I have one gun, but there are way more men, and while I’ve trained through the years, I haven’t actually had any combat experience.
I grab my phone from my pocket. There’s no reception. I wander deeper into the woods behind the cabin in hopes of gaining a signal.
My phone shows one bar and then nothing. I keep wandering, my footprints leaving an impression in the sludgy snow, and I walk the same path back toward the cabin.
I fire off a brief text to Dante.
Luca captured at cabin. Send reinforcements.
If these men don’t find and kill me, Dante will when he discovers they’ve touched his son.
He’s not a forgiving man.
There’s no immediate response. The text shows that it’s trying to send but fails.
Fuck me.
I have one weapon, a gun that Moreno handed me when Luca wasn’t around. I might be able to take out one or two of the men, but there were at least four that I counted, or was it five? I can’t be certain there aren’t any additional men inside, either.
I creep closer to the cabin, and my phone buzzes.
I glance down at the screen lighting up.
Nova is calling me.
I answer in a whisper, “Can’t talk now. I need you to call Dante. We’re in some serious shit. He needs to send backup. Luca is in trouble.”
Nova is barely audible, her words cut in and out as she answers me, “What. I. Can. Hear. Me?”
Which means she probably can’t make out what I’m saying.
The call dies from lack of reception. I turn my phone on silent. I don’t even want the vibration buzzing and alerting the bastards that I’m coming inside.
One last glance at my texts and the one to Dante finally sent.
At least there’s hope.
I can’t wait for his men to show up. Luca might be dead by the time they get here.
I cock the safety off my gun and quietly sneak inside the main cabin door, careful not to let the door creak as I slip into the darkened foyer.
The cabin is crumbling at every crevice, and there’s no sign of Luca or the men who took him on the main floor. The cabin is one giant room, and then there’s a door, left open, dim lights shining along the stairwell.
The light makes it easier to see the shredded floorboards at my feet, and I try to quietly hurry to the stairs.
The walls around the steps are crumbling, the stairs themselves look in rough shape, and they groan from my weight.
I wince and stop moving, praying that no one heard me.
“You think you’re some tough guy because your father is Dante Ricci,” a gruff voice echoes from downstairs.
Luca coughs. I’m certain it’s him and at least I can breathe a sigh of relief that he’s alive, for now. “He’ll fucking kill you when he finds me down here.”
I give Luca credit for not cowering or begging the man for mercy.
There’s a dark, sinister laugh, and I quietly take the last of the steps, hiding behind the wall, doing my best to get an advantage on the men.
As soon as I take one of them out, the others will be on Luca in seconds.