Chapter 7 - The Bloodline Debt
"They tracked the auxiliary transponder," Matteo cursed under his breath, drawing a ceramic knife from his boot and stepping toward the communications console. He severed the main power cables with two vicious cuts, plunging the cottage into shadowed gloom illuminated only by the gray storm light outside.
The front door opened quietly, and Luca, the lead guard, slid inside with a grim expression. "Three minutes, boss. Advanced recon team. They aren't Russian. It's the Castiglione family."
Matteo froze, his eyes narrowing to razor slits. "Castiglione? My uncle wouldn't dare."
"He just did," Luca whispered. "Word came over the encrypted channel before they jammed us. Don Castiglione declared you unfit to lead the syndicate after Sophia died. He called the Council. He claims you're burning the family's assets out of grief."
Elena backed away, shielding Mia who was beginning to stir again. "Your own family is hunting you?"
Matteo didn't look at her. He moved to an iron gun safe set into the stone floor, hauling out two customized semi-automatic pistols and an ammunition crate. "In our world, Elena, blood is either currency or a liability. When my wife died, I withdrew from the syndicates. I refused to let Mia grow up in the filth of the cartels. They see my retreat as weakness. And weakness invites the wolves."
He racked the slide of one pistol and extended it handle-first toward Elena.
Elena stared at the cold steel. "No. I’m a nanny, not a killer."
"You're whatever Mia needs you to be to survive the next ten minutes," Matteo growled, grabbing her wrist and forcing the heavy grip into her palm. "Finger off the trigger until you intend to end a life. If they breach the back room, shoot anything that walks through that door that isn't me."
A sharp clatter echoed from the cottage roof. Someone was already up there.
Matteo turned toward Luca. "Take the west blind. Don't let them pin us down."
Luca nodded and slipped through the side window like a ghost.
May you like
Matteo leaned down, looking directly into Elena’s panicked eyes. For a fraction of a second, his rough palm cupped the back of her neck, an anchor in the howling storm. "Trust me, Elena. Keep her safe. That's all I need."
Then he was out the door, into the rain, leaving Elena in the suffocating shadows with a heavy firearm and a waking, terrified child.
