Chapter 5 - BLOOD ON THE VELVET
Chaos exploded in the Plaza Hotel.
The sound of shattering crystal, screaming socialites, and rapid-fire gunshots turned the opulent ballroom into a slaughterhouse. Champagne flutes exploded on tables, raining shards across the carpet.
Dante had Emily pinned completely beneath his body, shielding her head and chest with his broad frame. Above them, bullets whistled through the air, chewing through plaster walls and gilded mirrors.
"Cassian!" Dante shouted over the din, reaching inside his tuxedo and drawing a sleek, matte-black Sig Sauer.
"Flank is clear, Boss! East exit!" Cassian’s voice boomed through the darkness from ten feet away, returning fire with measured, deadly double-taps.
"Stay down, Emily! Don't move!" Dante ordered, rolling off her slightly to raise his weapon. He fired three rapid shots toward the balcony where muzzle flashes were lighting up the dark. A body plummeted from the second tier, crashing heavily onto a dining table.
Emily was hyperventilating, the smell of cordite and copper burning her lungs. She looked up and saw Lucian Russo retreating into the shadows behind the service doors, guarded by four heavily armed mercenaries.
Then she saw something else.
Through the flashing muzzle light, Salvatore Gallo was crawling along the perimeter wall, gripping a silver revolver. His eyes were wide with crazed desperation, fixed entirely on Dante’s exposed back as Dante covered Cassian’s advance.
"Dante, behind you!" Emily screamed.
There was no time to think. Emily lunged forward, grabbing a heavy brass candelabra that had fallen beside her, and hurled it with all her strength at Gallo.
The candelabra struck Gallo squarely in the temple with a sickening crunch. The revolver discharged, the bullet ricocheting off the marble floor harmlessly, but Gallo lunged upward, slashing wildly with a tactical knife he pulled from his boot.
Dante whipped around, but the blade grazed across his upper arm, tearing through the fine tuxedo fabric and slicing deep into flesh.
Blood sprayed across Emily’s blue velvet gown.
Dante didn't even grunt. With terrifying precision, his left hand caught Gallo’s wrist, snapping the bone with a single, brutal twist. Gallo shrieked in agony as the knife clattered to the floor. Before the sound could leave the man's throat, Dante shoved his gun beneath Gallo's chin.
*Crack.*
Gallo went limp and slumped to the floor, dead.
Dante spun around, his eyes wild with adrenaline and bloodlust. He grabbed Emily by the arm and pulled her to her feet. "Are you hit?"
"No! No, I'm okay!" she gasped, staring in horror at his arm. "Dante, you're bleeding!"
"It's a scratch. Move!"
Cassian appeared at their side, his gun smoking. "Car is at the service bay, Boss. The perimeter is compromised. Russo brought in Serbian contractors."
"Get her out," Dante commanded, shoving Emily toward Cassian. "Take the armored Maybach. Go straight to the Hudson estate."
"No!" Emily grabbed Dante’s lapel with both hands, refusing to move. Her eyes were wide, fierce, and defiant amid the blood and smoke. "I'm not leaving you behind!"
Dante stared at her, stunned for a microsecond by the ferocity in the small woman before him. Every other woman in his life would have fled screaming. Emily Foster was clinging to his bleeding arm, willing to face gunfire at his side.
A dark, dangerous smile cut across Dante's blood-spattered face.
"Then stay close to me, *mia regina*," he growled.
May you like
He gripped her hand tightly, interlocking his fingers with hers, and together they sprinted through the gunfire and shattered glass, bursting through the emergency exits into the cold New York rain.
***
