"What?! You caught Avalina Facci?!" Richard Ricci jumped up from his chair, his eyes wide with excitement.
"Yes, Young Master. She's locked in the subterranean holding cell, being questioned by Commander Stephan right now," his assistant, Ronald, answered with a deep bow.
"Brilliant! Let's see what the old elders have to say now. What the entire Italian mafia couldn't do in years, I did in a few months! Tell the family heads immediately."
"Right away, Young Master."
Ricci Syndicate — Secret Compound
Followed by three armed guards, Richard shoved open the heavy steel door into the cold basement.
Suspended by thick iron chains from an overhead beam in the center of the damp room, a young woman hung by her wrists. Her feet barely skimmed the concrete floor, her slender body forced to bear its own weight. Even drenched in blood, her black tactical clothes torn from brutal combat, she was breathtakingly gorgeous. Delicate, porcelain facial features and long, dark hair made her look more like a dark goddess than a ruthless boss. A faint, faded burn scar ran along her jawline, only adding an exotic, dangerous charm to her beauty. Purplish contusions mottled her ribs, and dried crimson crusted her temples—her injuries were viciously real.
"Still asleep?" Richard smirked, strolling up to her. "Wake up, gorgeous. You're not relaxing in your luxury mansion anymore."
He nodded to a guard, who hurled a bucket of ice-cold brine straight across her chest.
Avalina gasped, choking violently as the freezing salt stung open lacerations across her torso. Her wet tactical suit clung tightly to her curves, her body shivering uncontrollably from physical shock. Water mixed with fresh blood dripped from her chin onto the stained floor. She pulled weakly against the iron cuffs, groaning as the metal bit into raw, bleeding wrists.
"I have to admit, you're way too beautiful for this dirty work," Richard said, stepping into her space.
He cupped her chin, tilting her face up, and traced a slow finger across her trembling lips.
Avalina flinched away, tears of genuine, agonizing pain spilling down her pale, bruised cheeks. "Please... stop," she whimpered, her voice raspy and shaking so hard her teeth clicked. "Don't... don't hurt me..."
Richard chuckled, intoxicated by her broken state. "My family spoke about you like you were some kind of demon. But look at you now—strung up, bleeding, and begging. Turns out Europe's Mafia Queen is just a weak, pretty girl."
"I only did what Arnold told me to do!" she cried, looking up at him with wide, tear-filled eyes. "I never wanted this war... please, just let me down. What do you want?"
"Is this really Europe's Mafia Queen? Pathetic!"
SLAP!
The hard strike cracked across her swollen cheekbone. Avalina's head whipped sideways, spitting a mouthful of dark blood onto the floor. She let out a muffled, broken cry, swaying weakly on the chains like a wounded animal.
"What do I want?" Richard laughed wildly. "Your schemes ruined my family! My brother died because of you! And you ask what I want?"
His grin turned vicious.
"I'm going to film this and send it to every mafia boss in Europe. Let everyone see their untouchable queen crying in chains.When Arnold died last month, the other families should have knelt before the Riccis. But they stayed loyal to you out of fear. Well, that fear ends today. Once you're dead, the Facci family is finished."
He gestured to the guard on the left, who pulled out a smartphone and began recording.
"No... please, don't record this!" Avalina pleaded frantically, her bruised chest heaving as she strained against the ceiling chains. "I'll give you everything! My bank accounts, the shipping routes, millions in bearer bonds... just let me walk away alive!"
"Keep your money," Richard sneered. He grabbed a fistful of her silky dark hair and violently wrenched her head back, straining her bruised neck. Avalina let out a sharp cry of agony. "Last week you acted so proud during our meeting and rejected my deal. Did you think you were smart? I already made a secret deal with Country D's powerful Stone family. With their money and weapons, you never had a chance."
He drew his customized sidearm, clicked the safety off, and pressed the cold muzzle against her temple.
"Any last words? Beg nicely, and maybe I'll give you a quick death."
Richard leaned in, waiting to hear her broken sobs.
Instead... the crying stopped.
The trembling completely vanished.
Despite the throbbing agony across her bruised face and cracked ribs, Avalina straightened her posture in mid-air without a single flinch. The tears vanished, replaced by eyes cold and bottomless as a frozen grave. She spat a glob of blood onto Richard's shoe, and a slow, terrifying smile spread across her battered lips.
Then, she began to laugh.
"Heh... haha... Hahaha!"
The laugh was low, dark, and sent an icy shiver straight down Richard's spine.
"What's so funny?!" Richard shouted, an instinctual knot of panic tightening in his throat.
Before he could pull the trigger, the guard standing directly to his right moved like lightning.
The guard grabbed Richard's wrist with iron hands and twisted it hard.
CRACK!
"AAAGH!" Richard shrieked as his bone shattered, the pistol tumbling from his limp fingers.
THWIP!
A suppressed shot dropped the guard holding the camera before the phone hit the ground. Behind Avalina, the third guard drew a serrated combat blade, severed the suspension cord from the overhead anchor, and caught the chain.
Avalina dropped, landing silently on the balls of her feet. With a quick flick of a master key, the cuffs fell away.
She stood at full height, rolling her bruised shoulders. She didn't even glance at her bleeding wrists. The physical damage had been necessary bait, and the weeping victim was gone. In her place stood a merciless queen whose beauty now felt suffocating.
"Wh-what..." Richard gasped, collapsing onto the concrete while cradling his broken arm. "You... you were searched! Stephan broke two of your ribs! You were really bleeding! Ronald told me he took your bribe just to lure you into our trap! These guards were vetted by him!"
"Ronald did try to play me," Avalina purred, wiping a crimson smear from her lip with the back of her hand. "He pocketed three million euros, ran straight to you, and thought he was setting me up. But did he really think I'd trust a greedy dog like him with a straight bribe? The two men he assigned to 'watch' me were already my deep-cover operatives inside your perimeter."
She stepped forward and drove the steel toe of her combat boot directly into his stomach.
Richard doubled over with a breathless wheeze, vomiting bile onto the floor.
"Trying to blast through your reinforced blast doors from outside was loud and messy," she continued smoothly. "Letting Ronald believe he was outsmarting me was the quickest way to have you open the gates yourself."
The heavy steel door swung open. Two more operatives in black tactical gear entered and snapped a sharp salute.
"Commander Stephan is dead, Boss," one reported. "Both the main power cables and the backup generators are severed. The explosives on their armory are set. We have ten minutes."
Richard stared at her in complete terror, his face pale as ash. "You're a monster... The guards on the surface will lock down the perimeter! You'll never get out in the dark!"
"Are you sure?" Avalina asked with a faint smile as a guard handed her a pair of night-vision goggles.
She strapped them over her eyes, retrieved Richard's fallen gun, and pressed the cold muzzle against the nape of his neck.
"The power dies in twenty seconds," she whispered into his ear. "And we're going to walk right out your front door without a scratch."
Her smile turned venomous.
"Oh, and Richard? Thanks for telling me about the Stone family. That was the only secret I needed to confirm."
Her grip tightened as the lights flickered.
The basement plunged into pitch-black darkness.
"Any last wishes? Not that I'll give them to you."