My Mafia Madness 4

Chapter 31 - Protecting My Family

The very moment Alexa reached her son’s nursery she immediately closed the door behind her and locked it before crossing the room to check on her infant son.

As expected, he was still fast asleep from his most recent feeding.

And with the manor being so massive in size, he clearly hadn’t heard all of the commotion going on downstairs yet.

But that was all about to change.

Knowing that she had an armed intruder hot on her heels, Alexa wisely made her way towards a secretive safe hidden in the walk-in robe of her son’s nursery.

Keying in the eight-digit code to unlock the safe, she quickly opened it and reached inside to grasp the fully loaded 9mm glock that sat waiting for her.

It was moments like this where Alexa thanked her overprotective partner Dante for his foresight to be organised for emergencies such as this.

Due to the ongoing intrusions and kidnappings, there were now several places spread throughout the entire manor which had secret stashes of loaded weapons and ammunition, only accessible to those who had been given the codes.

Double checking that her gun was loaded and had the safety taken off, she lifted it up and aimed it directly at the doorway.

Just as the door handle appeared to turn from the other side.

Someone was trying to open the door.

Focusing on keeping her breathing as soft as she could manage, Alexa cautiously watched the door to the nursery, knowing full well that it was already locked.

Whoever was on the other side would have to break the lock if they wanted to get through.

And if they did, she would be there waiting to unload her entire gun into the poor fool!

Then suddenly it became eerily silent...

There was no sound coming from the other side of the door. No sounds of footsteps or handling of the door knob. Nothing.

Where had he gone?

Just as she found herself beginning to calm down, with the possibility that whoever the intruder was had grown bored and moved on, there were three tremendous sounds one after the next.

‘BANG! BANG! BANG!’

Not only did the series of sounds wake poor baby Alessandro who then proceeded to cry, but it also caused Alexa to jump with a startled fright.

She watched as the series of bullets crashed through the door’s locking mechanism, completely obliterating it in the process.

So much for a door with a lock.

Whoever was out there was coming in, whether she wanted them to or not!

Keeping her gun aimed up at the door, Alexa watched as the wooden barrier was suddenly kicked in and the armed intruder stepped in through the doorway with his gun lifted.

She didn’t think...

She simply reacted within the moment.

’BANG! BANG!’

Two shots from her gun were fired, with one hitting the man in his left shoulder and the other just missing his left leg.

He grunted and appeared to step back from the force of the singular shot which had managed to hit him.

But the bastard was still standing, with his gun now lifted upward and aimed directly at her!

Before she could squeeze the trigger for a third time, he quickly fired two shots off.

‘BANG, BANG!’

Luckily both narrowly missed Alexa as she ducked away behind the entrance to the walk-in-robe for a form of cover.

“Nice shot. I’ll admit that I’m impressed...” the gunman announced with a sinister tone to his voice.

“You know, your husband’s been very worried about you, Mrs. Moroni. Let's put an end to all this, shall we? It’s time to come with us. No one else needs to die here tonight.”

“Stay back! I know how to use this!” she demanded, completely ignoring the snide comments he had just made about Vincenzo needing her to return.

Alexa’s finger hovered over the trigger with caution as she remained hidden in behind the single layer of drywall.

Her warm brown eyes narrowed as she stared down at the gun held in her hand and her heart continued to thud, now filled with adrenalin fuelling her entire body and keeping her alert.

She would do whatever it took to protect her child!

Alessandro in the meantime continued crying loudly, afraid of whatever it was causing so much noise around him.

And the more he cried, the more it made her hurt inside.

She wanted to console her baby. To stop his crying and to rock and sooth him back into warmth and comfort. As any mother would in her situation.

With the intruder also having heard the baby crying in the cot at the other end of the room, he now turned his attention towards the tiny infant as he spoke with malice and a grin spread wide across his face.

“Just remember, our orders were to bring you in alive, Mrs. Moroni…”

He paused, moving his gun across to aim at the cot as he went on, intending on flushing her out with his threat.

“He didn't say anything about the child getting to live.”

“Don’t you dare!”

Alexa found herself snarling, like a mother bear would in order to protect her cub as she squeezed the handle of her gun tightly.

“Come out and I won’t have to.” the intruder offered rather carelessly.

“The choice is yours… I’ll give you to the count of five, got it? Five… four…”

As he began counting down, Alexa immediately knew what she had to do. Protect her son.

Her usually expected levels of fear had suddenly and somehow disappeared completely as the motherly instinct to protect her child took over instead.

She needed to put this piece of s**t down!

Getting a good grip in her gun, she inhaled a deep breath and closed her eyes to centre herself before her next risky move.

“…three… two…”

Slowly exhaling, she opened her eyes and emerged from around the corner with her gun raised up and aimed directly at her target just as he spoke the last word.

“…one…”

Currently focused on his backwards counting, the intruder hadn’t yet realised that Alexa had darted out from her hiding spot until it was too late!

Now forced to look into her ferocious eyes, he then noticed the gun aimed directly at him and his eyes widened with fear.

‘BANG, BANG, BANG!’

Three shots were simultaneously fired in rapid succession. And that was all it took to put her enemy down for good.

His lifeless body landed with a loud ‘thump’ on the floor just inside the nursery’s doorway.

Alexa watched as the gun he had been holding onto slid just out of his reach and he began bleeding out onto the floor.

Feeling the desperate need to console her crying baby, Alexa placed the gun down onto the nearest flat surface and ran across towards the cot.

Reaching in, she grabbed her baby boy and hoisted him out, cradling him in her loving arms as she began rocking him up and down and whispering soft words of comfort to sate him in his moment of fear.

“Shhh… mummy’s hear… shhh…”

Now focused on calming Alessandro down, Alexa didn't know it yet, but she had made a rather fatal mistake.

She hadn’t yet realised that her back was now facing the intruder, whom she clearly believed to already be dead.

Unfortunately for her, that wasn’t the case.

In fact, that same man was now slowly pulling himself back up and into a sitting position, whilst remaining completely silent.

Both Alexa and her son were now in serious, life-threatening danger!

As the badly wounded man reached for the gun and took a hold of it, Alexa then happened to turn around and see him sitting upright with the gun now in his hand!

Her eyes widened and she gasped.

Even if she wanted to make a run for the gun she had left over on the dresser, she wouldn't have made it in time!

Instinctively using her own body to shield her baby from him she looked away, closed her eyes and prepared herself for what would have to come next.

She was about to be shot!

‘BANG!’

The deafening singular shot echoed throughout the nursery, though this one sounded much louder than the others had before it.

‘Maybe this is what it sounds like when you die’ Alexa thought to herself as she waited in peril, bracing herself for the expected pain to wash over her like an unwanted wave.

And with her eyes still closed, she found herself frowning as soon as she realised that nothing had changed.

She didn’t feel anything different at all. No feelings of pain or injury from the shot. No pain whatsoever.

But how could that be?

She heard the gunshot go off clearly enough!

Opening her eyes, she slowly and bravely turned her head back around to glance in the intruder’s direction, expecting to see him sitting upright after having fired the singular shot off at her.

But instead, the intruder now lay flat on his back again, now surrounded by an even larger pool of blood than there had been only moments earlier.

And there, standing just outside the nursery doorway was none other than Dante Romano.

Alexa’s heart immediately swelled as soon as she sighted him standing out in the hallway.

She couldn’t have prevented the smile of relief from forming across her face even if she wanted to.

She was just grateful that he had come for her. And the timing of it all was merely an added bonus.

With her skyrocketing relief and obvious gratitude evident within her expression, Alexa quickly crossed the length of the room within a matter of seconds, walking straight into his open arms and inhaling his familiar scent.

“Oh my God, I thought... I thought that was it!”

She spoke through sobs, burying her head in against his muscular chest as she cradled their tiny wriggling son between themselves, making sure not to inadvertently crush him.

Dante’s warm, strong arms wrapped around her protectively as he pulled his fiancé and child into him. Closer for added comfort perhaps.

“I really thought we were going to die.” Alexa added in disbelief.

Now it was Dante’s turn to console Alexa, similarly how she had with her son only moments earlier.

He noticed that her entire body was trembling, most likely due to a mixture of adrenalin and fear.

“Shhh… it’s alright. I’ve got you, bella. You’re both safe now.” he soothed with his calming voice, pressing the bottom of his chin on top of her head.

“I’ll keep you both safe, I promise.”

As Alexa’s head rested in against Dante’s chest she could hear his mighty heart beating rapidly, over and over, and caught up within the moment she suddenly realised something that she hadn’t thought of before.

Dante was afraid of losing them!

The infamously merciless Reaper, a killing machine feared throughout the entire city was afraid of losing the most important thing to him.

His entire world…

And of course, that was his family.

Now that he had one, the Don planned on keeping it that way, by any means necessary.

And this latest strike on his own turf, against his own family was the final straw.

Vincenzo Moroni would pay for this insult with his life.

Parting from Alexa for a moment he made sure to look her in the eye as he spoke his next words calmly and with complete control of the situation.

“Come. We need to get you both to the panic room where you will be safe.”

Nodding her head, Alexa then allowed him to take a hold of her free hand and then start leading them back down the hallway as they headed in the direction of the master bedroom.

-

Both Willow and Roberto were immediately alerted to the door of the panic room suddenly opening as Dante quickly stepped inside, followed closely by Alexa who was carrying baby Alessandro.

The poor little one was still crying from the trauma of what had just happened.

“Lex!”

Willow cried out as she stood up from the seat and ran across to give her bestie a big warm hug.

“Thank God! We were so worried.”

“He won’t stop crying. I don’t know what to do.” Alexa announced with her brows furrowed inwards as she looked to her friend for assistance.

Willow held both her hands out as she spoke.

“Give him here for a sec.”

Handing her crying son over felt difficult for Alexa, with her motherly bond almost aching as soon as he was out of her reach.

But she chose to stand by and watch as Willow then began pacing back and forth with the little one, jiggling him up and down as she soothed him with soft words.

Roberto in the meantime came over to Dante and embraced his brother with a quick hug before they too began speaking with one another.

“You ok?” Roberto queried.

Dante merely nodded in response before he began barking commands. It was clear that he was now in Reaper mode and that there was no time to lose.

“How are we looking?” Roberto asked, glancing at the monitors of security cameras spread throughout the manor.

As Dante spoke he proceeded to reload his twin guns one by one.

“We’re weeding the ones working for Moroni out now, one by one but it’s going to take time. The main group just arrived as promised. Unfortunately, they have no idea that we’re ready for them.”

Roberto smirked, nodding his head.

This was indeed pleasing information. For once they were right where they needed to be, several steps ahead of their enemy.

Now prepared to get back out there and wipe out the remaining henchmen working for Moroni, Dante gestured towards Alexa and Alessandro as he spoke again.

“Keep them here until I inform you otherwise. Yeah?” he looked directly into Roberto’s eyes.

“I mean it. No one gets in or out of this room besides me, understood?”

“I’ll keep them all safe, bro. You have my word.”

Roberto spoke to reassure his older brother as he placed his hand onto Dante’s shoulder and gave it a firm squeeze.

“Just be careful out there.”

With a smile and a nod, Dante then turned and headed back out through the panic room’s doorway, just before it slid closed behind him and automatically locked.

He was now on his way to do what he did best...

The Reaper was in the mood to hunt some rats.