Chapter 46
The underground safehouse hidden within the ancient Roman Catacombs was damp and suffocatingly claustrophobic, but it was virtually impenetrable. After ensuring that Maya, Sophia, and a heavily medicated Matteo were secure behind the heavy steel blast doors and fully supplied with rations, Dante began to meticulously prepare his arsenal. He draped his signature dark charcoal overcoat over his heavy ceramic body armor; the chilling, imperial majesty of the undisputed mafia kingpin had fully returned.
"Where are you going?" Maya asked, a sudden spike of panic tightening her chest as she watched him chamber a round into his sidearm.
"Antoine, the Corsican leader, is currently in Rome. He sent a challenge through the underground intelligence network," Dante explained, his face as cold and rigid as carved marble. "He wants to meet face-to-face at a neutral site to negotiate a treaty dividing the global territories. I know it’s a trap."
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"Then why on earth are you walking into it?!" Maya cried, grabbing his arm, her eyes filling with desperate tears. "You could be killed!"
"Because if I don't face him today, his syndicate will hunt our family to the very ends of the earth," Dante pulled her gently into his chest, stroking her long brown hair with a tender, steady hand. "I have to sever the head of the snake. I compromised and stepped away to buy our peace, but this world only respects absolute violence. I have to show them that Dante Russo has not lost his fangs."
