Chapter 13 - The House Was Already Wired to Burn
Salvatore called Carmine.
No answer.
Again.
Nothing.
He called the main security line.
Dead.
Elena looked at Crane.
“You’re lying.”
Crane shrugged.
“Possibly.”
Salvatore grabbed his collar.
“Where are the explosives?”
“Ask Luca.”
“Where?”
Crane smiled.
“Now you understand why he wanted the boy inside your house first.”
Salvatore froze.
“Matteo?”
“A child can walk into places armed men cannot.”
Elena’s face went white.
“He used Matteo?”
“Not knowingly.”
Salvatore shoved Crane back.
The SUV turned.
“We’re going home.”
Elena grabbed his arm.
“The trade—”
“If my people are sitting on explosives, there is no trade.”
Crane laughed softly.
“You’re choosing your soldiers over the boy.”
Salvatore pointed his gun at him.
“No. I’m refusing to let you tell me which family member dies first.”
They reached the estate at 11:18.
Carmine met them at the gate.
“Where were you?”
“Signal dead inside.”
“Evacuate everyone.”
“Why?”
“Bombs.”
Carmine did not waste time asking.
Within minutes, servants, guards, kitchen staff, and injured men moved toward the southern field.
Salvatore entered the mansion.
Elena followed.
“You’re staying outside.”
“No.”
“That wasn’t a question.”
“My children are part of this.”
“So is dying.”
She glared.
“I spent eight years protecting Matteo alone.”
“And look how well that worked.”
The words escaped before Salvatore could stop them.
Elena went still.
He regretted them instantly.
“I didn’t mean—”
“Yes, you did.”
“Not like that.”
“There is no good version of that sentence.”
She walked past him.
He followed.
They found the first device beneath the east staircase.
Then another behind the ballroom wall.
Military-grade.
Carmine counted.
“Eight so far.”
Crane, guarded in the courtyard, had said twelve.
Four missing.
At 11:42, Matteo’s voice came over the mansion speaker system.
“Salvatore?”
Every man stopped.
Salvatore looked upward.
“Matteo!”
“I can hear you.”
“Where are you?”
“I don’t know.”
His voice trembled.
“There’s a room with pipes.”
Basement.
“Are you alone?”
“No.”
A second tiny voice sobbed.
Sofia.
Elena covered her mouth.
Matteo continued.
“There’s a man outside.”
“Luca?”
“I don’t know.”
“Listen to me. Don’t touch anything.”
“I already did.”
Salvatore’s heart stopped.
“What?”
“There was a red light. Sofia said it was scary, so I pulled the wire.”
Carmine stared.
From somewhere beneath the floor, a warning alarm stopped.
Salvatore almost laughed.
The boy had accidentally disabled something.
Maybe.
“Matteo, can you see a door?”
“Yes.”
“Color?”
“Green.”
Carmine said, “Old boiler room.”
They ran.
At 11:49, they reached the basement corridor.
Gunfire erupted.
Luca’s men.
Carmine returned fire.
Salvatore pushed Elena behind a concrete column.
“I said stay outside.”
“You can complain if we survive.”
They moved room to room.
At 11:53, Salvatore found the green door.
Locked.
He shot the hinges.
Inside, Matteo crouched over Sofia.
The little girl had dark curls, bare feet, and the one-eyed rabbit pressed to her chest.
Matteo looked up.
“Coffee man.”
Salvatore almost broke.
He pulled both children into his arms.
Elena entered.
“Sofia.”
The little girl stared.
“Mama?”
Then she screamed and ran to her.
For three seconds, there was no mafia.
No guns.
No betrayal.
Only a mother kneeling on concrete while two children collided into her arms.
Then Salvatore noticed the timer.
00:06:14.
Six minutes.
Twelve bombs.
Carmine entered.
“We found ten.”
“Two missing.”
Matteo looked at the timer.
“I know where one is.”
Salvatore turned.
“How?”
“The man with the scar put it in the lion.”
“What lion?”
“The stone one outside.”
Front fountain.
Carmine ran.
“One left,” Salvatore said.
Sofia suddenly spoke.
“In the dead lady.”
Everyone looked at her.
“What?”
“The man put a box in the dead lady.”
Elena’s eyes widened.
“Maria’s sarcophagus.”
The mausoleum.
Salvatore looked at the timer.
Five minutes.
Too far by foot.
He grabbed Matteo.
Elena took Sofia.
They ran.
At the courtyard, Crane was gone.
His guards lay unconscious.
A message had been carved into the hood of the SUV.
THANK YOU FOR BRINGING HIM.
Crane and Luca were together now.
Salvatore realized the trade had never been for revenge.
It had been a rescue.
Luca had helped Crane escape.
They were partners.
And at 11:57, Maria’s mausoleum exploded.
The northern sky turned white.
The shock wave hit the estate a second later.
Windows shattered.
Matteo screamed.
Salvatore covered him.
Carmine’s voice crackled over the radio.
“Boss.”
Salvatore coughed through dust.
“What?”
“The fountain device was fake.”
“Then we still have one real bomb.”
Carmine answered:
“No.”
His voice sounded sick.
“We have something worse.”
“What?”
“The last device isn’t in the house.”
A pause.
May you like
“It’s in Matteo’s rabbit.”
Everyone looked at the toy in Sofia’s arms.
