Chapter 75 Chapter 75
Damien’s POV
The moment my car screeched to a stop at the compound gates, I knew we were too late.
The gates hung twisted and broken, ripped from their hinges by vehicles that had rammed through with brutal force. Smoke billowed from several windows of my home, and the sound of gunfire still echoed through the air, though less frequent now than it must have been at the height of the attack.
Bodies littered the ground. My guards. The Morellis’ men. Blood stained the pristine driveway, the marble steps, everything.
My home. My fortress. Violated and broken.
“Boss!” Kai shouted, appearing from behind one of the damaged vehicles, Lorenzo right behind him. Both were armed, both covered in blood whether their own or their enemies’, I couldn’t tell.
I didn’t wait for a report. I grabbed the assault rifle Lorenzo thrust at me and charged toward the house, rage burning through every nerve in my body.
The Morellis had done this. Had attacked my home. Had put my family in danger.
They were going to pay in blood.
We moved through the entrance, and I saw more bodies. More destruction. Bullet holes pockmarked every wall. Furniture was overturned and shredded. The chandelier I’d imported from Italy lay shattered across the floor.
And still, gunfire rang out from deeper in the house.
“Clear the rooms!” I ordered, my voice barely recognizable through the fury. “Shoot anything that moves that isn’t ours!”
We spread out, Kai taking the left wing, Lorenzo the right, while I charged straight ahead.
I rounded a corner and came face to face with three Morelli soldiers. They raised their weapons, but I was faster.
I fired in controlled bursts, each shot finding its target. One in the chest. One in the head. One tried to duck behind cover, but I adjusted my aim and put two rounds through the couch he was hiding behind.
They all dropped.
I kept moving, my boots crunching over broken glass and spent shell casings. More of my guards appeared, joining the fight, pushing the invaders back.
“They’re retreating!” someone shouted. “They’re falling back to their vehicles!”
I burst out onto the back terrace just in time to see several black SUVs peeling away from the property, their tires screaming as they raced toward the damaged gates.
And standing at the door of one vehicle, about to climb inside, was a face I recognized from surveillance photos.
Antonio Morelli Junior. Anthony’s son. The heir to the Morelli empire.
Our eyes met across the distance, and I saw triumph in his expression. He thought he’d won. Thought he’d destroyed me.
I raised my rifle and fired.
The first shot shattered the window behind him. He ducked, scrambling into the vehicle.
I fired again and again, emptying my magazine at the retreating cars, but they were already too far away, moving too fast.
The SUVs disappeared through the gates and down the road, leaving destruction and death in their wake.
“FUCK!” I roared, throwing the empty rifle to the ground.
Kai appeared beside me, breathing hard. “Boss, we held them off. They’re retreating. We won.”
“Won?” I turned on him, rage making my vision blur red. “LOOK AT THIS PLACE! Look at what they did! This isn’t winning!”
I looked around at my destroyed home, at the bodies of my guards who’d died defending it, at the devastation the Morellis had wrought.
The cost was staggering. We’d been caught completely off guard, and even though we’d managed to fight them off, the damage was catastrophic.
“Where’s my family?” I demanded, grabbing Kai’s shoulder. “Where are they?”
“I don’t know, boss,” Kai admitted. “We just got here. We haven’t had time to search…”
I didn’t wait for him to finish. I took off running through the house, shouting at the top of my lungs.
“HAILEY! SOPHIA! WHERE ARE YOU?”
No answer except the echo of my own voice and the groans of wounded men.
“HAILEY!” I screamed again, racing through rooms, checking behind overturned furniture, my heart pounding so hard I thought it might explode.
If they were dead… if the Morellis had killed them…
I rounded another corner and nearly tripped over something.
A body.
Marco.
He lay in a spreading pool of blood, multiple gunshot wounds visible across his chest and abdomen.
“No,” I breathed, dropping to my knees beside him. “No, no, no.”
Marco had been with me for years. One of my most loyal guards. One of my best men. He’d protected Benita, protected my family.
And now he was dead.
Behind me, I heard Kai and Lorenzo arrive, heard Kai’s sharp intake of breath when he saw Marco’s body.
“He died protecting the safe room,” Lorenzo said quietly, pointing to the secured door just a few feet away. “He must have held them off while…”
Hope surged through me. The safe room. If Marco had died defending it, that meant someone was inside.
“HAILEY!” I shouted, moving to the door and pounding on it. “SOPHIA! Are you in there?”
For a terrible moment, there was no response.
Then I heard movement. Footsteps approaching the door from the other side.
“Who’s there?” A voice called out. Barbara’s voice.
“It’s Damien,” I said urgently. “And Kai and Lorenzo. Open the door!”
“How do I know it’s really you?” Barbara demanded, her voice sharp with fear and suspicion.
“Barbara, please,” I said. “It’s me. The attack is over. The Morellis have retreated. Open the door.”
More sounds of movement, then the heavy locks disengaging.
The door swung open, and Barbara stood there holding a metal club raised above her head, ready to strike.
She swung it at Kai, who barely managed to duck out of the way.
“Whoa!” Kai shouted, stumbling backward. “it’s us!”
Barbara lowered the club, relief flooding her face. “Thank God,” she breathed.
Then Hailey appeared behind her, and the sight of her, alive and relatively unharmed, made my knees nearly buckle.
“Hailey,” I breathed, reaching for her.
She ran into my arms, and I held her so tight I was probably hurting her, but I couldn’t let go. She was alive. She was safe.
“I thought…” I couldn’t finish the sentence, couldn’t voice the terrible fear that had gripped me.
Sophia appeared next, her face pale and tear-streaked, but she was alive too. My daughter was alive.
Then Benita stumbled forward, her eyes fixed on something behind me.
Marco’s body.
“No,” she whispered, her voice breaking. “No, he can’t… he said he’d come back… he promised…”
She took one step toward him, then another, her hand reaching out.
And then her eyes rolled back in her head, and she collapsed.
Kai lunged forward, catching her before she hit the ground.
“Get her inside,” I ordered. “Get everyone inside.”