Chapter 12 - The Long Night at the Estate
The Garden District estate felt vast, silent, and hauntingly empty as I paced across the polished parquet floor of the grand library. Leo had dropped me off safely two hours earlier, ensuring the perimeter guards were doubled and the biometric security locks were fully engaged. Yet sleep refused to claim me. I sat at the massive mahogany desk where Bianca Moretti had once traded away the family’s legacy, reviewing digital manifests and corporate compliance transcripts. Outside, distant rumblings of thunder rolled across the Mississippi Delta, accompanied by intermittent flashes of lightning that painted jagged patterns across the velvet draperies. My mind raced with thoughts of Julian. Despite his intimidating reputation as a ruthless mafia boss and corporate tycoon, I had come to know the honorable, fiercely protective man beneath the tailored suits and inked tattoos—a man who valued loyalty, family, and absolute truth above all else. Around 3:00 AM, a sharp chime echoed from the estate’s main security console by the foyer. I froze. The biometric scanner at the iron front gates had just registered an incoming override code. Not an intruder—a returning convoy. Moments later, heavy footsteps echoed across the marble entryway. I hurried out of the library just as the heavy front oak doors swung open, revealing Julian and Leo. They were dust-stained, exhausted, and carrying minor scuffs from a violent confrontation, but they were alive. Julian stepped into the foyer, his dark hair damp from the rain, his slate-gray eyes immediately locking onto mine with an intensity that pierced right through the fatigue.
