Chapter Nine – Fire and Ashes
The first shot was a question.
The answer was an inferno.
The night exploded with gunfire.
Crimson tracers cut through the black like angry stars falling from the sky.
Adriano's mercenaries hit fast and hard, hitting our safe houses, burning supply caches.
I was on the front lines, Glock smoking, heart pounding.
Giovanni was beside me, but the brother I knew was fading.
He hesitated, letting a bullet graze his arm.
"Stay focused," I hissed.
He nodded, blood dripping down his sleeve.
The battle was chaos.
A firefight inside a crumbling warehouse.
Men screamed. Bodies fell.
I saw one of my closest lieutenants—Milo—take a knife in the gut.
He didn't scream.
He just looked at me and nodded.
Suddenly, Mercy's voice crackled through my comms.
"Luca—move! Someone's inside the command center."
I raced through smoke and debris to find a shadow slipping through the chaos.
A gun pressed to my back.
The voice was cold, familiar.
"Did you really think you could outrun me?"
I twisted, heart dropping.
Adriano.
The war was no longer about territory.
It was personal.
And it was far from over.