Chapter 70: The Pact of Shadows

Chapter 70: The Pact of Shadows

The marbled corridors of the Palais de Wissembourg in Strasbourg echoed faintly as diplomats, billionaires, and old-world criminals walked among tapestries and treaties. Xavier De Luca stood near the hearth of a private chamber, flanked by two bodyguards who blended into the rococo wallpaper like predators waiting to pounce.

He wasn’t here to make friends.

He was here to forge a future.

A man in a charcoal Nehru jacket approached. His gait was precise, his face unreadable.

“Mr. De Luca,” he said in a clipped accent. “The Sovereign Circle is prepared to offer discretion. But only if the child survives the transition.”

Xavier offered a half-smile. “Of course. He’s the cornerstone of the new dynasty.”

“And the woman?”

“She’s expendable. So is Luca.”

The man considered this. “You’re asking us to destabilize multiple financial nodes in return for promises and bloodlines.”

Xavier stepped forward. “I’m offering you the keys to Europe’s next mercantile empire—clean, legitimate, untouchable. Leo becomes our mask. I become its voice.”

There was a pause. Then the man nodded.

“We’ll arrange an extraction.”

Back in San Fruttuoso, the abbey’s stone walls glowed amber under the dawn sun. Olive trees swayed gently above the waves, and the monastery’s bell rang with the slow peace of a world untouched by politics or bloodlines.

Leo sat cross-legged in a courtyard garden, humming to himself while drawing on a sketchpad. Beside him, Luca watched with a curious fascination.

“You don’t color inside the lines,” Luca noted.

Leo shrugged. “Lines are boring.”

Luca smiled. “I used to think that too.”

Leo looked up. “Is that why you’re always fighting people?”

Caught off guard, Luca chuckled. “Sometimes I fight… because I think it’s the only way to protect people.”

Leo nodded, as if this made perfect sense. “Mama says lions protect with their hearts too. Not just claws.”

Luca looked away, swallowing the ache that crept up his throat. “She’s right.”

“Will you stay forever now?”

The question landed like a stone in his chest. He ruffled Leo’s curls. “If I have to leave, it’ll only be to make sure you and Mama are safe.”

Leo tilted his head. “Will you tell me stories? About the lion?”

“Every night.”

The boy grinned. “Even the scary ones?”

“Especially the scary ones.”

Just then, Angela entered the courtyard. Her face was grim.

Luca stood. “What is it?”

“Satellite ping from Strasbourg,” she said. “Xavier met with a Circle envoy. High-level.”

“What did they agree to?”

She hesitated. “They’re planning an extraction.”

Luca’s blood ran cold.

“How long?”

“Hours, maybe less. We need to move.”

Luca knelt before Leo. “We’re going on a secret mission.”

“Like spies?”

“Exactly.”

Leo beamed.

Angela took Leo inside to pack. Luca turned to the guard posted at the gate. “Triple perimeter. Nobody gets within sight of this building.”

The guard nodded and relayed the order.

But it was already too late.

Half a mile down the mountain, a white utility van posed as a monastery supply delivery. Inside were four operatives—unmarked gear, suppressed weapons, and orders burned into memory.

Extract the child. Kill the guardian. No traces.

One operative hacked the gate’s digital node. Another silently loaded tranquilizer darts.

They moved like clockwork.

Back in the main chamber, Luca was strapping a Kevlar vest over his chest when a low pop echoed in the distance—then another.

He froze.

Gunfire.

“Angela!” he shouted. “Get him to the crypts!”

She grabbed Leo and sprinted down the corridor as guards mobilized.

Luca burst into the garden, weapon drawn. Two guards were down. Another staggered, shot in the leg.

A black-clad figure leapt over the northern wall—and Luca fired.

The man dropped, but not before hurling a flash grenade.

Boom.

Light.

Sound.

Disorientation.

Luca reeled, blinded, deafened—but not down.

He ducked behind the fountain, shaking off the dissonance, and rose just in time to see a second assailant breaking into the abbey hall.

“Leo!” he roared.

Angela reached the stone crypts and sealed the child in with a key she hadn’t used in twenty years. The sanctuary had once hidden nobles during the Spanish invasions. It would hold.

She turned to face the attacker charging down the corridor.

The woman was fast, brutal. A knife flashed.

Angela deflected, struck, twisted, and slammed the woman into the stone wall.

“Tell Xavier,” Angela hissed, “I buried kings before him.”

Luca’s bullets rang out with vengeance, each one precise. He moved like the weapon he once was—no hesitation, no mercy.

By the time the last assailant dropped, the monastery was soaked in silence.

Then Leo’s voice.

“Mama!”

Luca turned, heart hammering.

Leo stood there, arms outstretched.

He ran.

Luca dropped to his knees and caught him.

“I got scared,” Leo sobbed.

“You were brave,” Luca whispered into his curls. “You’re the bravest lion I know.”

Later, Evangeline arrived by helicopter, her eyes wide with panic—until she saw them, safe, waiting.

She ran to Leo first, kissing his cheeks, holding him close.

Then she met Luca’s gaze.

“They came for him,” he said.

“I know. Xavier’s declared war.”

She looked around at the carnage. “So have we.”

Luca reached into his coat and pulled out a sealed envelope.

“What’s this?” she asked.

“The invitation.”

“To what?”

He stared at her with fire behind his calm.

“To end this. Once and for all.”