Chapter 6 - The Betrayal in the House
The attack came during a snowstorm.
The residence lights went out at 11:17 p.m.
At 11:18, every phone lost service.
At 11:19, the nursery window shattered.
Lauren woke to Luca screaming.
She ran toward him, but Giovanni reached the room first. He covered Luca with his body as glass sprayed across the floor.
Outside, gunfire cracked through the snow.
Giovanni’s security team returned fire.
“Take Luca!” Giovanni shouted.
Lauren grabbed the baby, wrapping him in a blanket.
Matteo appeared in the hallway.
“This way,” he said. “The safe room.”
Lauren followed him.
Then Giovanni’s voice thundered behind them.
“Lauren, stop!”
Too late.
Matteo pulled a gun.
Not at the attackers.
At Lauren.
She froze.
Luca whimpered against her chest.
Matteo’s face was filled with something worse than hatred.
Envy.
“Do you know how long I’ve waited for him to lose?” Matteo asked. “Giovanni took everything. Every deal. Every alliance. Every ounce of respect.”
“You betrayed him for Elena?”
“I betrayed him for myself.”
Giovanni stepped into the hall, blood on his sleeve.
“Let them go, Matteo.”
Matteo smiled. “You finally found something you can’t buy back.”
For one breathless moment, everyone stood still.
Then Luca began crying.
The sound startled Matteo.
Lauren drove her elbow backward with everything she had.
The gun fell.
Giovanni moved faster than she thought possible.
Within seconds, Matteo was on the floor, disarmed and bleeding.
Giovanni did not kill him.
Lauren saw the choice in his eyes.
The old Giovanni might have.
But Luca was watching.
So Giovanni turned Matteo over to the police.
Elena escaped before authorities could find her.
But she had lost her inside man.
And Giovanni had nearly lost his son.
That night, he held Luca for hours.
Lauren sat beside him.
“I can’t live this way,” she whispered.
Giovanni looked at her.
“Then I’ll change it.”
“You can’t change your past.”
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“No,” he said. “But I can choose what happens next.”
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