Chapter 125 AN ATTACK

Chapter 125 AN ATTACK


~ELENA~

I am in my room now after Vincenzo, Riccardo, and Nico finally calm me down.

They don’t leave immediately.

Vincenzo stands by the window, arms crossed, staring into the darkness outside like he’s expecting the night itself to move wrong.

Riccardo paces the room slowly, his boots quiet against the floor, his jaw tight.

Nico sits on the edge of the armchair opposite my bed, elbows on his knees, watching me like I might disappear if he blinks.

No one speaks for a while.

The silence feels…wrong. Heavy. Pressing.

“You should sleep,” Nico finally says, his voice gentler than usual. “Tomorrow will be worse if you don’t. Because you'll be more frustrated and angrier.”

I nod, even though sleep feels impossible.

Riccardo stops pacing.

“Lock your door,” he tells me. “If anything happens, anything at all, you scream. Don’t open it for anyone unless it’s us.”

“Riccardo,” I say softly, my chest tightening. “You’re scaring me.”

His gaze flicks to mine, dark and unreadable.

“Good. Fear keeps you alive.”

Vincenzo turns from the window then, his expression conflicted.

He walks toward me, hesitates, then places his hand briefly on my head…..protective, brotherly, possessive all at once.

“We won’t let anything happen to you,” he says, but his voice lacks certainty.

That scares me more than his silence ever could.

They leave one by one.

The door clicks shut behind them, and I’m alone.

I crawl into bed, pulling the blanket around me, but my body refuses to relax.

My thoughts spiral—my mother’s diary, Lorenzo’s face. The mansion feels different at night. Bigger. Hungrier.

Minutes pass. Maybe longer.

Just when my breathing finally begins to slow, and I'm finally starting to sleep…

A sound snaps me awake.

I sit up sharply, heart racing.

“What…?”

Another noise follows. Closer now. Sharper.

Metal slamming into metal. Glass shattering.
A grunt—painful and raw.

My blood turns ice-cold as I slide out of bed.

Something is wrong.

I grab the diary instinctively, clutching it to my chest like a lifeline.

My fingers tremble as I tiptoe to the window and crack it open.

Cold night air rushes in.

Below, shadows move unnaturally across the courtyard. Too fast. Too deliberate.

Then….

A scream cuts through the air and is abruptly silenced.

My stomach drops.

Another sound—this time closer. A muffled curse. The scrape of shoes against marble.

They’re inside.

I back away from the window and move toward the door, my pulse roaring in my ears.

I ease the door open.

The corridor is dim and tense, shadows stretching unnaturally along the walls. Emergency lights flicker faintly, casting red streaks across the marble floor.

I step out.

The sounds pull me forward despite my fear….instinct dragging me down the hallway, dread pooling thick in my stomach.

And then…

All hell breaks loose before my eyes.

Masked men flood the hallway like black smoke, moving fast, coordinated, lethal. Guns, knives, batons—everything gleams under the dim lights.

Nico is the first thing I see.

He slams into one of them with terrifying force, driving the man into the wall hard enough that I hear bone crack.

Nico doesn’t hesitate. He grabs the intruder’s wrist mid-swing, twists violently, and the man screams as the knife clatters to the floor.

Nico knees him in the stomach, then the face…once, twice….until he drops like dead weight.

Riccardo is already fighting two at once. He moves like a storm.

One intruder charges him with a blade, Riccardo ducks, grabs the man’s arm, and flips him over his shoulder with brutal precision.

The second one lunges from behind, but Riccardo spins and smashes his elbow into the man’s jaw so hard I hear teeth shatter.

Blood sprays.

Riccardo doesn’t flinch.

He picks up a fallen baton and swings it with ruthless accuracy, cracking ribs, skulls, anything in reach. Every movement is controlled, deadly, practiced.

This isn’t chaos to them.

This is survival.

Guards clash with intruders all around, gunshots echoing through the mansion, bullets ripping into walls, chandeliers swinging violently from the impact.

“Elena!” Nico shouts suddenly, breathless and fierce when he spots me. “Get out of sight—now!”

I turn…..

And that’s when I feel it.

Death.

A masked man breaks from the fight, eyes locking onto me. He raises his knife and charges.

I scream.

Before I can even move, Vincenzo appears out of nowhere.

He tackles the man mid-stride, both of them crashing into the floor hard enough to rattle the walls. They roll violently, fists flying. The intruder swings wildly, blade slashing the air inches from Vincenzo’s throat.

Vincenzo growls, grabs the man’s wrist, and smashes it against the floor again and again until the knife drops. Then he doesn’t stop.

Punch.

Punch.

Punch.

Blood covers Vincenzo’s knuckles as the man goes limp.

He stands, chest heaving, eyes blazing as he kicks the intruder unconscious and turns to me.

“Move!” he shouts. “Now!”

More intruders retreat under heavy fire, realizing they’ve failed. One by one, they disappear into the night, leaving behind blood, broken bodies, and shattered silence.

Sirens howl in the distance.

The mansion breathes again, but barely.

Then Lorenzo appears.

His fury is volcanic.

“This,” he roars, sweeping his arm across the destruction, “is exactly why I told you not to return! You’ve brought danger to my house! You will leave—immediately!”

“What were you thinking about coming back here without my permission? Do you think Luciano Bianchi would let things slide and welcome you back with open arms? You guys haven't been here for two days and this is already happening. Luciano won't stop and that is why you all must leave immediately!” Lorenzo adds angrily.

My heart pounds.

Something ugly and fearless rises inside me.

“I’m not leaving,” I say.

Everything stops. Vincenzo, Nico and Riccardo turn to look at me instantly with horror in their faces, but I don't care at all.

I don't care if I die here but I'm never leaving until I say what I want to say because I'm very sure that Lorenzo will never allow us to return once we go back to Bellagio.

Lorenzo turns slowly, his gaze locking onto mine.

“What did you just say?”

I step forward, legs shaking but spine straight.

“I said I’m not leaving until I bring you down.”

I hear soft gasps from Nico.

Lorenzo's eyes narrow.

“Bring me down…?” he asks.

I raise the diary with trembling hands. I am always walking around with the diary because I'm scared that if I leave it behind, I may never see it again. It might get taken away from me and the only evidence that I have of Lorenzo killing my father and mother will be gone forever.

I hold the diary with trembling hands and lock gaze with Lorenzo.

“I know you killed my mother,” I tell him, voice low and surprisingly very calm.

The air freezes.

Lorenzo’s face goes blank….too blank.

I hear Vincenzo groan.

And in that moment, I know…..

The war has truly begun.