Chapter 11: Between Life and Death
539 Words
The courtyard erupted into chaos.
"Find the sniper!"
"Protect the Boss!"
"Get Miss Moretti inside!"
Rain mixed with blood on the marble steps.
Sofia ignored the shouting.
Her entire focus was on the man lying in front of her.
"Luca... stay with me."
His breathing had become shallow.
The fresh bandages she'd wrapped around his side only an hour ago were soaked through again.
The new bullet had torn across his shoulder, but it was the reopened wound beneath that worried her most.
She pressed both hands against his side.
"Someone call a doctor!" she cried.
"We already have one coming," Matteo shouted, firing toward the tree line.
Sofia looked up.
"Coming?"
"He won't make it if we wait."
Without another word, she tore a strip from the bottom of her dress.
Maria gasped.
"Miss Sofia..."
"My father taught me one thing."
She folded the fabric tightly.
"When someone is bleeding..."
"...you stop the bleeding first."
She pressed the makeshift bandage firmly against Luca's wound.
His body tensed.
For the first time...
The Devil winced.
Only slightly.
But Sofia noticed.
"I'm sorry," she whispered.
"It's going to hurt."
Luca's eyes slowly opened.
Instead of looking at his captains...
Instead of checking the battlefield...
He looked only at Sofia.
"You should've..."
He struggled to breathe.
"...gone inside."
She shook her head.
"And leave you here?"
A faint chuckle escaped him.
"So..."
"...you finally admit you don't hate me."
"I never said that."
"You're patching me up."
"That's called basic humanity."
The corner of his mouth lifted.
"You'll make a terrible mafia queen."
Sofia blinked.
"A what?"
Before he could answer—
A loud laugh echoed across the courtyard.
Dante.
He was still standing beside his Ferrari, rain pouring over him as if he had all the time in the world.
"She's right, Luca."
He called across the estate.
"She has too much compassion."
"She'd never survive your world."
Luca slowly pushed himself upright despite the protests around him.
Matteo stepped forward.
"Boss, don't."
"I'm fine."
"No, you're not," Sofia snapped.
Everyone froze.
No one...
No one spoke to Luca De Santis like that.
Not even his most trusted men.
Luca looked at her.
For a heartbeat...
The world disappeared.
Then he did something that stunned everyone.
He obeyed.
He sat back down.
Matteo exchanged a bewildered glance with Enzo.
In fifteen years...
They had never seen anyone convince Luca to stop.
Not once.
A convoy of black SUVs roared through the gates.
The estate doctor jumped out with two nurses.
As they rushed toward Luca, another guard sprinted across the courtyard, clutching something in his hand.
"Boss!"
He was out of breath.
"We found this near the sniper's position."
He handed Luca a single brass shell casing.
Luca's expression changed instantly.
His jaw tightened.
"This isn't Romano's."
Dante frowned from across the courtyard.
"No."
He took a few slow steps forward, lowering his own weapon.
"...it's not mine."
For the first time that night...
The two rivals agreed on something.
Someone else had fired that shot.
Someone powerful enough to attack both mafia kings without fear.
Sofia looked between the two men.
If neither of them had ordered the sniper...
Then who wanted all three of them dead?
And why?
- Writer
