Chapter 47
The designated meeting point was a massive, abandoned urban construction site located in the shadows of the ancient Colosseum—an echoing, desolate arena filled with concrete pillars, rusted rebar, and deadly blind spots. Dante walked through the chain-link gates alone, his demeanor radiating a terrifying, unearthly calm.
Antoine, a towering, heavily muscled French mercenary with a jagged scar stretching across his throat, stood waiting alongside twenty elite, heavily armed tactical shooters. He sneered mockingly as Dante approached empty-handed.
"The legendary king of New York, finally stepping into the light," Antoine taunted, his voice echoing off the concrete. "I heard you had been reduced to playing gardener in Tuscany. What a pathetic end for a legend."
"You ruined my vineyard, Antoine. I am here to collect the debt," Dante stated, his deep voice dropping to a freezing, lethal frequency.
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"You will pay that debt with your life!" Antoine roared.
Instantly, two dozen rifle barrels swung upward, aiming squarely at Dante’s chest. However, a fraction of a second before they could squeeze their triggers, Dante hit a remote detonator hidden in his palm. Massive, military-grade smoke canisters he had pre-planted along the perimeter exploded, flooding the entire site in a thick, blinding cloud of impenetrable white phosphorus smoke. Simultaneously, localized signal jammers activated, severing the mercenaries' comms. Dante dove into the fog like a phantom of death. He disarmed the two closest guards with brutal, bone-snapping precision, using their own assault rifles to lay down a devastating arc of fire. A ferocious, chaotic battle for survival erupted in the very heart of Rome.
