LEAVING FOR BELLIAGO

                         ~ELENA~

“Help!” I cry out in tears. “Somebody please help!”

The sound of my own voice echoes back to me, useless.

A man slams the door shut. The engine roars.

And just like that, they’re gone.

Two of my daughters.

Gone.

I crawl after them, knees scraping against metal and shattered glass, my hands reaching for nothing but smoke and heat.

 The baby in my arms is screaming….high, broken, terrified, and I clutch her tighter, rocking even as my mind fractures.

“No… no… no…” I sob, my chest burning. “Please… please…”

Valentina is on the ground, bleeding from her forehead.

 Gianna is screaming, trying to run after the speeding vehicle before a guard tackles her back.

Everything feels unreal. Like I’ve slipped out of my body and left something hollow behind.

I can’t breathe. I can’t think.

I can’t feel anything except the unbearable, soul-ripping truth….They took my babies.

I press my face into the tiny blanket against my chest, shaking violently. “I’m sorry,” I whisper over and over. “Mama’s here… mama’s here…”

But I failed.

The guards shout into comms. Someone yells coordinates. Sirens wail somewhere far away.

It all sounds distant.

All I see are two empty spaces where my daughters should be.

I don’t know how long I stay like that….curled around the one baby left to me, sobbing until my body hurts, but hope drains out of me drop by drop.

This is it, a voice whispers cruelly.

You lost.

I lift my head slowly, tears blinding me, my chest hollow.

Maybe… maybe this is how mothers break.

Then I hear it…

Gunshots.

Close. Too close.

My head snaps up just as a familiar engine roars in from the side street, tires screaming as it skids to a brutal stop.

The doors fly open.

And then….Vincenzo, Nico and Riccardo.

They move like death given form.

One of the masked men drops instantly, blood blooming across his chest.

Another turns, and falls.

More shots ring out, sharp and deafening. Men fall before I can even scream again. 

Blood hits the pavement. One of the kidnappers barely has time to turn before Nico puts a bullet into his head.

Riccardo tackles another man mid-run, slamming him into a car and firing point-blank. But more of the council men are still coming out.

I gasp when two men with my babies come out of the car.

“Be careful, please!” I cry out.

One wrong gunshot and my babies dies. 

How on earth are those men so cruel to bring out the babies in an environment where bullets are flying around?? Do they think my babies are some sort of toys??

“Vincenzo, please….the babies!” I yell.

But Vincenzo doesn’t hesitate.

“Now!” He yells to his brothers. 

They acknowledge it with a nod, then Vincenzo starts shooting.

He shoots without slowing, eyes locked on the man holding one of my daughters. The bullet takes him down mid-step. 

Nico is already moving incredibly fast, scooping the baby up, pressing her to his chest like she’s his own heartbeat.

Riccardo drags the second baby from the second man, crushing his throat with brutal efficiency before pulling her close and shielding her with his body.

Vincenzo continues to shoot and shoot without mercy after his brothers have stepped aside with the babies.

The last kidnapper stumbles backward, spitting out blood as he falls.

Just then, a baby cries.

Alive.

My heart nearly stops as the second baby cries too.

They are fine. 

Both of them.

I crawl forward, sobbing, arms shaking as Nico places my daughter back against my chest. 

I sob so hard I can’t even stand as Riccardo rushes back to me with the second baby, crouching, gripping my face gently but urgently.

“Elena,” he says. “Look at me. They’re alive. We have them.”

My world rushes back in a violent flood. I reach for them, sobbing, touching tiny faces, counting breaths like a madwoman.

I clutch all three of them, rocking, breaking, breathing them in like oxygen.

One. Two. Three.

All here. All alive.

Gianna collapses beside me, crying uncontrollably. 

Valentina is pale, shaking, her hands smeared with blood from her forehead. It's a good thing it isn't a big injury.

Vincenzo rushes towards us and kneels in front of me, blood splattered across his shirt, eyes wild with terror, his hands trembling as he touches each baby like he needs to feel them to believe they’re real, his face stripped bare of every mask he’s ever worn.

“I was ten minutes late,” he whispers. “I'm sorry.”

“You were right on time,” I choke out.

“They sent council men,” he says hoarsely.

“I know,” I whisper.

“They were going to kidnap them and maybe try to conduct DNA or force us to have one.”

“I know.”

“I'm so sorry that you and the kids have to go through this,” he apologizes again.

“It's fine. How did you know we were in danger?” I ask.

“There's a tracker in the cars.”

                    ~VINCENZO~

We never leave anything to chance.

Never.

That morning, before we stepped out, I personally oversaw the final check.

Tracker embedded beneath the chassis. Secondary tracker inside the seat frame. Camera disguised behind the rear brake light.

Elena never knew. She didn’t need to.

Protection isn’t a discussion….it’s a responsibility.

We were halfway through council business when my phone vibrated.

Once. Then again.

Red alert.

Danger protocol activated.

My blood went cold.

“She deviated?” Nico demanded.

“No,” Riccardo snapped, already pulling up the feed. “Same route.”

The camera flickered. Then it exploded into chaos.

Fire. Screams.

Elena.

The babies.

I don’t remember getting to the car. I don’t remember the drive. I only remember one thought burning through my skull….

If they touch them, the world burns.

We were already ten minutes away. Luck…cruel, twisted luck….had us circling back through the same route.

We arrived as they were pulling away.

Too slow for mercy. Just fast enough for vengeance.

I killed without counting. Without hesitation. Without regret.

When I saw Elena on the ground, broken, clutching one child while two were gone, something inside me snapped permanently.

I will never forgive whoever ordered this.

Never.

***

When it’s finally over, when the bodies are cleared and the sirens fade, the decision is made without debate.

“This city is compromised,” Nico says grimly. “Too many eyes. Too many enemies.”

“Belliago,” Riccardo adds. “The mansion is sealed. Private security. No council reach.”

I look at Elena.

She’s holding all three girls now, her arms wrapped around them like a shield, her eyes hollow but fierce.

“I’ll go,” she says immediately. No hesitation. No fear. “Anywhere. I don’t care where. I just need them safe.”

Gianna and Valentina step forward at once.

“We’re coming,” Gianna insists. “You’re not doing this alone.”

“No,” Elena says softly….but firmly. “You can’t.”

They freeze.

“You don’t deserve to hide because of me,” she continues, voice trembling but resolute. “You don’t deserve to be hunted. I won’t let my life destroy yours.”

“We want to…..”

“I know,” Elena interrupts, tears sliding down her cheeks. “And I love you for it. But I need you here. Living. Free. You saw what just happened now. If you stay with me, your lives will be in danger too. You might get killed, and I don't want that. I'll never be able to forgive myself if something happens to both of you because of me.”

She swallows hard, then continues.

“I’ll have help. Maids. Security. I’ll protect them. And when it’s safe… I’ll come back.”

Silence stretches.

Then Valentina pulls her into a tight embrace. “You better.”

“I will,” Elena whispers. “I promise.”

“We'll miss you and the babies. Keep in touch, will you?” Gianna asks.

“Yes, I will. We'll miss you both too.”

They smile and hug each other again.

                      ~ELENA~

That night, Florence sleeps. The streets are quiet. Too quiet.

Black SUVs glide through the city like shadows, escorting me and the girls away from Florence.

I sit between Vincenzo, Nico, and Riccardo, my daughters bundled against my chest, their breaths soft and steady.

As the city lights fade behind us, I press a kiss to each tiny forehead.

“This isn’t running,” I whisper to them. “This is surviving.”

The road stretches ahead.

And somewhere beyond it….Belliago waits.

Waiting for my kids and I. And I just know it's just a matter of time before I return to Florence with my kids, stronger and more powerful.