Chapter 7 - The Resurrection
Vanessa’s smug smile vanished. She stared at the elderly woman standing tall by the bathroom door, the silenced pistol wavering in her grip for the first time. “You’re… you can walk?” Vanessa breathed, genuine shock breaking her icy facade. “I am Sicilian,” Elena said, her voice dripping with venom. “We do not break. We wait.” Sophia stared at Elena in awe. The fragile, wheelchair-bound woman had been a performance. A masterful, year-long act to make her enemies underestimate her while she gathered evidence. Elena held up the cassette tapes. “Do you know what these are, Vanessa? They are the security recordings from my late husband’s yacht. The ones your father paid the harbor master to destroy. But the harbor master was loyal to Carlo, not to your cheap family.” Vanessa’s face went pale. “They clearly record Enzo boarding the boat, administering the poison, and calling you to confirm the job was done,” Elena continued, stepping closer. “I have been waiting for the perfect moment to hand these to the Commission. The Five Families do not look kindly on the assassination of a Don.” “Give them to me,” Vanessa snarled, pointing the gun at Elena. “No,” Dante said. The bedroom door splintered open with a deafening crash. Dante stood in the doorway, his suit jacket discarded, his dress shirt unbuttoned at the collar. He held his own weapon, aimed squarely at Vanessa’s head. “Drop it, Vanessa,” Dante commanded. His voice was absolute ice. Vanessa panicked. She swung her pistol toward Sophia. “Don’t move!” Vanessa screamed. “I’ll kill the waitress! I swear to God, Dante, I’ll blow her heart out!” “If you pull that trigger, Vanessa, your entire bloodline ends tonight,” Dante promised quietly. Suddenly, a heavy thud sounded from the hallway. Enzo backed into the room, his hands raised. Following closely behind him was Anthony Rossi—Sophia’s bruised and battered father—holding Enzo at gunpoint with a heavy revolver. “Dad!” Sophia cried out. “I told you, Soph,” Anthony wheezed, keeping his gun steady on the traitor. “I wasn’t going to let them hurt you again.” Vanessa looked around the room. She was entirely surrounded. Her master plan was unraveling in seconds. With a scream of pure frustration, Vanessa lunged toward the bed, grabbing the glass vial of stroke-inducing poison. She threw it at the marble fireplace. The glass shattered, sending a toxic mist into the air. In the chaos of the distraction, Enzo dropped to the floor, pulling a hidden ankle piece. He aimed directly at Anthony. “No!” Dante shouted. Dante threw himself across the room, tackling Enzo just as the gun went off. A deafening BANG echoed through the bedroom. Sophia screamed as two bodies hit the floor. Enzo lay motionless, Dante’s heavy fist having connected brutally with his temple. But Dante didn’t get up. He rolled onto his back, his hands pressing against his lower abdomen. Blood, dark and rapid, began to soak through his pristine white dress shirt, pooling onto the expensive Persian rug.
