Chapter 9
Rosie
Since Enzo made sure I got some rest a few days ago, things have felt off between us.
I can’t place my finger on what’s changed, though.
I’m halfway through checking that all the trackers are active for every single person in the Cosa Nostra when every monitor in the control room suddenly flashes red.
A frown shoots to my forehead as I mutter, “What the hell?”
At first, I think someone is trying to hack into my system again, and my fingers fly over the keyboard, but then the exterior feeds flood my screens.
Ice pours into my veins, and my mind comes to a screeching halt as I stare at every single security camera showing sedans, Jeeps, and SUVs pulling up around my building.
Oh God!
My heart instantly sets off at a terrifying pace as I watch heavily armed men with balaclavas over their heads pour from the vehicles, spreading out with military precision.
Is it the CIA?
“Shit!” I shriek as I quickly glance over all the camera feeds again. Patching directly into the guards’ communication channel, I shout, “Alessio, we’re under attack! I have no idea who they are.”
“We see them!” he answers immediately, then I hear Raffaele order, “Everyone into defensive positions. If it moves, you kill.”
The next instant, gunfire explodes through the speakers, causing a chill to spread over my body.
This isn’t happening.
The western cameras show Patrick and Andre taking cover behind reinforced barriers while muzzle flashes light up the area.
Andre manages to drop a couple of men before a bullet hits him right in the face.
“Andre!” The horrified scream is torn from me as his blood sprays into the air while his body crumples beside the barrier he was using for cover.
I don’t think this is a government agency.
The realization makes a chill sweep down my spine.
My hands fly up to cover my mouth as I watch Patrick firing shot after shot until an explosion throws him back while smoke and dust fill the air.
“Oh, God. We’ve lost Andre and Patrick,” I tell everyone, my voice hoarse from the shock and panic.
Another feed expands automatically when it picks up a lot of movement, and my heart sinks when I see Alessio dragging Joey behind one of the guard houses while he keeps shouting orders at the others. Jamal and Smoke are trying to stop a group pushing in from the south side.
It all happens so fast. Seconds. I don’t have time to form a coherent thought.
Suddenly, a rocket streaks across the image, and I let out a cry as the impact blasts Raffaele through the air and shakes the building. When his body hits the ground, blood seeps from his head and there’s a black smoldering hole in his gut.
A sob bursts from me as I watch my men go down fast.
“No.” I blink the tears away as I switch between cameras, desperately searching for something that will tell me we’re winning.
But all I see is the enemy killing the men I considered my friends.
The building shudders violently, and all the lights go off while the red emergency ones start strobing.
Shit.Shit.Shit!!!
I finally think to slam the red button, which sends out an alert to everyone in the Cosa Nostra.
FORTRESS COMPROMISED.
Grabbing my central remote and phone, I dart up from my chair and run from the control room.
My phone rings, and seeing Enzo’s name, I try to remain in control of my chaotic emotions while answering and giving as much information as possible.
“I’m under attack. The fortress is surrounded.
Raffaele and most of the guards are down!
I’ve lost half my men in less than two minutes.
Don’t know who’s attacking. Sounds like they’re blasting their way in. ”
As I rush toward the emergency stairs that will take me down to the underground parking area, the building shakes again. Silence stretches between us for a heartbeat before Enzo shouts, “Rosie is under attack! Move out.” I hear his breathing speed up, and it sounds like he’s running. “I’m coming.”
Last time I checked, he was at the shipping yard, easily thirty to forty-five minutes away, depending on traffic.
“There’s no way you’ll get to me in time,” I sob as I hurry down the stairs.
Some of the other men might be closer.
Fear pours into my veins, thinking they’re all rushing toward danger.
The building shakes violently, and I bump into the wall and cry, “Don’t come here, Enzo! There are too many men. They have explosives.” I don’t want any of my family or friends near this disaster, especially Enzo. “Stay away.” A sob strangles my words. “Tell everyone to stay away. Please!”
Anger darkens his tone as he barks, “Where are you?”
“In the emergency stairwell. Heading to the boardroom. It’s reinforced and should be able to keep me safe when the building comes down.”
“Good. Stay calm.”
“I’m trying, but please don’t come here, Enzo. Just stay away. I’ll blow the place and bury the bastards.” Another explosion rattles the structure, and this time a crack shoots through the plaster, making dust fill the air, and it has me shrieking, “Jesus!”
“What the fuck was that?” He shouts in my ear.
“They’re blasting their way in.”
The loud rumble of Enzo’s Mustang fills the line as he floors the gas. “I’m coming, Rosie. Just get to the boardroom.”
“Enzo…” My voice disappears, then the air fills with an alert I had hoped never to hear.
PRIMARY ENTRANCE COMPROMISED.
My stomach drops horribly.
Putting Enzo on speaker, I bring up the front camera feed on my phone as I run down the last flight of stairs. The front of the building has been torn apart, and the enemy is flooding in like a tidal wave.
“Rosie!” Enzo growls. “Talk to me.”
“I’m… they’ve breached,” I gasp.
“Where are you?”
“Almost to the underground parking.”
“Haul ass!” His voice cracks across the line. His fear underneath the anger hits me harder than the attack itself.
I dart into the parking area, my eyes locked on the hidden wall as I press the remote for it to open.
“Almost there!” I shout as I run faster than I ever have.
A loud blast makes time freeze, then the force throws me backward as a burst of heat robs the air from my lungs.
Hitting the ground, pain shudders through my body, and as dust fills the air, my ears ring for a moment.
Shaking my head, I tighten my grip on the remote and search for my phone, which landed beside me.
My lungs burn, and I cough while trying to catch my bearings.
“Rosie!” Enzo shouts. “Jesus fucking Christ, answer me.” I’ve never heard his tone so tense before, fear coating every word.
When my sight focuses, I see the metal door has folded like crumpled paper, and my path to the boardroom has been blocked off.
“Rosie, talk to me,” Enzo begs. “Tell me you’re okay.”
Men pour into the underground parking area, and a reinforced SUV drives right over the rubble.
A strange calmness mixes with the panic tearing through me.
“The servers are still running,” I whisper as my grip on the remote tightens.
“Rosie!”
“I’m here,” I croak.
“Are you in the fucking boardroom?”
“No. I can’t get to it.” As I climb to my feet, I make eye contact with one of the masked men, and my legs threaten to give way beneath me.
“Rosie, just fucking run!” Enzo begs.
Jesus. My fortress was never supposed to fall. This place was my masterpiece. My safe space.
There are years’ worth of intelligence in the control room. The entire family will be in grave danger if these bastards get their hands on my servers.
My finger brushes over the button that will end it all.
I have no choice.
All the thoughts race through my mind in a split second as I watch the men move closer, their weapons trained on me.
“Rosie,” Enzo groans, desperation making his voice crack. “Please tell you’re running.”
There’s only one thing left to do. The last line of defense is to destroy everything.
“Enzo.” My voice sounds weird, as if it’s not mine.
This is it, Rosie. You have to do this for Enzo. For Dad. For Mom. For all your loved ones.
I hear Enzo groan again, sounding like he’s in unbearable pain.
Shutting my eyes, I take the seconds I have left to tell him how I’ve always felt. “I love you, Enzo. So much.” My tongue swipes over the dust covering my lips. “With all my heart, and with every breath. It’s been you from the beginning, and it’s you at the end.”
“Christ, bella mia,” he shouts. “Don’t do it. I’m almost there.”
“I love you.” Opening my eyes, I watch as they form a circle around me, one of the men holding his hand up, signaling for me not to do anything drastic. Their eyes are dark and emotionless. “I love you, Enzo,” I gasp as my breaths speed up incredibly fast. “I love you.”
“Fuck. Fuck. Fuck!” I hear Enzo hitting something repeatedly before letting out a heartbreaking shout.
I can hear he means it when he says, “Just hold on for me so I can tell you face-to-face how I feel. Please.” My sight blurs with tears, and my chin quivers.
Closing my eyes again, I just listen to Enzo’s harsh breaths. “Rosie!”
“I love you,” I whisper.
One of the men grabs hold of my arm, and out of time, I do the only thing I can to protect everyone I love.
Enzo
“Rosie!” I yank the steering wheel to the right and cut over a sidewalk to get past traffic.
Just as I finally lay eyes on the fortress in the distance, deafening blasts tear through the air.
Boom. Boom. Boom. Boom. Boom.
My heart stops dead in my chest.
When the shockwave hits me seconds later, rattling the car hard enough to make the steering wheel jump beneath my hands, a massive cloud of dust erupts into the sky, climbing higher and higher as the ground quakes hard.
“No!” My voice is raw with devastation and unspeakable pain.
I lose sight of the fortress for a moment as I take a turn at high speed. As soon as it comes into view again, I see the building collapsing into itself, floor after floor dropping toward the center.
“Rosie!” The shout is filled with a desolate horror ripping through me.
Steel twists. Concrete buckles. Entire sections disappear beneath rolling clouds of dust as the structure folds inward.
“Fuck.”
I crush the accelerator harder, the distance between us suddenly feeling impossible.
The fortress continues sinking into itself until nothing remains except a mountain of rubble surrounded by thick gray dust.
My grip on the steering wheel tightens until pain shoots through my hands.
When I notice the line is still connected, I say, “Rosie, answer me.”
The only sounds I hear are emergency alarms wailing in the distance and the strain the Mustang is taking.
The closer I get, the worse the scene becomes. Dust hangs thick in the air, and pieces of debris litter the area around the demolished building, with flames burning hot through piles of broken concrete.
“Please say something.” I force the words through a tight throat and clenched jaw. “Rosie.”
My pulse hammers violently against my ribs, like my heart is trying to break free from my chest.
The next second, the call disconnects, but then Rosie’s voice comes over my speakers.
“Well, shit. That just happened.” She chuckles.
“If you’re getting this message, I had no choice but to blow up the fortress, and chances are good I went with it.
” I hear her let out a sigh. “Anyway. I made a little farewell video that will be sent to you, Dad. Play it at my funeral. Someone go to my parents, and please don’t leave Enzo and Gianna alone for the next few days.
Watch over them for me. I love you all.”
When I can’t drive any closer, I bring the Mustang to a screeching halt. There are abandoned vehicles everywhere, some overturned, others just hunks of twisted metal with thick layers of dust covering them.
Between all the gray, movement catches my eye, and a man struggles to his feet. Seeing he’s wearing a balaclava, I shove my door open and lunge out, running toward the fucker. He shakes his head and staggers to the side before I grab hold of his shirt and rip the balaclava off his head.
“Talk,” I growl. “Who do you work for?”
Only slurred words leave his mouth, then the horrifying reality that he was probably outside when the building came down sinks like lead into my bones.
If he’s in such bad shape, what are the chances that Rosie survived?
I hear cars, and as the man exhales his last breath and drops to the ground, his shirt ripping out of my hold, the rest of the family pulls up, one after the other.
“What the fuck happened?” Adriano roars as he runs toward me.
“Rosie.” My voice doesn’t sound like my own, and it feels as if I’m outside my body. “They got in and Rosie…”
Suddenly, unbearable pain tears through me, ripping me limb from limb to get to my very soul, and as it’s flayed open, there’s nothing but relentless agony.
I grip my shirt and struggle to breathe, inhaling a lungful of dust that makes me cough. Covering my nose and mouth with my forearm, I glance over the destruction with ungodly terror.
Rosie!
Black smoke billows into the sky, stinging my eyes and coating the air with the acrid scent of burning metal and concrete. Orange flames flicker between slabs of broken concrete and twisted steel, the occasional pop cutting through the air as damaged equipment continues to burn.
A sickening weight settles in my chest as my gaze drifts over the mountain of debris.
Rosie is in there.
The thought crashes into me with brutal force.
She’s buried alive!
I run to where the entrance used to be and begin to dig with my bare hands, my breaths speeding up faster and faster until a wounded roar burns up my throat.
“Rosie!” The shout doesn’t sound like my own, but something demented from the pits of hell.
Arms lock around my chest and haul me away from the rubble and flames, but I fight against the hold, managing to get free.
She has to be alive.
She has to be.
Get to her.
“Rosie is alive!” I dig faster, the heat from the intense flames making sweat pour down my body. “Rosie!” When I’m grabbed again, I wrench free without even looking at who it is.
“ROSIE!” My hands keep moving, clawing through the rubble as panic and desperation consume me. “Rosie!” My voice cracks as I search for any sign that she made it.
I listen for her voice and search for any glimpse of her.
Christ, give me any sign she’s alive.
Any sign that I haven’t lost her.
Strong hands grab my arms, and I’m forcefully yanked backward.
“No!” I roar as I fight against the hold. “I have to find her!”
I hit and shove, and breaking free, I launch myself at the debris, but I’m seized again and hauled off my feet. My back slams into the ground, and my sight focuses on Christiano and Dad as they hold me down forcefully.
“Now, Carlo!” Dad roars.
I barely notice the prick of the needle and begin fighting to get free so I can find Rosie, but my muscles grow heavy, and my vision blurs.
“Rosie,” I groan.
“Papa’s here,” Dad says as he pulls me into his arms. “I’m so fucking sorry, son. I’m here. Just go to sleep.”
My eyes fall on the mountain of rubble that’s buried the woman I love, and as everything goes black, I hope I never wake up again.