CHAPTER 2 — THE MAN WHO NEVER SAVED STRANGERS
CHAPTER 2 — THE MAN WHO NEVER SAVED STRANGERS
The man didn't answer immediately.
Instead, he crouched a few feet away, the beam of his flashlight moving from Nora's face to the blood staining her wrist, then to the chain bolted into the wall.
His eyes narrowed.
Not because she was injured.
Because of the hardware.
"This wasn't rushed," he said quietly, almost to himself. "They expected someone to come back."
Nora swallowed.
"You... know who they are?"
He ignored the question.
The silence stretched until she almost laughed from exhaustion.
Then he reached inside his coat.
Every instinct she had screamed.
Instead of a gun, he pulled out a folding knife.
One clean flick.
The blade flashed.
The zip tie around her right wrist snapped.
Then the left.
The sudden freedom nearly made her collapse face-first onto the concrete.
Her shoulders screamed as blood rushed back into her arms.
She couldn't move.
The man caught her before she hit the floor.
Only for a second.
Only because letting her crack her skull would have been inconvenient.
Nothing about the gesture was gentle.
Nothing about him was.
"You can stand?"
She tried.
Her knees folded instantly.
"Damn."
The word escaped through chattering teeth.
He looked at her for another second before shrugging off his heavy wool coat and draping it over her shoulders.
It smelled faintly of cedar and expensive tobacco.
Warm.
Far too warm.
"You'll freeze before we reach the car."
"You still haven't told me who you are."
"No."
It wasn't rude.
It was simply a fact.
Somewhere outside...
A car door slammed.
The man's head turned instantly.
Every muscle in his body hardened.
Another engine.
Not one vehicle.
Two.
Headlights swept through the broken warehouse windows.
Nora saw something change in his eyes.
Calculation.
Danger.
"They came back," he murmured.
Her stomach dropped.
"You said they expected someone."
"I was right."
The warehouse erupted with voices.
"Check inside!"
"Boss said leave no witnesses!"
Metal scraped against concrete.
Someone was unlocking the main entrance.
The stranger stood perfectly still.
Listening.
Counting.
Three...
Four...
No...
Five pairs of footsteps.
Armed.
Professional.
Nora whispered,
"We have to run."
He looked at the only exit.
Then at the shattered window twenty feet away.
"No."
"No?"
"They've already covered it."
As if to prove him right—
A red laser dot drifted slowly across the warehouse wall.
Sniper.
Nora stopped breathing.
The stranger finally sighed.
It sounded almost... disappointed.
"I was hoping tonight would stay quiet."
From inside his coat, he drew a pistol.
Matte black.
Suppressor already attached.
Nora stared.
"You..."
"I know."
Another weapon appeared in his other hand.
Where had it even been hidden?
His movements were effortless.
Practiced.
Terrifying.
The warehouse doors exploded inward.
Five men rushed inside with assault rifles.
"There they are!"
The first gunman never finished speaking.
Pop.
A suppressed shot.
A tiny sound.
The man collapsed before his rifle left his shoulder.
The second fired wildly.
Bullets shattered old windows.
Concrete sprayed everywhere.
The stranger grabbed Nora by the collar and pulled her behind a rusted shipping container just as rounds tore through the place she'd been sitting seconds earlier.
"You stay here."
"I can't—"
"You can."
Then he was gone.
Nora had never seen anyone move like that.
Not fast.
Efficient.
Every motion already planned before it happened.
Another muffled shot.
A scream.
A body hit the floor.
One attacker rushed around the container—
The stranger met him halfway.
A brutal elbow.
A broken wrist.
The rifle clattered away.
One precise shot.
Done.
Less than three seconds.
The remaining gunmen panicked.
"Who the hell is this guy?!"
"Fall back!"
"CALL THE BOSS!"
The stranger answered for them.
Another shot.
Another body.
Silence.
Only one attacker remained.
He threw down his rifle.
"Please... please..."
The stranger pointed the pistol at his forehead.
"What organization?"
The man hesitated.
Wrong choice.
The pistol shifted slightly.
The attacker blurted,
"Black Harbor!"
Nora felt the stranger freeze.
Just for an instant.
"You work for Black Harbor?"
"Y-yes..."
"Who ordered the woman taken?"
"I don't know! I swear! We were only paid to hold her until morning!"
The stranger's expression became colder than the snow outside.
"Morning."
He understood something.
Something terrible.
"So they weren't kidnapping her."
The gunman blinked.
"What?"
"They were delaying."
Nora's pulse thundered.
"Delaying what?"
Before anyone could answer—
A deafening explosion ripped through the far side of the warehouse.
The entire building shook violently.
Steel beams groaned overhead.
Dust poured from the ceiling.
The stranger looked upward.
His face changed for the first time.
Not fear.
Urgency.
"They planted explosives."
The gunman screamed,
"They said nobody leaves alive!"
A second explosion detonated beneath the floor.
Concrete cracked open.
The warehouse began collapsing around them.
The stranger grabbed Nora's arm.
"Run."
"But—"
"Now."
Behind them, the roof started to cave in.
Outside...
Snow continued falling.
Silent.
Merciless.
As flames burst through the collapsing warehouse, black SUVs appeared at the end of the dock.
Their headlights cut through the blizzard.
And on the hood of the lead vehicle...
A silver emblem.
A crowned serpent.
The stranger stared at it for one long second.
Then, for the first time that night, he spoke his own name.
"My name is Luca Moretti."
Nora had never heard the name before.
The armed men stepping out of the SUVs had.
Every single one of them went pale.
One whispered in disbelief,
May you like
"...The Devil of Chicago."
And then they raised every weapon they had at him.
