Chapter 6 - The True Mistress of CastelloThe assault lasted less than twenty minutes.
It wasn't a heroic siege; it was a slaughter. Victor’s men had anticipated the push, drawing the rival enforcers into the open kill zone of the estate’s front courtyard before closing the iron gates behind them like a jaw snapping shut.
From her position behind the reinforced stone pillars of the eastern corridor, Sadie watched through the tall arched windows as the red-and-blue strobe lights of police cruisers—the cops who answered to Victor—began to flash against the dark rain outside.
The men who had tried to breach the gates were being zip-tied and loaded into unmarked vans with efficient, terrifying speed.
The smoke cleared from the courtyard.
Victor walked back inside through the grand double doors of the foyer, his shirtsleeves stained with light rain and gunpowder, his expression completely unreadable. He didn't look like a wounded man; he looked like a king who had just confirmed that his crown was secure.
He walked up the marble staircase, his heavy boots echoing in the quiet hall, and stopped three feet from where Sadie stood holding the service pistol Dante had handed her. Her hands were steady. The chemical burns on her knuckles had finally begun to heal under the rich creams of the estate, but her posture was entirely changed.
She wasn't hiding anymore.
Victor looked down at the gun in her hand, then up into her eyes.
"You didn't run," he noted quietly.
"I had nowhere to run," Sadie replied, her voice level and clear. "And besides... nobody messes with my family. Not Mick O’Shea, and not anyone else."
Victor let out a low, genuine chuckle—the first real laugh she had ever heard from him, deep and rich, echoing against the stone walls of the mansion. He reached out, gently taking the heavy firearm from her fingers and setting it down on a nearby console table.
Then he caught her hand, his thumb brushing over the platinum ring on her finger.
"Your brother’s specialist called an hour ago," Victor murmured, stepping closer until his warmth chased away the chill of the stone corridor. "The surgery was a complete success. Sam is cancer-free. He'll be running track again by next spring."
Tears pricked Sadie’s eyes, but this time, they weren't tears of terror or despair. They were hot, sweet tears of absolute release. She looked up at the terrifying, ruthless man who had completely hijacked her life—and realized, with a shock of profound certainty, that he had saved it.
May you like
"Thank you, Victor," she whispered.
"Don't thank me, Mrs. Castello," he said, his dark eyes softening as he pulled her against his chest, shielding her from the cold world outside the gates. "We just balanced the ledger."
