The Viper Stepmother’s Mafia Justice Chapter 21
Fire and Blood
Vincent answered Isabella’s call before dawn.
At three a.m., his death squad hit our east wall. Explosions rocked the perimeter.
The monitors went black. Only eight seconds on the main feed before the east wing cameras died and never came back.
Isabella knew our halls. Our locks. Our blind spots.
She set the east wing annex on fire. Smoke swallowed the corridor. Alarms screamed.
I pieced it together later from the broken hallway feed.
Mia ran through the smoke. Shadow stayed at her side.
Then Isabella came from behind. One hand over Mia’s mouth.
Mia dropped. Shadow lunged for Isabella’s ankle.
Isabella swung an iron poker. Shadow hit the floor. White fur. Blood. Smoke. He still tried to crawl after Mia.
Isabella dragged Mia through the smoke. Out the back gate. Into a waiting car. Into the desert.
I didn’t see it happen.
I was inside the burning wing when Bullet found me.
He limped down the hall, one back leg dragging. Blood streaked the marble.
He stopped at my feet. Then turned toward the back gate and howled.
I didn’t need a report.
Mia had been taken.
I ran through the fire. Mia’s room was empty. Her stuffed rabbit lay on the floor. I picked it up.
My hands stopped shaking. Something worse took over. The calm before death.
“Get me Dominic,” I said. “And get me a weapon that doesn’t run out of bullets.”
Dominic met me in the armory.
“We’ll send a team. You stay—”
“No.”
I pulled down the grenade launcher. Loaded it. Slung it over my shoulder.
“She took my daughter. I’m going.”
Dominic looked at me for three seconds. Then he handed me his earpiece.
“Leo’s already online.”
Leo had taken over the study. Three monitors. Two keyboards. He was eleven years old and running a war room.
Our convoy tore through the desert. Leo’s voice crackled in my earpiece.
“I found them. Vincent’s last compound. Forty miles east. Concrete walls. One gate. I’m in their cameras. Planting the virus now.”
Thirty seconds later.
“Their comms are dead. No backup.”
“Show me Mia,” I said.
The convoy screen lit up. A concrete room. One light. No windows.
Mia sat tied to a metal chair. Swollen lip. Torn dress.
But her eyes were open. No tears. She stared at the camera like she knew.
Mommy was coming.
My grip tightened on the launcher.
“How many guards?”
“Twelve outside. Eight inside. Vincent is in the main building. Isabella is with Mia.”
I loaded a second round.
Isabella took my daughter. Hit my dog. Burned my home.
Now she would learn the last rule. Touch my children, and even death won’t be mercy.
On Leo’s feed, Isabella crouched in front of Mia. Even through the screen, I knew that smile. One last game.
“She doesn’t love you, baby. You’re her ticket to power. Without you, she is nothing.”
Mia said nothing. Her wrists moved behind the chair. Slow. Steady.
The rope scraped against a loose bolt. One thread snapped. Then another.
“Your real mother is right here. Come with me. No more fighting. No more blood.”
Mia looked up at her.
“My mommy never uses me as bait.”
Isabella’s face twisted.
The rope snapped. Mia’s hands came free. She reached for her hair clip.
The tiny blade I hid there slid free. The guard leaned in.
Mia struck his hand. He screamed and stumbled back.
Five years old. And trained by the Viper.
Isabella lunged for Mia. “You little—”
Then my grenade tore through the outer wall.
Concrete split. Fire rolled in.
I stepped through the breach. Torn Kevlar. Red fighter dress. Blood on my hands.
Isabella froze, still reaching for Mia.
I smiled through the smoke.
“Get away from my daughter.”
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