconscious.

Elena didn't wait. She bolted down the hallway toward the drawing-room.

She kicked the door open.

Leo was sitting on a velvet sofa, crying, surrounded by two guards who were currently looking toward the hallway noise.

Before they could raise their weapons, the massive bay window behind them shattered inward.

Frank Vance swung through the broken glass on a rappelling rope, his silver cane nowhere in sight. He hit the floor rolling, firing two silenced shots that dropped both guards instantly.

"Dad!" Elena cried out.

Frank stood up, wincing, and scooped Leo into his arms. "I told you I wasn't sitting this one out, kid."

The front doors of the compound blew open, taking the hinges off the frame.

Lorenzo Moretti walked in, covered in dust, holding an assault rifle, looking like the God of War.

He saw Elena standing in the hallway, unharmed.

He dropped the rifle and ran to her, burying his face in her neck.

"You're okay," he chanted, over and over. "You're okay."

"We got him, Enzo," Frank said, walking out of the drawing-room with Leo clinging to his neck.

Lorenzo looked at the unconscious body of Carmela Costa on the floor.

"What do we do with her?" Frank asked darkly.

Elena looked down at the woman who had abandoned her, hunted her, and tried to break her family.

She reached down and pulled the diamond necklace out of her purse. She dropped it onto Carmela’s chest.