Beneath the Smoke
734 Words
The night was alive with fire.
Smoke billowed into the sky, black tendrils snaking between buildings as chaos bloomed through the heart of the Ricci stronghold. From the rooftop across the street, Matteo stared through the scope of his rifle, calm despite the inferno. His pulse was steady. His aim—deadly.
Beside him, Lena adjusted her headset, her voice like flint. “Team Bravo is inside. South entrance breached. What’s the word on the basement?”
“Wired,” Matteo said. “It’ll blow in ten unless they cut the green wire.”
“Which green wire?”
“The other green wire.”
She groaned. “I hate you sometimes.”
He smirked. “You’ll love me again when we survive this.”
The explosion shook the rooftop. Matteo shielded Lena instinctively, pulling her behind him. Glass shattered below. Screams rose up like ghosts. Then—silence.
A voice crackled in their earpieces. “Basement secure. We have him.”
Lena’s breath caught. “My father?”
“Alive. Barely.”
Matteo looked at her. “You sure about this?”
She nodded. “I have to look him in the eyes.”
---
The extraction was fast. Matteo’s men swept through the burning compound like a tide of steel, dragging Lena’s father from his chains. Bloodied. Bruised. But breathing.
Lena approached slowly, heart hammering.
“Papa?”
He looked up, barely recognizing her. “Lena…?”
“You don’t get to die yet,” she said.
He coughed blood. “You were always stronger than me.”
She crouched beside him, pressing a hand to his chest. “I’m nothing like you.”
“You have your mother’s eyes,” he whispered. “Don’t let them take that too.”
Then he passed out.
---
They fled before backup arrived.
Matteo drove like a demon, Lena in the backseat with her unconscious father. Her mind swirled with memories. The bedtime stories. The lies. The betrayal.
Now, she had answers. But they didn’t feel like justice.
When they reached a safehouse in the hills, Matteo locked down the perimeter while Lena sat beside her father’s bed.
“What if he doesn’t wake up?” she asked.
“Then you get to live without his shadow,” Matteo said gently.
She looked at him. “And what about yours?”
He sat beside her. “I gave up my bloodline the moment I chose you.”
They didn’t speak again that night.
But they didn’t need to.
---
The next morning, Aria called.
“Heard the fireworks,” she said. “Tell me it was worth it.”
“It was,” Matteo replied. “She got her father back.”
“And the files?”
“Encrypted. I’ll send the drive.”
“Good,” Aria said. “Because Enzo’s planning a counterstrike.”
Matteo’s eyes narrowed. “Where?”
“Everywhere. He wants scorched earth.”
Lena, listening in, stood. “Then we hit first.”
Aria hesitated. “There’s one more thing… Alessandro’s disappeared. No one’s seen him in days.”
Matteo’s blood went cold. “He’s not hiding. He’s hunting.”
---
That evening, Lena’s father woke up.
He looked at her, eyes clearer. “I never wanted this life for you.”
“Then why lie to me?” she whispered.
“Because if you knew the truth, you’d never forgive me.”
“I haven’t,” she said. “But I’m trying.”
He reached for her hand. “Protect him.”
“Matteo?”
Her father nodded. “He’ll be the one they come for first.”
Lena stood slowly, jaw tight. “Then let them come.”
She walked outside to find Matteo cleaning his gun.
He looked up. “How is he?”
“Awake. Warning me. About you.”
Matteo snorted. “Sounds about right.”
She crouched beside him. “I meant what I said in that bunker. If this is the end… I want it to be with you.”
He set the gun aside and pulled her into his lap. “It’s not the end. It’s the beginning of something neither of us has ever had before.”
“Freedom?” she asked.
“No,” he said. “Revenge.”
They kissed beneath the setting sun, the sky bleeding red.
And in the distance, the storm prepared to fall.
- Writer
