Chapter 26
Vargas realized the execution order had already been silently passed. Driven by pure, cornered-animal panic, he lunged backward, drawing his sidearm with desperate speed. But he didn't aim at Alessandro. He spun toward the adjacent corridor, intending to grab the closest vulnerable target to use as a human shield. The heavy oak doors of the east wing had just cracked open. Rosalie was stepping out, holding a silver tray with Livia’s morning juice. "Get over here!" Vargas screamed, grabbing the maid roughly by her uniform collar and pressing his gun against her temple. "Nobody move! Or I blow her brains out!" The entire foyer froze. Dozens of weapons were drawn, but no one fired, terrified of hitting the innocent woman. Alessandro did not shout. His cold, intimidating eyes locked onto Vargas, projecting a deeply masculine, overwhelming aura of absolute death. "You are holding the woman who protects my daughter," Alessandro whispered, his voice a low, lethal hum that vibrated through the marble room. "If you pull that trigger, I will keep you alive for a month." Rosalie, remembering the brutal realities of the mafia world, didn't scream. With a sudden, fierce surge of bravery, she slammed the heavy silver tray directly upward into Vargas’s wrist. The gun fired harmlessly into the ceiling as Vargas stumbled back, howling in pain.
