Chapter 6 - Shadows on the Bayou
The carriage house gave a sickening shriek of tearing timber.
The second story collapsed inward.
Flames hissed into steam as the floodwaters swallowed the first floor.
"LORENZO!" I screamed into the gale.
Lily held my waist, shivering violently in the downpour.
"Evelyn, look!"
Through the shattered loft window, forty feet above the rising flood, a figure
leaped.
Lorenzo hit the muddy embankment, rolling through the debris.
Under his arm, he dragged a coughing, drenched Bianca Vane by her hair.
Baron limped out behind them, swimming through the backwash until his paws found
solid ground.
The old dog collapsed on the grass, chest heaving, but alive.
Lorenzo stood up, his face covered in soot, rain, and blood.
He shoved Bianca to her knees in the mud before me.
Her pearls were snapped.
Her expensive silk was shredded.
Her vanity was gone.
"Matteo!" Lorenzo called through the darkness.
Ten armed capos arrived with flashlights.
They took Bianca into iron grips.
"Take her to the cellar," Lorenzo ordered coldly.
"Do not let her sleep."
He turned to me.
His silver eyes softened as he looked down at Lily.
"Is she hurt?"
"Just smoke," I gasped, wiping rain from my sister's pale face.
"She's safe because of you."
Lorenzo looked at his bleeding shoulder.
He didn't even flinch.
"She is safe because you shot a cartel assassin without blinking, Evelyn."
He gently touched my cheek with his calloused, scarred thumb.
"Come inside. The storm is passing."
In the dry, fortified basement of the manor, Donna Maria was resting in a clean
bed.
Her color was coming back.
Dr. Russo, the family physician, was administering an IV of electrolytes.
When Donna Maria saw me enter with Lily, she held out her frail hands.
"The brave little bird," Donna Maria whispered.
"And your sister. Come here, children."
Lily knelt beside the bed, tears in her eyes.
Donna Maria stroked her wet hair.
"No more debts. Never again."
She looked at Lorenzo, who stood by the iron door.
"Lorenzo, you clear her father's ledger tonight. In blood and ink."
"Already done, Ma," Lorenzo said softly.
He walked over to where Baron was lying on a mountain of dry wool blankets.
The old dog let out a contented sigh as Lorenzo knelt beside him, gently
dressing the cuts on his paws.
"Good boy," Lorenzo murmured. "Best soldier I ever had."
Then Matteo knocked on the heavy cellar door.
"Boss. Bianca started talking. She didn't work alone. She gave the names of
three capos who took Delacroix money."
Lorenzo’s expression turned to carved granite.
"Who?"
"Vito, Santino, and Paulie."
Matteo handed him a bloody notebook found in Bianca’s pocket.
"They have a shipment of heavy arms arriving at the salt marshes at dawn. The
Delacroix boss is meeting them personally."
May you like
Lorenzo closed the notebook.
"Call the loyal crews. We hunt at first light."
