Chapter 83 – Taking You Down With Me

Chapter 83 – Taking You Down With Me
Dante’s POV

I watched Lucia’s face as she begged me to be careful, her voice cracking, her eyes swimming with fear. But I couldn’t look at her for long. Not when everything inside me was boiling, bleeding, breaking.

Gabriel Rucci.

That fucking name echoed in my skull like a war drum. I had stared at the footage—grainy, but damning. Saw the conversations and receipts. Watched him move like a phantom through the ruins of my past. The bastard had been there the night my parents died. Smiling. Calm. Efficient.

He wasn’t just involved.

He orchestrated it.

And I’d spent my whole life pointing my rage in the wrong direction.

“You can’t just go after him like this,” Lucia said, stepping in front of me as I loaded a fresh clip into my pistol. “He still has my father, Dante. If you strike without proper planning—”

She reached for me again, and for a split second, I almost let her in, almost let the fury break into something softer.

“I don’t care about your father,” I snapped. Her mouth fell open. I didn’t flinch. “I care about blood. Mine. My mother’s. My sister’s. My father’s. Gabriel took them from me. And I’m going to take everything from him.”

Her breath hitched. “But he’ll kill my dad—”

“Then let him.” I stepped past her, my voice flat. “You’re free now, Lucia. I gave you what you wanted. Stay the hell out of my war.”

She didn’t follow me.

I didn’t look back.

Because if I did, I might break again. And I was done breaking.

I moved like a man possessed, fury pushing blood through my veins like gasoline.
There was no strategy. No backup. No hesitation. Just revenge.

“Gear up,” I barked as I stormed into the armory. “We hit tonight.”

Alessio looked up from his rifle. “Target?”

“Rucci.”

A ripple of silence cut through the room.

“You sure?” Cassian asked. “No backup, no delay?”

“No delay,” I growled. “We end him. Now.”

We moved like soldiers, silent and deadly. I handpicked the best—men who owed me loyalty, not just fear. Men who would follow me into hell.

Because that’s where we were headed.

The night was thick with silence as our convoy cut through the back roads. We were close—less than a mile from Gabriel’s known safehouse outside the city. Intel said he was there tonight. No guards on the outside. Just a skeleton crew.

Too easy.

I should’ve known.

The first bullet shattered the windshield of the lead car.

“AMBUSH!” Cassian roared.

Then the world exploded.

Gunfire cracked through the trees like thunder. Bullets ripped through metal. Men screamed. Tires screeched. One of our SUVs flipped over, crashing into a ditch.

“MOVE!” I shouted, diving out the passenger door, rolling across gravel, and firing toward the treeline.

They were everywhere.

Dozens.

Floodlights flickered on, blinding us. We’d walked straight into a kill zone.

“He still has my father, Dante…”

Her voice rang in my skull as bullets tore past me.
I shoved it down.

I gritted my teeth, taking cover behind a boulder. Blood streaked my cheek. My ears rang from the explosion. I checked my mag, half full.

Not good enough.

I needed elevation. A better angle.

I ducked low and sprinted toward the side ridge, bullets sparking at my heels. I climbed, fast and reckless, blood boiling. As I reached the top, I paused, catching movement to my right.

Just beyond the ridge, maybe twenty yards downhill, I saw him.

My breath stopped.

Antonio.

Tied to a fucking chair. Face bloodied, shirt torn, eyes swollen shut. But breathing.

My jaw locked. A dozen emotions crashed through me.

Relief. Regret. Guilt. Rage.

He didn’t deserve this. I’d taken everything from him once. His wife. His daughter.

This was the least I could do.

“Cover me!” I shouted to the men below, then slid down the hill toward him.

Gunfire erupted. Someone spotted me.

I ducked behind a rusted trailer and reached Antonio. His head lolled back as I cut the ropes with a switchblade.

“Can you walk?” I hissed.

He coughed, blood on his lips. “Maybe… if hell froze over.”

I slung his arm over my shoulder. “Then I’m dragging you.”

Just as we started to move, Alessio appeared, bleeding from his shoulder but alive.

“Take him,” I ordered. “Get him to the car. Don’t stop until you reach the base.”

Alessio didn’t argue. He grabbed Antonio and disappeared into the dark, covering fire echoing behind him.

I turned back to the fight. Rage lit my veins, heart pounding. I wasn’t done yet.

We were outnumbered. Five to one. Maybe worse. And there was no sign of Gabriel. Of course not. The coward was too smart to get his hands dirty. He always was—hiding in shadows, pulling strings, letting others bleed for his sins.

That was his game. But me? I do my own killing.

I saw my men fall, one by one. Cassian took a bullet to the chest. Rico got caught in the blast of a grenade. I kept moving, kept firing, kept killing.

But I was running out of bullets.

Running out of men… and time.

Then I heard a voice that made my blood freeze.

“Well, well… look who came to die.”

Vincenzo.

He stepped out of the shadows like a vulture, flanked by two armed guards. His smile was smug. Arrogant.

“Still playing the hero? You never learn, Dante. All noise. No victory.”

I aimed my pistol at his head.

Click.

Empty.

He grinned wider. “You’re surrounded. No way out. Drop the gun.”

I didn’t move.

My lungs burned. My body screamed. But my hands were steady.

I pulled out a fresh mag, loaded it slow, eyes locked with his.

“You think I’m scared to die?” I said, voice raw. “I’ve been dying since the night Gabriel burned my family alive.”

He blinked.

I smirked.

“And now I’m taking you both with me.”

I raised the gun and fired.