Chapter 17 - THE FIRE AT ST. AGNES
The match hit the aisle.
Flames raced across the floor.
Isabella screamed.
Adriana ran toward the side chapel carrying Lucia.
Lorenzo followed.
Smoke swallowed the ceiling.
Antonio broke a stained-glass window.
“Elena.”
“Get out.”
But Elena ran after her sister.
The old church became an inferno in less than a minute.
Lorenzo found Adriana near the sacristy.
She stood beside a locked steel door.
Lucia screamed in her arms.
“Stop.”
Adriana looked at the flames.
“Your father never stopped.”
“Neither did Salvatore.”
“Neither did Matteo.”
“Then let us.”
Lorenzo lowered his gun.
Adriana stared.
“You think mercy makes you different?”
“No.”
“I think she does.”
He pointed toward Lucia.
“She doesn't know our fathers.”
“She doesn't know revenge.”
“She doesn't know your husband.”
“She doesn't know my empire.”
“She only knows whether the person holding her keeps her safe.”
Adriana's expression changed.
Lorenzo stepped closer.
“Give her to me.”
Tears filled Adriana's eyes.
For one second, Lorenzo believed she might.
Then part of the ceiling collapsed.
Adriana stumbled.
Lucia slipped.
Lorenzo dove.
He caught his daughter inches above the burning floor.
Adriana fell behind the debris.
Isabella reached them.
“Lucia.”
She took the baby.
Lorenzo turned back.
Adriana was trapped beneath a beam.
Elena appeared through the smoke.
“Adriana.”
“Leave me.”
Elena tried lifting the beam.
Lorenzo joined her.
Together they freed Adriana.
Antonio shouted from the window.
“Now.”
They escaped seconds before the roof collapsed.
Outside, Isabella sat on the wet grass holding Lucia.
The baby was coughing.
Alive.
Lorenzo dropped beside them.
Isabella pressed Lucia into his arms.
He held both of them.
No one spoke.
Nearby, Elena knelt beside Adriana.
Her sister was burned but conscious.
Adriana looked toward Lucia.
“I was going to do it.”
Elena nodded through tears.
“I know.”
“I hated them that much.”
“I know.”
Adriana began sobbing.
Lorenzo looked at his daughter.
This was what inherited hatred became.
Adults setting fire to churches while babies screamed.
He had spent his life believing strength meant making enemies afraid.
Now strength meant ending something his father had been too weak to end.
By sunrise, Adriana was in custody.
Lucia was safe.
The ledger was safe.
But Antonio received one final alert.
Salvatore Bellini had escaped federal transport.
May you like
Three agents were dead.
And Marco had disappeared from his hospital room.
