crow's feather ( Penna di corvo)

feather three

They're heading for the front door! Get Matteo out of the window!"

Oso jumps back inside, grabbing Matteo and pulling him forcefully towards the window. "Get out, Matteo! Stay out of sight!" he orders sternly. In the garden…” He frowns in disapproval, wanting to join them in repelling the surprise attack, and argues, “But… I have to…” But Alessandro orders him firmly from inside the office,

“Carry it out, Matteo…”

Before they both notice a shout coming from outside the office door, Oso’s eyes widen in alarm, calling out, “Alicia… Benna…”

He ran towards the door, flinging it open, firing at anyone who stood in his way. He retreated inside, taking cover behind the wall.

He bit his upper lip in anger, his chest heaving, then stormed out, firing a barrage of bullets.

He ran from the office towards the stairs, Alessandro right behind him. They reached the second floor. Oso caught two men who had sneaked inside.

He hurried towards a room with an open door, gasping sharply.

He saw Alicia's body lying on the floor, bent over as if protecting someone, a small pool of blood around her.

He froze as he watched one of the men violently shove Alicia's still body away.

Then he saw the man grab a small body, gripping its arm roughly, and brandishing a knife in its face.

His eyes widened in horror as he saw the blade aimed at his little girl's throat.

"Pina..." he screamed, running. The weeping Pina turned her face towards her father, crying out in pain as the blade slashed the back of her neck, cutting into the side of her ear. Horrible,

And Oso shoots his daughter's attacker, hitting him in various parts of his body, until he falls dead... leaving the terrified little girl,

who had been sleeping in the room, and woke up startled by her mother's screams, rushing towards her and pulling her from the bed,

hugging her as she ran towards where she had heard the gunshots and the attack,

but she found no chance to escape, as someone had stormed into the room,

pounced on her, stabbing her with his knife,

while she turned her back to protect her little girl, then they both fell together, and Alicia desperately covered her with her body; So that he wouldn't reach her, the stabs kept coming, and as she screamed in terror, her mother pressed down on her, her heavy body suffocating her. Then her mother was pulled away, and the man appeared with his knife, almost killing her. Then her father appeared, and she cried out, "Papa..." Oso rushed towards her, and she threw herself into his arms, her body trembling, her neck and ears bleeding, sobbing hysterically. Oso held her close,

and approached Alicia's still body, shaking her and calling out in a trembling voice, "Alicia..." But all he found was her stillness, her face and eyes devoid of life. He gritted his teeth in pain, his heart pounding with the urge to cry, as she screamed, "Papa... Mama... Mama..." He held his little girl tighter until he heard Alessandro shout, "Oso... they're pouring into the house..." Alessandro, three men were rushing into the room.

Oso glared at them, his eyes red with anger and suppressed rage at his wife's murder. Bena clung to him, one arm wrapped around his neck, looking at the men with fear, whispering tremblingly, "Papa..." He assessed the situation. He would finish them off and unleash all his madness on them, but he had to get Bena out first. He quickly backed away as the men surged toward him.

Oso approached the open window,

then glanced at his daughter out of the corner of his eye with a strange look,

"Time to fly," he told her calmly. With a swift movement, he untied her arm from his neck, pushing her body away from him. In a flash, he was throwing her out the window, eliciting a gasp of shock from her with his commanding roar, "Vola, mia corvo... Vola..." (Fly, my crow... fly!) He didn't say run away...

But He ordered her to fly, while throwing her out the window;

To save her from the c*****e unfolding...

And from the window she fell, screaming in surprise.

Mateo looked up, shocked,

but instinctively caught her in his arms.

She frantically tried to wriggle free, her small body trembling with fear.

He tightened his grip on her,

saying breathlessly, "I've got you, mia cara (my darling)... I've got you, don't be afraid..." With his voice, rough with the huskiness of adolescence,

which she recognized, she calmed down, burying her face, her breath ragged, against his neck, whispering his name haltingly, "M-Mateo..."

He tightened his grip around her, her small arms wrapped around his neck, clinging to him with trembling.

The sound of screams and bullets reached them from the house,

but with a strange feeling, she lifted her head from his shoulder;

Then she saw someone sneaking up behind them;

Her eyes widened, almost swallowing her face,

"Mattio..." she gasped in alarm. Matteo, startled by her voice, his body tensed, and he turned, still holding her;

The man struck him with his knife, the blade slashing his forehead at his eyebrow. Matteo cried out in pain, leaping backward and leaving Benna on the ground.

If he hadn't jumped, the blade would have pierced his eye;

He squeezes his right eye tightly in pain, blood streaming inside, leaving a burning sensation.

His attacker doesn't hesitate to try to harm him. Thirteen-year-old Matteo tries to dodge the knife, cursing in angry fury.

As she watches the scene, weeping and indignant, she calls out, "Papa..."

But when Matteo stumbles in front of her, she gasps, her face contorted and wet. She sees the man about to kill Matteo.

She runs towards him, tripping him from behind, grabbing his leg unexpectedly.

He stumbles and falls to the ground, dropping his knife.

He looks behind him;

He saw Bena glaring at her angrily, while she clung to his leg, her face burning with fury, unbecoming of her seven years. He grabbed her hair roughly at the front, and she cried out in pain. But then he was startled by Matteo's booming voice: "Tu..." (You).

He looked up at him and saw Matteo standing there, his face blank, blood covering one side of his face, his right eye bloodshot and black in the center. He looks like a terrifying demon, his shadow growing unsettlingly large behind him.

He gasps in shock as his knife plunges into the center of his neck,

when Matteo has aimed it at him with a steady, precise blow.

He falls, choking on his own blood, writhing, dead. Matteo goes to Bina, checking her. He sees some blood on her neck and the side of her face in the dim garden light. "Are you alright?" he asks in a flat tone. She rushes towards him, leaping onto him, wrapping her arms around his neck, burying her face in his shoulder, weeping.

He breathes heavily and raggedly.

But he snaps to attention as his father calls out from behind him, "Mattio..." He looks at Alessandro, who is approaching, with Oso behind him, his face frozen and bloodied, like his clothes. Anyone who sees him would think he had fallen into a bloody pool and emerged from it in hell, his gaze blazing like a rabid animal thirsting for more blood.

Many of his father's men have arrived around them, surrounding them for protection. The sound of a helicopter suddenly erupts, accompanied by a hail of sniper fire and an exchange of more shots. Alessandro is nearly hit, but Oso pushes him aside to shield him with his body. He takes the deadly bullets right before Matteo's stunned eyes, and Bina, in shock, her mouth agape, whispers, "Papa..."