Chapter 26 - THE FURY OF THE KITCHEN
Marco didn't look like a tired restaurateur anymore. He looked like the frontline enforcer of a Brooklyn empire, his shirtsleeves rolled up to his shoulders, his arms gleaming with sweat under the emergency lights, gripping a heavy cast-iron skillet like a medieval war club.
The lead intruder whipped around, trying to swing his pistol toward the hallway, but he was half a second too slow.
Vince moved with terrifying, blinding speed. In one fluid motion, he hurled the heavy chef's knife across the room. It whistled through the air, burying itself deep into the doorframe right beside the gunman's ear, splintering the wood and freezing him in sheer, unadulterated terror.
At the same time, Marco charged into the office like a freight train, slamming his massive shoulder directly into the second intruder. The man with the crowbar went flying backward, crashing hard against the filing cabinets and scattering folders, paperclips, and tax forms across the floor in a chaotic white storm.
"Get down, Lily!" Marco bellowed, swinging the cast-iron skillet in a wide, vicious arc that caught the first intruder square in the ribs, sending him crashing into the drywall with a sickening thud.
The man collapsed to his knees, gasping for air, his pistol clattering across the floorboards and sliding right under Lily’s desk.
Lily didn't hesitate. She dropped to her knees, snatched the pistol off the floor, and scrambled backward until her spine hit the filing cabinet. She pointed the heavy black weapon straight at the men gasping for breath on the floor, her hands shaking uncontrollably, but her eyes locked with a cold, absolute determination.
"Try to move," Lily said, her voice shaking but crystal clear, "and I'll show you what my mother really did with the trash."
Vince walked over, picking up his chef's knife from the splintered doorframe and wiping the blade clean on a cloth he pulled from his coat pocket. He looked down at the two groaning men with absolute disdain.
May you like
"Marco," Vince said calmly, not taking his eyes off the thugs. "Call the District Attorney. Tell him the 1994 cold case files are ready to be reopened. And tell him we have two very cooperative guests who want to confess who hired them."
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