Chapter 82: "There You Are"
Gael Sartori stood in the center of the mezzanine office overlooking the meatpacking facility, perched atop a chair as though the position of Don already belonged to him.
His subordinates surrounded him in tense silence, every face taut with anticipation.
They all understood the significance of the coming hours. Before the night was over, Caio Sartori would walk through those doors, and every man in the room believed they would witness the end of House Sartori’s reigning Don.
"Remember," Gael said, sweeping a sharp gaze across the assembled men. "The instant you see him step inside, I want every gun in this building pointed at him."
A slow smile spread across his face.
"Do not hesitate. Don’t give him a single second to think, to react, or even to understand what’s happening. Before he even realizes he’s walked into a trap, I want him full of bullets."
A chorus of acknowledgements answered him.
"Yes, Boss."
"Everything’s in position, Boss," another man assured him confidently. "We’ve stationed gunmen inside and outside the facility. There’s no way he’s walking out of here alive."
Gael nodded with quiet satisfaction.
"I expect nothing less. Serve me well tonight, and every one of you will receive the highest rank once I become Don."
His smile widened.
"Now go. Ready your men."
The gathered soldiers nodded and turned toward the office door. They had barely taken two steps before the massive entrance to the facility exploded open with a deafening metallic crash.
BANG!
Every head snapped toward the sound.
A guard stumbled inside, nearly tripping over his own boots. His face had gone deathly pale, his breathing ragged from sprinting.
"Boss!" he shouted. "Caio Sartori’s men are flooding the Moretti District! Full mobilization! They’re heading this way at full speed!"
The thick glass surrounding the mezzanine office dulled his voice into little more than frantic muffled shouting, but the meaning reached everyone with perfect clarity.
Every face in the room drained of color.
Gael’s own expression twisted violently.
’Has that bastard completely lost his mind?!’
’Does he not give a damn whether the Lombardi girl lives or dies?’
He launched himself off the chair, then stormed to the window.
"Call Daria!" he roared. "Tell her to bring the Lombardi girl here! Now!"
The guard looked as though he wanted the floor to swallow him whole.
"We already tried, Boss!" he shouted back. "Nobody on Daria’s team is answering their phones! We contacted the men stationed over there..." He swallowed hard. "...their entire position has been overrun!"
Silence crashed over the office.
A suffocating, icy silence.
Gael gripped the metal window frame so hard his knuckles turned white.
"Goddamn it!"
He slammed a fist into the frame.
"How is that even possible?! How the fuck did they figure out we were keeping the girl there?"
The room erupted into overlapping voices.
"Boss, we’ve got to deal with Caio first!"
"There’s no time to worry about Daria’s side!"
"Do we engage or fall back?"
Gael rounded on them, fury blazing in his eyes.
"You actually need to ask?!"
He jabbed a finger toward the sprawling factory floor below.
"Engage! Full force! I am killing that goddamn bastard tonight!"
At once, the men roared back.
"Yes, Boss!"
"Right away, Boss!"
The room exploded into motion. Men poured through the office doors, shouting orders before they had even reached the stairs. Below the mezzanine, the entire facility came alive.
Commands echoed through the processing floor.
Weapons were distributed.
Magazines slammed into rifles.
Left alone at the observation window, Gael stared out over the chaos below, his jaw clenched so tightly it ached.
’What the fuck happened at the water treatment facility?!’
’How did everything go wrong?’
’Why does Caio Sartori always slip through my fingers?!’
The questions battered his mind without mercy. His carefully orchestrated plan was unraveling before his eyes, thread by thread. Yet beneath the rage, another instinct rose to the surface.
Survival.
No matter how badly he wanted Caio Sartori dead, revealing himself tonight would be a catastrophic mistake.
’No.’
’I can’t let him know it was me.’
’If he learns everything... then it’s over.’
’I have to stay alive. I can always kill him another day.’
The realization settled over him with bitter clarity. Without another glance toward the battle preparations below, Gael turned on his heel and strode out of the office — not toward the factory floor, but toward the rear corridor leading to the emergency exit.
’They’ll keep Caio occupied long enough for me to disappear,’ he thought grimly, shoving through the heavy rear doors. ’By the time he realizes I’m gone... I’ll already be miles away.’
With that in mind, his pace quickened into a near run.
Downstairs, Gael’s men — completely oblivious to the fact that their boss had already abandoned them — never even got the chance to push outside and retaliate. The moment weapons were drawn and magazines checked, the shriek of tires echoed from beyond the front entrance.
Engines died.
Car doors slammed in rapid succession.
Heavy boots thundered across the cracked concrete outside before frantic shouting erupted through the abandoned facility.
"Caio’s men are here!" one of the sentries yelled. "The front entrance—"
He never made it back inside.
BANG!
A single shot punched through his skull, dropping him lifeless in the doorway before the warning had fully left his mouth.
The entire building exploded into chaos.
"Engage! Engage! Engage!"
"Kill them!"
BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!
CRACK! CRACK! CRACK!
Pistol fire, rifle bursts, splintering concrete, and shattering glass merged into one deafening roar.
The defenders barely managed to establish firing positions before the entrance doors burst inward under the assault. Caio’s capos led the breach without hesitation, their soldiers flooding through the opening in waves.
The first defenders were cut down almost instantly, collapsing into pools of blood before they could mount any meaningful resistance.
To their credit, Gael’s men refused to surrender. They fought desperately, using the maze of industrial equipment and hanging rails as cover, pouring everything they had into slowing the advance...
Until the balance shifted.
House Sartori’s numbers simply overwhelmed them.
The defenders began to break.
"Retreat! Retreat!"
"Where’s the boss?"
"Get upstairs! Protect him!"
Several men scrambled toward the mezzanine office, desperately hoping to regroup around Gael. They burst through the office doors—
And stopped cold.
The room was empty.
For one stunned heartbeat, nobody spoke...
Until someone barked a bitter curse.
"Goddamn it!..."
"He abandoned us!"
Panic spread among the men faster than gunfire.
"Retreat! Retreat!"
They spun around to flee, but it was already too late. Caio’s men surged up the stairs behind them.
BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!
Rounds tore through the office, painting the thick glass walls with crimson.
Bodies crashed across polished flooring, and the last resistance on the mezzanine collapsed beneath the barrage.
One of the Sartori capos immediately lifted his communicator.
"Boss," he reported evenly, "Gael Sartori isn’t here. First wave is cleared. Remaining teams are sweeping the rest of the facility."
Outside, parked beyond the main entrance, Caio remained inside the lead vehicle with Leo.
He watched the battle unfold through the windshield, his expression unreadable as flashes of gunfire reflected across the glass.
Leo pressed a hand to his radio.
"Status on the rear exit?"
"Not there yet, sir," came the reply through bursts of static. "We’re still clearing our way around. High probability he escaped through the back."
Leo turned toward Caio.
"Orders, Boss? Do we intercept at the rear gate?"
Caio studied the sprawling industrial complex for another second, then nodded once.
"Send pursuit vehicles around back and sweep the rear compound. Take a few cars with us. If he comes out, we’ll intercept him ourselves."
"At once, Boss."
Leo immediately relayed the orders.
The convoy split apart almost instantly.
Several vehicles peeled away to force a path through the rear service roads while Caio’s column accelerated around the perimeter.
Moments later, as they rounded the final corner, a black SUV burst through the rear gates and shot down the broken street.
A cold smile tugged at Caio’s mouth.
"There goes my cousin," he murmured. "Running exactly like the rat he is."
"Full speed," Leo ordered. "Catch them. Don’t let that vehicle disappear."
The driver buried the accelerator.
"Yes, sir."
Inside the fleeing SUV, Gael glanced into the rearview mirror.
The line of black Sartori vehicles growing larger behind him made every muscle in his body tighten.
"Dammit!" he barked. "Fire! Fire at them!"
The men crammed into the back immediately rolled down the windows, leaning out with rifles braced against the frames.
BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!
Rounds hammered violently into the lead pursuit vehicle. The windshield bloomed with white spiderweb cracks, but the reinforced glass held.
Naturally, Caio had no intention of simply absorbing the attack.
"Let’s see whose windows give out first," he said, a merciless smile touching his lips. He disengaged the safety on his pistol and lowered his own window.
"Careful, Boss," Leo warned, already drawing his weapon beside him.
Both men leaned out as the pursuing vehicles behind them joined the barrage.
BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!
The return fire was overwhelming.
Unable to withstand the hail of bullets, Gael’s gunmen ducked back inside.
The rear windshield continued to absorb the punishment. Soon, one crack became dozens, until the entire pane whitened like fractured ice before finally exploding inward.
KRASHHHH!
"Aaaaarghh!"
Glass erupted throughout the cabin.
Before anyone could recover—
BANG! BANG! BANG!
Three rounds ripped through the opening, killing both rear passengers almost instantly.
Blood sprayed across the interior, splattering the seats, the ceiling, and Gael’s immaculate suit. He ducked instinctively as hot crimson spattered across his face, anger and fear detonating through him.
"DAMMIT!" he roared. "Drive! Faster!"
The driver gritted his teeth.
"I’m trying, Boss! I’m already—"
BANG!
The sentence ended with a bullet punching cleanly through his skull.
Blood exploded across the dashboard.
For one frozen second, Gael simply stared. Until he realized the SUV no longer had anyone controlling it.
"Fuck... fuck!"
He lunged across the dead driver, wrenching the steering wheel with both hands while trying to keep the vehicle from rolling.
The SUV fishtailed violently before he forced it around the next intersection, cutting sharply into another street and briefly breaking the pursuers’ line of sight.
Several car lengths behind, Caio slammed a fresh magazine into his pistol.
"Faster," he ordered coldly. "Don’t let him disappear."
The driver clenched his jaw.
"I’m already pushing it, Boss. These roads are absolute garbage."
"I’m aware."
Caio’s gaze swept over the decaying streets, immediately recognizing the problem.
Broken pavement.
Collapsed shoulders.
Abandoned infrastructure.
It wasn’t neglect alone. House Moretti had allowed their territory to rot on purpose. Anything that slowed ordinary traffic would also slow an invading force.
Caio’s car drifted hard through another corner, tires screaming against broken asphalt, but the SUV had already widened the gap.
"Speed up!" Leo barked. "He’s almost at the next turn!"
"I’m trying, sir!"
Several buildings away, high above the chase, a lone figure watched the convoy through the optics of a precision rifle.
Aren settled comfortably behind the weapon, one eye closed while the other remained fixed on the scope.
’There you are.’
The crosshairs found Gael’s face through the shattered windshield. She held the sight there for several seconds.
’Should I kill him now?’
’...Or should I leave him for Don Caio?’
The question lingered only briefly before a faint smile touched her lips.
’Hmm.’
’Maybe I’ll leave him for Don Caio.’
The crosshair drifted downward until it settled on the SUV’s front tire.
Her breathing slowed.
Her finger tightened against the trigger.
THOOM!
