Chapter 8 - Ricci Blood
The location was an old shipyard in New Haven.
Victor had chosen it because he knew Matteo would understand the message.
Abandoned docks.
Cold water.
No escape.
Matteo insisted on going alone.
Elena insisted on going with him.
I insisted on going too.
“You are not coming,” Matteo said for the third time.
“Rosie is there.”
“So are my sons.”
“Then you understand.”
He looked at me.
I was shaking.
Not because I was afraid of Victor.
Because I was.
But fear had never been a reason to abandon a child.
Matteo saw that.
Finally, he nodded.
“Stay behind me.”
The shipyard was nearly silent except for waves striking rusted metal.
Victor stood beneath a broken warehouse sign, surrounded by armed men.
He looked like Matteo in the cruelest possible way.
Same dark hair.
Same gray eyes.
But no restraint.
No grief.
No humanity left in his face.
“Elena,” Victor said. “You look terrible.”
Matteo stepped forward. “Let the children go.”
Victor smiled. “You finally learned how to ask.”
Behind him, four children sat inside a locked office with glass windows. Rosie saw me and pressed both hands against the glass.
“Mommy!”
Every instinct in my body screamed to run to her.
But I stayed still.
Victor held up a remote.
“One button,” he said. “The building goes up.”
Matteo’s expression did not change.
“You wouldn’t kill them.”
Victor laughed.
“You still believe blood makes people sacred.”
“Elena is your family.”
“Elena betrayed me.”
“She wanted to save her children.”
“Children are leverage.”
The words made me sick.
Matteo’s hand moved subtly.
His men were hidden nearby.
Victor noticed.
“Don’t,” he warned. “You know I’ll do it.”
Then Elena stepped forward.
“You promised me safety.”
Victor looked at her.
“I promised you survival.”
“You used me.”
“Yes.”
“You used your nephews.”
“Yes.”
His honesty was monstrous.
Elena’s face crumpled.
Victor looked at Matteo. “Father always chose you. Even after you became weak. You got the businesses. You got the respect. You got Elena.”
“I never wanted your life,” Matteo said.
“That’s why you didn’t deserve it.”
Victor raised the remote.
Then Nico did something nobody expected.
He lifted a small object in his hand.
A metal hair clip.
He had been working at the lock.
The door clicked open.
Leo shoved it wide.
Asher grabbed Rosie’s hand.
The children ran.
Victor turned.
Matteo moved.
Gunfire exploded through the warehouse.
I ran toward Rosie.
Matteo reached the boys.
Dante’s team emerged from the shadows.
Victor fired once.
Matteo took the bullet in his side.
Elena screamed.
But before Victor could press the remote, Henry Brandt stepped from behind a shipping container.
He grabbed Victor’s arm.
“You promised no children,” Henry shouted.
Victor spun and shot him.
Henry fell.
The remote slipped from Victor’s hand.
Matteo kicked it away.
Dante tackled Victor to the ground.
Within seconds, the man who had terrorized the Ricci family for years was pinned in handcuffs.
Victor looked at Matteo.
“This doesn’t end because you put cuffs on me.”
Matteo held Rosie close with one arm and his sons with the other.
“No,” he said. “It ends because you no longer control what we become.”
Henry lay bleeding on the floor.
Elena knelt beside him.
“Why?” she whispered.
Henry looked at Matteo.
“I thought I was saving you from him,” he said weakly.
Matteo’s face was hard.
“You were saving yourself.”
Henry closed his eyes.
May you like
And the sound of police sirens filled the shipyard.
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