Chapter 7 - THE RAIN ON THE BALCONY
The air left my lungs in a violent rush.
"Lily!" I screamed, the sound tearing my throat.
I scrambled around the mattress, throwing my cheap clothes aside, frantically checking under the bed. Nothing. The room was entirely empty.
Adrian spun around from the hallway, his face instantly draining of color. "Where is she?"
I pointed a shaking hand toward the open balcony doors at the end of the long corridor.
Carlo Bellini was standing out in the rain, the small pink coat dangling from his massive fist. The old mob boss had recovered from Adrian’s blow just long enough to slip into the room during the chaos of the fight, grab Lily while she was hiding in the shadows, and drag her outside.
Adrian didn't speak. The calculated mob boss vanished entirely, replaced by a father operating purely on primal terror.
He sprinted down the hallway, raising his gun.
I was right behind him, my heart hammering a frantic, agonizing rhythm against my ribs.
We burst through the sheer curtains and out onto the sprawling stone balcony.
The storm had fully broken over the estate. Freezing rain lashed against my face, instantly soaking my black dress.
Carlo was backing toward the edge of the stone balustrade, dragging Lily with his left arm wrapped tightly around her neck. In his right hand, he held a heavy silver revolver, pressed directly against the side of the little girl’s head.
Lily wasn't crying anymore. She was frozen in absolute terror, the heavy rain pasting her dark hair to her pale cheeks, her small hands clawing desperately at Carlo’s massive arm.
"Stop right there, Adrian!" Carlo bellowed over the sound of the thunder, his voice raw and desperate.
Adrian stopped dead, five feet away from the barrel of the gun. He lowered his weapon slightly, his chest heaving, rain dripping from his jaw.
"Let her go, Carlo," Adrian said, his voice terrifyingly calm despite the storm raging inside him. "You have lost. Marcus is broken. Victoria is tied up. My men are sweeping the grounds. Your empire ends tonight."
Carlo laughed, a wet, hacking sound. "I built this city, boy! You think a few security guards and a broken lieutenant are going to finish me? I am Carlo Bellini!"
"You are a coward hiding behind a child!" I screamed, stepping up beside Adrian. The fear was completely gone, burned away by a fierce, maternal rage. "You killed her mother! You killed my mother! Let her go!"
Carlo glared at me, the rain washing the blood from the side of his head where Adrian had struck him.
"The maid," Carlo sneered. "I should have known Rosa’s bastard would cause problems. You are just like your mother. Stubborn and stupid. She thought a little ledger could bring down my family. She died for nothing."
"She died protecting Isabella’s legacy!" I yelled back, stepping forward.
"Emily, stop," Adrian warned softly, throwing his left arm out to hold me back. "He has the gun."
"If you want to leave this estate alive, Carlo," Adrian said, shifting his focus back to the older man, "you take that gun off my daughter's head. You walk to the staircase. I will let you get in your car and drive away."
Carlo’s eyes narrowed. He looked past us, back into the hallway, realizing that the sirens of approaching police cars were beginning to wail in the distance. Adrian’s security had made the call.
The old mob boss realized he was trapped.
And desperate men with nothing to lose are the most dangerous animals on earth.
"I'm not going to prison, Adrian," Carlo said, his grip tightening around Lily’s neck. "And I'm not leaving without leverage. Put the gun down. Kick it over here. Or I pull the trigger and we both watch your legacy end tonight."
Adrian didn't hesitate. He didn't try to negotiate.
He slowly knelt, placing his suppressed pistol on the wet stone floor of the balcony. With a gentle push, he slid the weapon across the stone.
It stopped right at Carlo’s expensive leather shoes.
"Now let her go," Adrian demanded, his hands raised in the air.
Carlo smiled. It was an ugly, soulless expression.
He didn't bend down to pick up Adrian's gun. He kept his silver revolver pressed against Lily’s temple.
"You always were too soft for this life, Adrian," Carlo mocked, rain dripping from his nose. "Isabella made you weak. The kid makes you weaker. I'm going to do you a favor. I'm going to cut the dead weight."
He thumbed back the hammer of the revolver.
The metallic click was the loudest sound in the world.
Adrian surged forward, a roar of pure agony tearing from his throat, ready to take a bullet to save his child.
But I was closer.
I didn't think about the gun. I didn't think about dying. I only thought about the little girl who had asked me if her mommy still remembered her.
I threw myself sideways, diving directly into the space between Carlo’s gun and Lily’s head.
The world exploded in a blinding flash of fire and deafening noise.
The force of the gunshot felt like a sledgehammer slamming into my left shoulder. It spun me violently in the air, knocking me backward onto the wet stone floor.
Pain, hot and blinding, ripped through my upper chest.
But through the ringing in my ears, I heard something else.
I heard Lily scream, free from Carlo’s grip.
And I heard the sickening, bone-crunching sound of Adrian Moretti colliding with Carlo Bellini.
I clutched my shoulder, blood instantly soaking my black dress, mixing with the freezing rain. I forced my head up, fighting through the agonizing wave of nausea.
Adrian wasn't fighting like a man anymore. He was a force of nature.
He had hit Carlo so hard the older man dropped the revolver. Adrian grabbed Carlo by the lapels of his ruined suit and hoisted him off his feet, slamming him backward into the heavy stone balustrade.
The stone cracked under the impact.
Carlo gasped, his eyes wide with shock and pain.
Adrian drew his arm back, his fist a solid block of muscle and bone, and delivered a single, devastating punch directly to Carlo’s jaw.
The old mob boss’s eyes rolled back in his head. He crumpled to the wet stone floor like a broken puppet, completely unconscious.
Adrian stood over him, chest heaving, his hands covered in blood.
He looked down at the man who had destroyed his family, the man who had almost taken his daughter. For a second, I thought Adrian was going to pick up the gun and finish it.
Instead, Adrian turned away from him.
He dropped to his knees beside me, his fierce, terrifying face completely breaking apart with panic.
"Emily," Adrian choked out, his large hands frantically pressing against my bleeding shoulder, trying to stop the flow of blood. "Emily, look at me. Stay awake. Keep your eyes on me."
I tried to smile, but it felt weak. My vision was blurring at the edges, the cold rain feeling strangely warm against my skin.
"Lily..." I whispered, my voice barely working.
"I'm here!" a tiny voice cried out.
Lily dropped to her knees in the puddles beside me, her small hands gently touching my face, her tears mixing with the rain. "You saved me, Emily. You saved me."
I looked at the little girl, entirely unharmed, completely safe.
"I promised," I managed to say, the pain in my shoulder pulsing with my fading heartbeat. "I promised I wouldn't let them hurt you."
Adrian gripped my uninjured hand, his dark eyes filled with an emotion so powerful it overwhelmed the pain.
May you like
"Hold on, Emily," Adrian pleaded, his voice breaking. "The paramedics are coming. You are not going to die. You are part of this family now. I won't let you go."
I squeezed his hand back, the sirens growing louder, the red and blue lights finally breaking through the storm, illuminating the dark estate with the promise of tomorrow.
