Chapter 45 - The Feast of Judas
The rain showed no signs of abating as the black unmarked Alfa Romeo tore down the Via Ostiense toward the ancient ruins of the coast. The road was slick with mud and decaying pine needles, the headlights cutting through sheets of grey mist.
Inside the vehicle, Alessandro drove with lethal focus, one hand on the steering wheel and the other checking the slide of a suppressed assault rifle. Beside him, Lily was meticulously preparing three pressurized aerosol canisters she had retrofitted from Elena’s old confectionary sugar blowers.
"You understand what will happen if Lorenzo survives tonight?" Alessandro asked quietly, the glow of the dashboard casting deep shadows across his angular face.
"He will hunt us to the ends of the earth," Lily replied without looking up from her work. "He will never stop until the last trace of the Valenti name is erased."
"No," Alessandro corrected, his voice dropping an octave. "He won't hunt us. He will hunt *you*. Because as long as you breathe, the Five Families know that Lorenzo Moretti didn't build his empire on strength or honor. He built it on stolen recipes and cowardice. You are the living proof of his fraud."
Lily paused, her scarred fingers resting on the brass valve of the canister. She looked out the window into the driving dark. "All my life, I thought this burn on my hand was a mark of shame. Lorenzo made me wear the maid's uniform. He made me serve his guests with my right hand hidden behind my back, reminding me every day that I was nothing more than kitchen refuse."
She turned back to Alessandro, her jaw set with an iron resolve. "Tonight, he learns that the hand he burned is the hand that will strip him of everything."
The vehicle slowed as they approached the perimeter of the Ostia Antica pumping station. The facility was an imposing relic of industrial brickwork surrounded by a ten-foot chain-link fence topped with razor wire. Through the rain, two heavy transport trucks were visible parked beside the main intake reservoir, their hazard lights blinking lazily in the mist.
"Two guards at the main gate," Alessandro observed, killing the vehicle's engine and coasting into the shadow of a row of cypress trees. "Three on the catwalk above the intake pipes. Dr. Vance will be inside the control room with the dosing equipment."
"And Lorenzo?" Lily asked.
May you like
Alessandro pointed toward a sleek, armored Mercedes Maybach idling near the administrative entrance. "He's here. He couldn't resist watching the final act himself. He wants to see the Families kneel before the sun comes up."
"Then let's make sure he has a front-row seat," Lily said.
