Before Mark’s driver could even slam his foot onto the brakes, the car swerved to the left, cutting them off entirely and forcing his car to screech to a violent, smoking halt.
BANG! BANG!
The deafening roar of gunshots shattered the quiet evening. Yet, inside the blockaded car, there was no panic. No one scrambled, and no one tried to flee. They sat entirely still, bathed in the dark shadows of the tinted windows, waiting.
Believing they had successfully paralyzed their targets, the ard rcenaries stepped out of their vehicles. They walked closer to the car, weapon barrels raised, completely ready to force the doors open and drag Mark out into the night.
But the mont one of the n aggressively yanked the door open, expecting to find a defenseless Mark, the trap snapped shut.
A deafening shot fired from inside the cabin. A bullet tore straight through the lead rcenary, and he dropped dead instantly onto the asphalt.
Before the remaining gunn could even process what had happened, the surrounding darkness erupted with the heavy sound of marching boots and cocked weapons. Out from the blind spots of the road, dozens of Matteo’s elite guards materialized, completely surrounding the ambushers and cutting off every single escape route.
The car door swung open fully. The n had been expecting Mark, but the figure who stepped out into the dim light of the highway was entirely different.
It was Matteo. His expression was deadpan, radiating a lethal aura that froze the air. And stepping out right behind him, a smoking gun held securely in his grip, was Tony.
Hidden a safe distance back, Iris had personally followed her rcenaries to the scene, desperate to witness Mark’s capture with her own eyes. But the mont she saw Tony standing shoulder-to-shoulder with the devil himself, her face turned stark white.
"You!" Iris shrieked, pointing a trembling finger as she stumbled out of her cover. "You are a betrayer!"
Realizing they were completely outmatched and staring down the barrel of a massacre, the remaining gunn imdiately dropped their weapons. They fell to their knees in unison, raising their hands and begging desperately for rcy from the mafia boss.
Matteo didn’t even grant them a glance. His cold eyes locked onto the hysterical woman. "Bring her forward," he commanded quietly.
Without hesitation, two of Matteo’s n lunged into the shadows, grabbing Iris by her arms and dragging her kicking and screaming to the front of the vehicle, forcing her to stand before Matteo.
But Iris refused to keep her mouth shut. Writhing against the guards’ grip, she bared her teeth at Tony. "You promised ! You promised that it was going to be Mark and Charles inside this car! You lied to ! I thought we were on the sa side!"
Tony looked down at her, his face a flawless mask of indifference. "Quiet," he said, his voice deadly calm. "Maybe you forgot what I told you in the parking lot. I told you that going after Mark was a surefire way to get yourself killed. I tried to warn you in my own little way, but you just wouldn’t listen."
"Matteo, he’s a traitor!" Iris yelled, turning her desperate, venomous gaze toward the boss. "He took my money! He promised to hand Mark over to ! Don’t trust him, he’s only standing next to you right now because he got scared and turned his back on ! But he’s a liar!"
A dark, mocking chuckle rumbled in Matteo’s chest. "You are incredibly desperate, Iris. So desperate that you can’t even recognize your enemies when they are standing right in front of you. You’ve allowed yourself to be so blinded by jealousy that you’re entirely incapable of seeing the truth."
Matteo took a slow, intimidating step closer, towering over her. "You wanted to kidnap Mark? Why? He has never done a single thing to you. When I started dating Adrian, I t him single. It’s not like the two of you were together, yet you chose to never back down. You refused to just leave us alone."
He leaned in, his voice dropping into a chilling whisper. "Right now, if I killed you on this asphalt, the only thing it would do is hurt Adrian, because he already pleaded with not to harm you. But don’t mistake his rcy for my weakness. Every single discussion you had with Tony, I knew about it. Not halfway through, but from the very beginning."
Matteo glanced briefly at Tony before looking back at her terrified face. "Maybe you don’t understand who Tony really is. He is a man who answers to no one, a man who stands entirely on his own, yet he chose to stay under my command. I didn’t assign him to be Mark’s personal bodyguard. He chose that position himself, because he saw every ounce of pain Mark went through four years ago when he was kidnapped. And yet, here you are, trying to repeat the sa history."
Iris’s breath hitched, the sheer gravity of her mistake finally crashing down on her.
"If I execute you here," Matteo continued smoothly, "by tomorrow morning, people will start spinning different stories about , calling a monster. They won’t know that you are the real devil who dared to trespass over my boundaries. Since you love the idea of kidnapping so much, I am going to kidnap you. I will hold you, and I will make your father beg on his knees until he realizes exactly what kind of monster of a daughter he raised."
Matteo turned his back to her, dismissing her existence entirely. "Take her."
As the guards tightly pinned her arms and began dragging her away toward one of their armored vehicles, Iris’s arrogant facade completely shattered. Tears of genuine terror flooded her eyes as she thrashed against her restraints, screaming into the empty night.
"Matteo, please! I’m begging you! Matteo! Please forgive ... Don’t let my father know about this, Matteo!" Iris begged, her voice cracking with desperation.
But Matteo didn’t even look back. Her pleas fell on entirely deaf ears.
Instead, he turned his lethal gaze toward the trembling gunn still kneeling on the asphalt. "You were all so desperate for money that you actually accepted a contract from her," Matteo said, his voice dropping into a low, terrifying growl. "Knowing exactly who I am, and knowing that Mark is my brother, you still dared to co out here and point guns at my car?"
"rcy, Boss! We didn’t know the full story! Please, have rcy!" the gunn cried out, desperately bowing their heads to the ground.
"I won’t let you waste another second of my ti," Matteo cut them off flatly. "I have soone very important waiting for at ho." He turned to Tony, nodding toward the kneeling n. "Give them the exact punishnt they deserve."
Tony nodded, his grip steady on his weapon. "Alright. Go on, Boss. I’ll handle it."
With that, Matteo slid back into the car and ordered the convoy to move. Tony remained behind to handle the rcenaries, while another armored vehicle carrying a tearful, captive Iris followed closely behind as they headed ho.
In reality, Iris had been trapped in a ga she never...
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