CHAPTER 7 — THE NIGHT THE ROMANO EMPIRE FELL
CHAPTER 7 — THE NIGHT THE ROMANO EMPIRE FELL
The island became a fortress before sunset.
Floodlights swept across the docks.
Snipers occupied the watchtowers.
Patrol boats circled the shoreline like hungry sharks.
Vittorio Romano was coming home.
From their hiding place above the compound, Luca watched every movement through binoculars.
"No mistakes," he said quietly.
"There won't be a second chance."
Isabella spread the final blueprint across the ground.
"The children are here."
She pointed to Warehouse Three.
"My father's meeting is in the main villa."
Another mark.
"Your daughter is being kept below the villa. Separate from the others."
Elena frowned.
"Why keep her alive?"
Neither sibling answered.
Finally Isabella whispered,
"Because she's his insurance."
Luca closed his eyes for a moment.
"My father always believed blood was ownership."
He looked at Elena.
"If anything happens..."
She interrupted him.
"No."
"This isn't your fight."
"It became my fight the moment I saw those children."
For the first time since the crash, Luca smiled without sadness.
It lasted only a second.
At exactly 11:40 p.m., the first explosion shattered the silence.
Not near the villa.
At the fuel depot.
Flames shot into the night sky.
Sirens screamed.
Guards rushed toward the fire.
Exactly as Isabella had planned.
Within seconds, the three of them slipped through the outer fence.
Luca headed for the underground bunker.
Isabella moved toward the communications tower.
Elena ran for Warehouse Three.
She carried no weapon.
Only the emergency keys Isabella had stolen months earlier.
Inside the warehouse, frightened children huddled together behind steel fencing.
Some cried.
Some stared silently.
A little boy looked up as Elena approached.
"Are you real?"
Her throat tightened.
"Yes."
"Did my mom send you?"
Tears blurred her vision.
"I'm taking you home."
She unlocked the gate.
Dozens of tiny hands reached for her.
"Hurry."
One by one, the children disappeared into the jungle where Isabella's rescue team waited.
All except one.
A little girl stood frozen in the corner.
Green eyes.
Dark curls.
Exactly like the photograph.
"Lily?"
The child looked up.
"Who are you?"
Before Elena could answer—
Gunfire exploded outside.
Meanwhile, beneath the villa...
Luca kicked open the final steel door.
The room beyond looked nothing like a prison.
It looked like a child's bedroom.
Books.
Paintings.
A teddy bear carefully placed on the bed.
A little girl slowly stood.
She couldn't have been older than ten.
She stared at him for several seconds.
Then quietly asked,
"Are you another one of Grandfather's guards?"
Luca couldn't speak.
His entire body trembled.
"No."
His voice broke.
"I'm..."
He swallowed hard.
"I'm your father."
The girl frowned.
"My father died."
"No."
"I was told he abandoned me."
Every word struck harder than a bullet.
"I searched for you every day."
"You didn't."
"I did."
"You never came."
"I couldn't find you."
She looked at him with years of hurt far too heavy for a child.
"Then why should I believe you now?"
Luca slowly removed the old silver compass he had carried since before she was born.
He opened it.
Inside was a tiny photograph of a baby wrapped in a pink blanket.
On the back were the words:
For Lily. Wherever life takes you, Daddy will always find you.
The little girl's hands began to shake.
She recognized it.
She had an identical photograph.
Tears rolled silently down her face.
"...Daddy?"
Luca fell to his knees.
This time he cried without trying to hide it.
Above them...
A slow clap echoed through the hallway.
Vittorio Romano stepped from the shadows.
Older.
Thinner.
But every bit as terrifying.
"I wondered how long it would take."
Behind him stood more than thirty armed men.
Luca slowly rose.
"Let her go."
Vittorio smiled.
"You still think like a father."
"I learned from a monster."
The old man chuckled.
"You learned from me."
Without warning—
He drew a pistol.
But the shot never came.
A single suppressed bullet shattered the weapon from his hand.
Isabella.
She emerged from the opposite corridor.
Rifle raised.
"For Sofia," she whispered.
Gunfire erupted.
The hallway became chaos.
Luca shielded Lily.
Isabella exchanged fire with the guards.
Elena arrived moments later with the last rescued children already outside the compound.
Everything came down to seconds.
Vittorio grabbed Lily.
Pressed a knife against her throat.
"No one moves!"
The shooting stopped.
Silence.
The old man's smile returned.
"You've always had one weakness, Luca."
"Family."
Luca slowly lowered his weapon.
"Take me."
"I already have."
Then Vittorio looked at Elena.
"And now I'll take the woman you love."
Elena froze.
Love?
Luca had never—
Before anyone could react—
Elena picked up a broken piece of steel pipe from the floor.
With every ounce of strength she had...
She swung.
The pipe struck Vittorio's wrist.
The knife flew free.
Lily ran.
Luca fired once.
The bullet struck Vittorio squarely in the chest.
The old man staggered backward.
For the first time in his life...
Fear crossed his face.
He looked at his son.
"You'll destroy everything."
Luca answered quietly,
"No."
"I'm ending it."
May you like
Vittorio Romano collapsed.
The empire died with him.
