Chapter 8 - The Breach of Blood
The morning of the wedding arrived under an oppressive, steel-gray sky that promised a blizzard.
The ceremony was not taking place in a cathedral in Manhattan. Following Marco's confession before his demise, Gabriel had discovered that Salvatore Moretti had pooled all his resources, hiring a mercenary outfit from Eastern Europe to launch a final, desperate strike to decapitate the Rossi family before the Commission could intervene.
Gabriel had turned the Adirondack estate into a kill-box.
"We don't leave," Gabriel had told his lieutenants at dawn. "We let them come. We end this on our ground."
The chapel was a small, private stone sanctuary built on the estate grounds a century prior, surrounded by bulletproof glass and heavy wrought-iron gates. There were no guests. No society reporters. Only fifty heavily armed Rossi soldiers ringing the perimeter, Leo sitting quietly in the front pew in his small tuxedo, and an elderly priest whose hands shook as he held the open bible.
Sarah stood at the altar wearing a gown of heavy, midnight-black velvet.
It was an unconventional choice, but it was hers. Black for the blood that had been spilled; velvet to absorb the cold of the coming storm. Her brown hair was pinned up with antique diamond pins, and around her right wrist remained Leo's frayed red silk ribbon.
Gabriel stood beside her, clad in a black three-piece suit, an obsidian signet ring gleaming on his right hand.
"Do you, Gabriel Rossi, take this woman—" the priest stammered.
"Skip to the end, Father," Gabriel interrupted smoothly, his eyes never leaving Sarah’s face. "She knows what she is taking on. And I know what I will kill to keep."
The priest swallowed hard, wiped his brow, and turned to Sarah. "Do you, Sarah Jenkins, take this man to be your lawful wedded husband, in sickness and in health, until death do you part?"
Sarah looked into Gabriel's slate eyes. She saw the darkness, the ruthless violence, but beneath it all, she saw the man who had stayed by her bedside for four days, who had gently dressed her wounds, and who loved his son with an animal ferocity.
"I do," Sarah said, her voice clear and unbroken.
Gabriel took the platinum wedding band, heavy with diamonds, and slid it onto her finger, locking it in place beneath the emerald engagement ring. He leaned down, took her mouth in a searing, possessive kiss that made the stone walls around them disappear.
*BOOM.*
The earth shook.
A deafening explosion tore through the silence of the forest. The heavy stained-glass windows of the chapel rattled violently against their lead frames. Sirens began to wail across the fifty-acre estate.
Dante kicked the heavy oak doors open, an automatic rifle slung across his chest. "Don Gabriel! They breached the southern tree line! Three armored transports! They took out the outer gate with an anti-tank charge!"
Leo gasped, sliding off the pew and scrambling toward Sarah.
Sarah scooped him up into her arms instantly, holding him against her chest, the memory of the sunroom exploding in her mind with terrifying clarity.
Gabriel didn't panic. His expression turned to pure, frozen obsidian. He turned to Sarah, cupping the back of her neck with one hand.
"Dante takes you and Leo to the panic room beneath the wine cellar," Gabriel commanded. "Six-inch hardened steel. Air filtration. Nothing gets through it."
"No," Sarah said, gripping his lapels. "You're going out there."
"This ends today, Sarah," Gabriel said, leaning down and pressing his forehead against hers. "I promised Leo I would bring you back. Now I promise you... I am coming back to you. Be my wife. Keep our son safe."
He kissed Leo’s forehead, then turned to Dante. "If a single scratch touches either of them, Dante, shoot yourself before I find you."
"On my mother's soul, boss," Dante swore.
May you like
Gabriel turned and walked out into the falling snow, drawing two modified handguns from his coat, his soldiers falling in behind him like a pack of starving wolves.
***
