Chapter 15 - THE PROTECTIVE INSTINCT
The room plunged into an icy, suffocating silence. The other capos immediately froze, their hands instinctively shifting toward their waistbands.
Elena’s heart slammed against her ribs, but she kept her chin raised, refusing to shrink back.
Enzo smirked, tilting his head as he reached out a gloved hand toward Elena's shoulder. "Does she have a name, Luca? Or did you just pick her up from one of those crumbling tenements in Brooklyn you've been buying lately?"
Before Enzo’s fingers could come within six inches of Elena, Luca moved.
The speed was terrifying. In a single explosive blur of motion, Luca rose from his chair, seized Enzo’s wrist, and twisted it downward with sickening leverage. A sharp snap echoed through the banquet hall, followed by Enzo’s strangled howl of agony as he was slammed face-first onto the heavy mahogany table.
Glasses shattered, red wine spilling like fresh blood across the polished wood.
Luca drew the silver handgun from beneath his jacket with his left hand, pressing the cold barrel directly against the side of Enzo’s temple. Luca's injured right shoulder held the groaning mobster pinned to the surface with unrelenting strength.
"Look at her again," Luca whispered into Enzo’s ear, his voice vibrating with lethal fury. "Say one more word about where she comes from, and I will paint this entire ceiling with your thoughts. Do you understand me, Enzo?"
"Luca... please... it was a joke..." Enzo gasped through gritted teeth, blood pooling from his split lip onto the tablecloth.
"She wears my crest," Luca hissed, his dark eyes burning with absolute savagery. "That means she is my blood, my honor, and my domain. Lay a finger in her direction, and I won't just kill you. I will erase your entire family line from the city. Now get out of my sight before I change my mind."
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Luca shoved Enzo off the table like a piece of refuse. Two of Luca’s guards grabbed the bruised underboss by his collar and dragged him out into the cold night.
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