Vows in Blood
The mansion was silent now.
Not the peace of safety, but the hush of devastation. Smoke still coiled through broken windows, flames crackled in the far wing where firefighters fought to tame the inferno. Bodies—Lucian's men, Dante's soldiers—lay where they had fallen, blood drying into the marble.
Lucian stood in the courtyard, his suit torn and blood-soaked, his jaw clenched like stone. The night air was heavy, carrying the metallic tang of death. His men gathered around, bruised, wounded, hollow-eyed. They looked to him not just for orders but for salvation.
Elena watched from the broken doorway, Isabella asleep in her arms. Relief that Lucian was alive warred with dread at the emptiness in his eyes. He looked like a king standing over a graveyard, crowned not by gold but by carnage.
Alessandro limped forward, clutching his side where a bullet had grazed him. "Boss… we held as long as we could. But Dante's men—"
Lucian's voice was low, lethal. "They broke into my home. They breathed the same air as my wife. They touched the walls where my daughter sleeps." He raised his gaze, eyes burning like coals. "That is a debt payable only in blood."
The men murmured, their loyalty reignited by his fury.
Alessandro nodded grimly. "What are your orders?"
Lucian scanned the courtyard, every corpse a vow etched into his soul. "We hunt Dante Marino. No rest. No mercy. I want his docks in flames, his warehouses ashes, his allies crawling to me on broken knees. If he has soldiers, bury them. If he has friends, make them enemies. If he has a heartbeat—stop it."
The men dispersed, galvanized, their exhaustion swallowed by vengeance.
Elena stepped closer, her bare feet brushing against cracked marble. "Lucian…" Her voice trembled, but she held his gaze. "Look at what this war is doing to you. To us."
He turned, his expression softening for the first time since the siege began. "You and Isabella are alive. That's all that matters."
"But at what cost?" she whispered. "How much of yourself will you burn before there's nothing left but this—this rage?"
Lucian cupped her cheek with a blood-stained hand, his thumb trembling against her skin. "You think I care about what's left of me? Elena, I was born for this. But you…" His voice cracked, raw. "You and Isabella are the only parts of me that are real. Without you, I'm just the devil they whisper about in the streets."
Her heart squeezed painfully. She wanted to believe him, to let his words anchor her. But the truth pressed heavy—if he became fire, they would all burn with him.
---
Later that night, the survivors gathered in the war room—an underground chamber lined with maps, monitors, and weapons. Elena stayed upstairs with Isabella, though she couldn't sleep. Through the floorboards, she could almost feel Lucian's rage vibrating, his voice commanding like thunder.
Alessandro spread blueprints across the table. "We've confirmed Dante retreated through the river. He has safehouses across the city, but his main hub is the docks. That's where he'll regroup."
Lucian leaned over the map, his eyes scanning routes, choke points, exits. "Then we don't wait. By tomorrow night, I want the docks burning. Every crate, every ship. Leave nothing standing."
One of his capos hesitated. "Boss, striking that soon—it risks overextending. We just lost—"
Lucian's hand slammed the table, rattling the glasses. "We didn't lose. We survived. And survival demands a message. Dante thinks he can touch what's mine? I'll show him the price of daring."
The room fell silent. No one argued again.
Lucian's gaze drifted toward the ceiling, where Elena and Isabella slept. His jaw tightened. "He came for my family. That means war doesn't end until he's in the ground."
---
Upstairs, Elena sat by Isabella's bedside, brushing soft curls away from her daughter's face. The child slept fitfully, murmuring in dreams, clutching her stuffed rabbit like a lifeline.
Elena's chest ached. Isabella had seen too much—heard too much. No child should grow up in fire and blood.
She rose, stepping to the balcony, the night air cool against her tear-stained cheeks. From here, she could see the courtyard below, where Lucian's men dragged bodies into trucks, where scorch marks scarred the once-pristine stone.
She wrapped her arms around herself. Could she raise a child in this? Could she survive watching the man she loved descend deeper into the devil's abyss?
A soft sound made her turn. Lucian stood in the doorway, shadows clinging to him like a second skin. He said nothing for a moment, only watching her, his presence filling the air.
"You should sleep," he murmured.
"So should you," she replied.
He stepped closer, his hand brushing her arm. "I can't. Not until I know Dante's heart has stopped beating."
Elena searched his face, seeing both the man who held her trembling after the attack and the predator who vowed to burn the world. "Promise me something, Lucian."
"Anything."
"When this is over… when Dante is gone… you'll stop. You'll walk away from this war. For us."
He hesitated. The silence stretched like a blade between them. Finally, he nodded. "For you, Elena… I'll try."
But she heard the truth in his voice. Try. Not will.
She leaned against his chest anyway, his heartbeat steady and strong, a fortress and a storm all at once.
Lucian's arms wrapped around her, and his lips brushed her hair. Quiet, almost to himself, he whispered: "No one will ever threaten you again. Not while I still breathe."
Elena closed her eyes, her tears hidden in his shirt. She wanted to believe in a future beyond vengeance.
But she knew the path Lucian was walking could only end in blood.
---
Far across the city, in a dim warehouse by the river, Dante Marino sat in the shadows, his wounded shoulder bandaged, his eyes gleaming with malice.
"You should have finished me, Moretti," he muttered, a cruel smile curving his lips. "Because now I know exactly how to destroy you."
He lifted a photograph from the table—Elena and Isabella, captured from afar, their faces illuminated in the grainy print.
Dante's smile widened.
"The devil has a heart. And I'll crush it in my hands."