Chapter 60

**Matteo**

I was waiting for nightfall to come so that we could finally start this end game. I just hoped that Lily would hold on for all this time. The emotional part of me that I thought I had lost before, wanted to rush in as soon as we got there. The rational side knew that we had to wait till nightfall to make it harder to see us coming. I couldn’t risk the success of this attack for love, as much as I did love Lily.

So here we are, split up into four groups. Ennio, Luciano, and I each led a group that was going to attack from different sides. Vita headed the fourth group that was coming in when they thought that they had seen it all. We had done this before; we could do this.

Renzo slapped me on my shoulder. “We’re going to get her out of this place.”, he said. I nodded. There was no fucking way I was going to leave Lily in this hell hole.

I turned to my group of men. It was time for the last check. Gear in place, weapons ready to go, earpieces in and on, and a last run of the plan. Ennio, Luciano, and Renzo had drilled these guys good, and they could execute the plan sleeping. Yet, they were completely professional and fully focused on another walk through of the plan.

We were ready. There were no other words for this. Now, there was no other thing left than waiting until Ennio would give the sign.

I wasn’t a religious man, but I did send a prayer for a good outcome, and to send Lily the strength she needed.

“Ready?”, I asked. All the guys nodded. “Let’s do this!”, I said, and we went off. Ennio had given the signal, and we were off. We sneaked off in formation, onto the grounds of the Bruno famiglia. Luciano did his homework well; the guard change and routes were exactly as he said they would be. I nodded to Renzo, and he sneaked behind the guard to take him out without a sound.

“Guard East 1 down”, Renzo stated through the communication line. Meanwhile, the other teams were also reported their status. By now, guards in west and south were down, we had 1 more to go. “Do you see guard east 2?”, I asked the team. “Negative.”, came the answer. Fuck, there should be another one around.

Then I heard something. I held up my hand, and Renzo nodded. We heard him whisper to someone. Shit, we were spotted. Then I saw the guard, and immediately after I saw Renzo taking him down again. “Guard East 2 down.”, he stated. “We’ve been spotted.”, I stated.

That wasn’t part of the plan obviously, but we needed to keep moving. And so we did. We moved towards the house. We were almost there when I spotted Ennio and Luciano. At Ennio’s sign, we moved into the house. This was it, this is where the fight would really start.

I took a deep breath and moved into the house. I wasn’t in the front, so most of the heavy fighting was happening there. Renzo and I were checking the rooms one by one. We wanted to be sure that no one would come up from behind, but we also wanted to be sure that everyone was either dead or captured. I had another motive for searching all the rooms, I wanted to search for Lily. Honestly, I doubted they would keep her in the main house, but I had to check.

The deeper we got into the house, the more anxious I got. There was no sign of Lily, but also not of Tommaso, Nero, or Mario. The fights got heavier, I had to step over more and more bodies on the way.

I knew that we were not the only group in the house, so when I heard Ennio over the earpiece saying that the house was all cleared, I wasn’t surprised. However, I was desperate to find Lily, but I was looking in the wrong spot.

“Guys, we have Nero!”, Vita yelled over the earpiece. I heard some cheers in the house, and I exhaled out of relief. At least something good came of this. Merging Ennio and I’s group together, we moved out of the house towards the back. Just before we walked outside, Ennio and I had a short strategy discussion about where we go next.

“On our way in, we saw a small building in the middle of nowhere. It was like an outdoor toilet or so, but the location made no sense.”, Ennio said to me.

“You think it is an entrance to their safe room?”, I asked.

“That, and their prisons.”, Ennio said and gave me a pointed look when he said the last word. He knew what I was looking for. I nodded.

“Vita?”, I asked through the microphone. “Where was Nero headed when you captured him?”

“On the way to some little building in the field.”, she answered. I could tell she was busy. “Shit!”, I heard her say. “We can’t get in. Luciano! We need explosives!”, she demanded through the earpiece.

“Coming!”, Luciano responded, “We have a visual on you.”

I was proud of my famiglia. Everyone was working together as a team. Preparation was done meticulously, and we already had one out of three targets captured. It had taken us years to get to this point. It had taken years for us to drive the Brunos to desperation, but now was our time, and it felt good to be reaping what we’ve been sowing for so long.

“Take cover!”, Luciano ordered via the earpiece. I saw everyone close to the explosive site run to take cover. One of his men counted to three which was followed by a large bang.

“Didn’t work! Damnit, what is that fucking door made of?!”, someone swore out loud. I grinned at his reaction. Just the fact that normal explosives didn’t break that door meant that we were on the right track.

“Esposito!”, I heard someone say behind us. I turned around and came face to face with Tommaso. Tommaso with his arm around Lily’s throat and a gun to his head. Lily looked like she had been beaten up quite a bit. She had a few wounds on her face and blood around her nose. Her face was stained of tears. She looked terrified, and stumbled over her feet as Tommaso pushed her to the light.

I don’t think I’ve even felt so many mixed emotions as I did right now. I felt scared for her, angry at the Brunos, desperate to get her back, but mostly guilt for getting her in this situation. I tried to remain calm, and to not let them show how much it got to me.

“Matteo, be careful.”, Ennio warned me through the earpiece. I nodded barely noticeably. I think I knew what I was doing. I took a step towards them. I guess this is the moment it gets personal.

“Vita, get your men out with Nero at gunpoint.”, I ordered through the microphone, not bothering to wait for a response. I needed Tommaso and the rest of the Bruno famiglia to know that we had their leader. Waiting for Vita’s men to come through, I just stood there, looking Tommaso in the eye.

I heard some commotion behind me, and I saw two guys appear next to me with Nero and a gun to his head. Let’s see what they do now.

“What do you want, Tommaso?”, I asked him. I didn’t want to look at Lily too much, knowing that my poker face would break seeing her like this, so I kept my eyes on Tommaso.

“I want you to give up your suppliers to me. That is, if you want to see our dearest Lily again.”, he said. His viciousness came through in the last sentence. I nodded.

“I don’t think you are in the place to be demanding things.”, I said, nodding my head at Nero. Tommaso laughed at that.

“You think I care about him? By all means, kill him. You’d be doing me a favor.”, Tommaso said with so much hate. I was trying to determine whether he was putting on a front or whether it was for real. Did he really not care about Nero? I couldn’t tell, and I didn’t want to gamble on it. If Nero was out of the picture, Mario would be the next logical person to take over, but it was no secret that he was too soft for that position. That made it likely that Tommaso would become the leader of the Bruno famiglia.

“I don’t think he is bluffing.”, Luciano said through the earpiece. I wasn’t the only one who had doubts about that.

“What’s it gonna be? You hand over your suppliers and you get Lily back. If not, I keep Lily and will break you.”, Tommaso said with hatred in his voice.

“You get Nero back, we get Lily back.”, I countered, and waited for a response.