Chapter 26 - The Traitor at the Gate
"Down!" Luca roared, his powerful arm wrapping around Lily’s waist and tackling her behind the heavy mahogany sideboard just as the silver cloche erupted with a sharp pneumatic hiss.
A cloud of pale, grayish-blue vapor hissed into the air of the banquet hall. The young waiter who had carried the tray barely had time to inhale before his eyes rolled back into his head, blood pouring from his nose as he collapsed onto the Persian rug, convulsing violently.
Chaos erupted. Forty mob bosses, legendary for their cold-blooded composure, scrambled in sheer, unadulterated panic toward the emergency exits, overturning chairs and trampling each other to escape the deadly neurotoxin.
"Hold your breath! Dampen your clothes!" Lily shouted through her teeth, tearing a linen napkin from a nearby cart and soaking it in an ice bucket of sparkling water. She pressed the wet cloth firmly over Luca’s mouth and nose, then pressed another over her own.
Luca’s eyes burned with homicidal rage. Through the billowing cloud, he saw a figure moving toward the rear kitchen exit—not fleeing in panic, but walking with calm, deliberate purpose. It was Capo Moretti-branch underboss, Julian—Luca’s own cousin, a man who had sworn fealty to him at his coronation.
"Julian," Luca growled beneath the wet linen.
Luca didn't hesitate. Pulling his Beretta, he aimed through the drifting smoke, compensating for the distortion, and fired two precise rounds. The first struck Julian in the right calf, the second in the shoulder. The traitor collapsed with a howl of agony just before reaching the service stairs.
Luca surged forward, dragging Lily safely toward the industrial exhaust vents near the rear corridor, away from the rising gas. Within seconds, the club’s automated emergency ventilation system kicked in with a roar, massive ceiling fans whirring to life, sucking the lethal prussic acid out through the roof vents.
Luca reached Julian, slamming his heavy boot onto the man’s shattered shoulder. The traitor screamed, clutching the bloody fabric of his tuxedo.
"You delivered that package," Luca snarled, pressing the hot barrel of his gun directly between Julian’s eyes. "My own blood. My own flesh. You helped Aurelia bring chemical weapons into the Council hall."
"She... she promised me the North End!" Julian choked out, tears and blood mixing on his pale face. "Cassian is dead, Luca! The Drakes offered us eighty percent of the shipping routes if we took you down tonight! You let a maid rule your mind! You made us weak!"
Lily stepped up beside Luca, looking down at the traitor with ice in her eyes. "Weak? Luca survived your poison. I survived your assassin. And now your entire conspiracy is lying in its own filth on the floor."
"Where is she, Julian?" Luca demanded, his voice chillingly calm as his finger tightened on the trigger. "Where is Aurelia?"
Julian coughed up a spatter of red, trembling uncontrollably under the crushing weight of Luca’s boot. "The... the flour mill was a decoy... she knew your girl would figure out the dust explosion... she wanted your snipers focused on South Boston..."
Lily’s heart seized. "The estate," she whispered, her hand flying to her chest. "The manor!"
Julian gave a sickening, bloody grin. "Aurelia didn't want to kill you in a dirty warehouse, Lily. She wanted to take back her home. She’s at the manor right now... with the mercenary strike team. She’s burning the Moretti ancestral seat to the ground."
Luca didn't flinch. He pulled the trigger.
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A single gunshot ended Julian’s laughter forever. Luca spun on his heel, grabbing Lily’s hand, his eyes burning with a dark, terrifying resolve. "Vincenzo! Mobilize every car! We drive to the estate. Kill anyone not wearing a Moretti crest."
***
