Chapter 7 - Through the Frozen Woods
The concussion of the flashbang threw Julian’s men into chaotic swearing and temporary blindness. Dante slammed the thick oak servant’s door shut, sliding a heavy steel security bolt into place.
"Move! Down the stairs!" Dante ordered, grabbing Elena’s arm to steady her as they raced down the steep spiral stone steps.
Sophie was crying silently, her face buried so deep into Elena’s neck that she could barely breathe. Elena ran like she had never run before, her feet slipping slightly on the cold stone, driven by pure maternal adrenaline.
At the bottom of the stairs, they burst into a concrete maintenance tunnel under the manor. The air was cold and damp, smelling of earth and old iron. Pipes ran along the low ceiling.
"Where does this go?" Elena panted, her breath blooming in white clouds.
"It leads to the old carriage house in the woods, three hundred yards past the estate wall," Dante said, pacing quickly ahead of them with his gun raised, checking every shadow. "Marco kept a secondary vehicle hidden there."
Behind them, high up the stairwell, a loud metallic thud echoed. Julian’s men were breaching the oak door.
"They're coming," Elena whispered, terror gripping her chest.
"They won't catch us," Dante said. He pulled a heavy iron lever on the wall. A steel blast door began to slide slowly down from the ceiling, sealing the tunnel behind them with a loud, final grinding sound.
Dante turned to Elena. In the dim emergency lights of the tunnel, his dark eyes were burning with a fierce intensity. "Listen to me, Elena. Once we reach the carriage house, I'm driving you to a safe house in Rhode Island. You and Sophie will be clear of Boston by sunrise."
"What about you?" Elena asked, her heart dropping.
"I have to go back," Dante said simply. "Boston is my city. If I run, Donati wins, and you will never be truly safe. The only way you and Sophie ever live a normal life is if Julian Donati and Victor Hail are wiped out tonight."
Elena looked at this man—a mafia boss, a killer, a legend of the underworld—who was risking his entire empire for a promise he had overheard in a break room.
"Dante," she said softly, touching his arm. "Don't die."
Dante looked down at her hand on his sleeve. For a split second, the cold, murderous wall around his heart seemed to crack. He reached up, his large, warm hand covering hers.
"I won't," he whispered. "I have a promise to keep."
They reached the end of the tunnel. Dante pushed open a hidden trapdoor concealed under an old rug, and cold, fresh blizzard air rushed into their lungs.
They emerged inside a dilapidated wooden barn. Snow was sifting through the cracks in the roof. Parked in the center of the wooden floor was a matte-black pickup truck with heavy snow tires.
Dante rushed to the driver’s side, throwing the door open. "Get in!"
Elena scrambled into the passenger seat, hauling Sophie in beside her. The truck engine roared to life with a deep, powerful rumble.
Just as Dante put the truck into drive, the barn doors burst open.
Headlights blindingly cut through the dark snow outside. A massive black SUV slammed into the front of the carriage house, splintering the wooden walls.
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Victor Hail stepped out of the passenger side of the SUV, holding an assault rifle, a maniacal grin on his face.
"Did you really think you could outrun us on Christmas Eve, Mr. Moretti?" Victor shouted over the roar of the engines.
