Chapter 69 - Bloodline Protocol
"Who is inside?" Vincent demanded, his weapon drawn in a fraction of a second, his stance shifting into that of a combat veteran.
"The Black Vane syndicate," Salvatore replied, wiping blood from his cheek with the back of his sleeve. "They didn't come to assault the gates. They entered through the old drainage catacombs beneath the wine cellar. They know the layout of *La Roccia* better than my men do."
"Elena," I breathed, the realization striking me like cold water.
Only my mother and my sister had possessed the architectural blueprints of the fortress from when our family helped construct its modern reinforcements in the nineties.
Maya stirred on the bed, whimpering as the red warning lights reflected across the ceiling.
"Mommy...?" she called out, rubbing her eyes in confusion.
"Stay under the blanket, Maya. Put your hands over your ears just like we practiced," I commanded, my voice trembling but firm.
She obeyed instantly, pulling the thick duvet over her head and curling into a tiny, protective ball.
Vincent didn't hesitate. He grabbed my arm, pulling me toward the reinforced door of the panic cell set into the bedroom wall. "You and Maya get inside. It has an independent oxygen supply and armored titanium plating. Nothing short of heavy demolition charges can breach it."
"No," I pulled my arm from his grasp, glaring at him with defiance that surprised even myself. "If Elena is here, she didn't come for an army. She came for the ledger, or she came for me. If you lock us in there, you turn that room into our tomb if your men fall."
"Clara, this is not a negotiation!" Vincent snarled, stepping into my personal space, his eyes flashing with lethal fury. "This fortress is my domain. In this house, my word is law."
"Your domain has been breached in less than forty minutes!" I fired back. "Listen to me! If Elena is leading this strike, she is using a protocol my mother designed—the Bloodline Extraction protocol. If you fight them with brute force, they will detonate the support pillars in the lower foundation. That was the failsafe."
Salvatore’s eyes widened. "Boss... she’s right. When I checked the thermal sensors in the cellar, there were multiple thermite signatures attached to the main foundation arches."
Vincent froze, his mind rapidly recalculating the battlefield. He looked at me, seeing me not just as the mother of his child or an old flame, but as someone who understood the enemy's mind far better than he did.
"What is the objective of the protocol?" Vincent asked, his voice dropping into a razor-sharp whisper.
"It’s an exchange protocol," I said, my heart pounding against my ribs. "In our family’s doctrine, if an asset is trapped inside enemy territory, the strike team does not attempt an extermination. They seize three structural leverage points, isolate the command center, and demand an immediate parley."
Right on cue, the fortress’s internal intercom speaker on the wall crackled to life with static.
A woman's voice echoed through the metal horn—smooth, cool, and undeniably familiar. It was a voice I had mourned for over two thousand days.
May you like
"Good evening, Vincent," Elena’s voice resonated through the suite. "And hello, little sister. I see you’ve brought my niece home at last. Let us save the ammunition, shall we? Bring Maya to the great hall within ten minutes. If you refuse, I collapse the southern wing into the gorge. Let us see if the Moretti empire can survive a two-hundred-foot fall."
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