"Is he still alive?"
Calm.
Composed.
Maria Santa De Leones.
A socialite.
The cold witch.
Don Leon's daughter-in-law.
Her life now was defined by lavish parties.
Custom-made jewelry.
The sleek, expensive lines of her personal Bentley.
Not from her husband's pocket—but her own.
She even bought Alvaro a new car recently.
One that now sits, riddled with bullet holes in this very Hotel Valgrande parking lot.
'I'll buy him a new one,' she thought.
But once—
She was known as 'the wild heiress'.
A princess from a small mafia family that no one took seriously.
Not big enough to threaten.
Not loud enough to remember.
But they were loyal.
To a fault.
Their business?
Heavy duty weapons.
Missiles.
RPGs.
Anti-aircraft.
Tanks.
And their clients?
Not street gangs.
Not thugs.
They catered to Russians.
Arabs.
Ukrainians.
Military grade.
Top shelf.
Clean hands.
It was something that Bernardo overlooked.
Underestimated.
Because ever since she married the soft spoken Leandro—
She went quiet.
Tamed.
Or so it seemed.
But sometimes it slipped through.
The sharpness in her gaze.
The way she read a room like a battlefield.
She tried to hide it all with her fake gasps and dramatic actions.
Because they said that's what real socialite women are.
Now, none of those were out for show.
She stepped forward.
Her eyes took in the damage she had caused.
'Tch.'
Her marriage to Leandro had been arranged.
It's supposed to be a strategic move for her family.
A business.
A contract for expansion.
But Maria fell hard.
For Leandro.
Gentle.
Obedient.
Calm.
He was everything her loud, pig headed, testosterone soaked family was not.
So she suggested a merge instead.
After the wedding, she let her family's name be dissolved.
And they agreed.
Because Maria wanted it
They took on the Santa De Leones crest like a crown.
Not because they had to.
Because she did.
To honor the man she loved.
The one that managed to tame her.
With his expressive gray eyes, and handsome smile..
She could feel her cheeks getting red, but she caught herself.
'This isn't really the time..'
Maria grew up surrounded by boys and bombs.
She played with RPGs the way other little girls played with their dolls.
But when she married—
She wore pearls.
Learned to smile.
Become a socialite.
Became dramatic.
Not because Leandro asked her to change.
But because she wanted to.
She wanted to erase her wayward past.
For her family.
Her own.
She didn't know that it was her dream—
Until she was living it.
And if you touch it?
'You better be ready to find your body in pieces.'
When Antonia died, she stopped smiling.
People thought she was grieving.
But really—
She was sharpening her knife.
Getting ready.
For when she found out who really did it.
And now was the time.
She stopped walking.
"Bernardo," she said, calm as ice.
"Are you ready to meet your maker?"
Maria had been tempering her anger the entire drive.
One hand on the wheel.
The other on the phone.
Listening.
Alvaro had kept the phone line open ever since his first call.
She heard everything.
Antonio's confession.
The boy named Angel.
The heartbreaking truth about Antonia.
And Bernardo.
Her father-in-law's brother.
It didn't matter.
She would kill him with her own hands!
Then her eyes locked with her oldest son—Antonio.
Her gaze narrowed.
His face was turning purple.
Blood dried beneath his handsome nose.
'That insect dared to put his hands on you?'
Then her gaze drifted to her father-in-law who was bleeding on the floor.
Her jaw clenched.
And then—
She found Alvaro.
Cradling her husband's carcass.
Ice filled her veins.
"Franco," she called.
Footsteps.
Franco emerged behind her, a gatling style machine gun slung over his shoulder.
"Mother," Franco answered.
"Help Alvaro take your father's corpse away."
She commanded, her voice cutting the air.
"Don't be dramatic, mother," Tony muttered, helping Angel to his feet.
He watched Franco approach Alvaro and Leandro.
"He's just unconscious."
Once they stood up, Tony looked at his mother.
His eyes filled with silent admiration.
It was a side to his mother that he never knew.
But at this point, nothing surprised Tony anymore about the old rumors he heard when he was a boy.
He also heard rumors about his wild mother.
But he dismissed it because all his life, he only ever saw her as someone cold.
"I think something hit his head."
Maria stepped forward.
Her eyes were on the pretty boy trembling beside her son.
The unexpected violet color of the boy's eyes caught Maria's attention.
'He looks adorable,' she thought.
'So this is the infamous Angel Dolci?'
The one her son asked out on a date?
'Hmm..'
She studied the pretty boy with a hint of interest.
'Antonio has a great face because of me,' she thought.
'But zero manners.'
Then she addressed Angel directly.
"Are you sure about him?"
The boy blinked, not sure what she's asking.
"You can still change your mind."
Maria continued, tilting her head slightly.
"You can choose one of my other sons… or me."
She offered.
Serious.
"Although," she added, "my husband is off limits."
Angel didn't know how to respond—he could only open and close his mouth like a fish out of the water.
Maria was like a hurricane.
A whirlwind of elegance and badass demeanor.
Then—Tony moved.
One smooth, possessive move.
Shielding Angel behind him.
"Mother. He's mine," he growled.
Maria studied them for a beat.
A thoughtful look on her face.
Tony's face was serious.
While the pretty boy's attention was caught somewhere.
Then she turned, heels clicking softly against the blood-stained floor full of debris.
"Think about my offer, doctor Angel," she said without looking back, dismissing her son.
Her voice echoed like a challenge.
"Alessandro!" she called, louder now.
Footsteps.
Alessandro emerged in his rumpled suit—the same one he wore when he chased Tony at the grand room earlier.
"Aunt," he greeted like an obedient dog.
His voice unsure.
A sheepish look on his face.
His eyes skittered everywhere but toward Tony.
Tony crossed his arms.
Narrowed his silver eyes.
"Huh," he muttered.
"I thought nothing else could surprise me tonight," he mockingly commented.
Alessandro gave a bitter chuckle.
"I always knew that my father was delusional. Obsessed with traditions and bloodline."
Then his voice dropped.
"He was also behind my mother's death," he breathed in, "But I have to act like I didn't know."
Tony's jaw twitched.
"I'm sorry about earlier," Alessandro said, quieter than before.
It was the first time that he apologized to his cousin.
"I told my men to just shoot at you, but not hit you. And to chase you out of the dinner party. I didn't expect you to be there. I know my father was planning something. But.. are you alright?"
Tony's voice cut in, low and even.
"Did you purposely let me overhear your call back in the mansion?"
Tony was making sure.
"What call?"
"About the Luchese dinner party."
"No!" Alessandro said, eyebrows furrowing.
Tony nodded once.
That's all that he needed to hear.
"Then we're good."
But before Alessandro could respond—
A shot rang out.
"I hate to break your sweet reunion—"
Bernardo's nasty voice rose through the air like a blade.
"—but nobody is leaving without my permission!"
He stumbled forward from the smoke and rubble.
Disheveled.
Head was bleeding.
His suit was torn and dirty.
One shoe was missing.
Gone was the composed villain gloating his victory.
Now he looked unhinged.
"You're still alive?" Maria asked, deadpan.
"Maria! You little bitch!" he bellowed.
"And you—are a disgusting son of a bitch Bernardo!" she snapped.
Maria dropped the combat launcher at her feet.
With calm precision, she slipped brass knuckles onto both hands.
"Whoa whoa! Mother!" Tony barked, stepping towards his advancing mother.
"Let me handle this!"
"I'm going to kill your father, Alessandro!" she declared, ignoring her son.
"Get in line, cugino," Alessandro muttered.
Tony looked around for Bernardo's men from earlier.
Some were still lying down, breathing.
Some were now waking up.
And some are dead.
But he couldn't see Beth.
And some of her CIA agents.
Bernardo raised a gun, pointing it toward Don Leon—who was now being lifted by some of Alessandro's men.
They stopped dead, unsure of what to do.
They had put their guns down to help the bleeding Don, leaving them vulnerable.
Now, more and more of Bernardo's men stirred.
Wounded and some are still out of it.
But once they regained their senses, they lifted their guns.
Pointed it to them.
"You better drop your weapons," Bernardo was smug.
Maria only lifted her brow and scoffed.
"No—" Maria countered.
The smoke cleared.
And standing like ghosts emerging from the fog—
"—you drop your weapons."
Maria's men.
Alessandro's men.
Don Leon and Leandro's loyal men that remained.
Fully armed with vests and guns and machine guns.
Guns clicked.
Fingers on the trigger.
Some even have launchers.
And snipers.
Their red dots pointed on Bernardo and his men.
Outnumbered.
Outgunned.
Bernardo who looked around didn't find his daughter and her men.
"Beth!!!!" he yelled.
But no one answered.
"Goddammit!!"
Maria stepped forward, slow and sure.
Fearless.
Then—crack—she punched Bernardo across the face.
His head snapped sideways, the gun flew out of his hand.
Burst of blood came out of his mouth and nose.
"That's for my son's face!"
Tony grunted in approval.
While Alvaro flinched.
Some of her men whistled.
But Maria was not done yet.
She breathed in and followed it with a brutal kick to the groin.
"Agh!" Bernardo shouted in pain, he bowed down.
Alessandro involuntarily closed his legs and winced.
"Mama!" Franco said in horror.
Some of Santa De Leones men yelled with gusto.
"That's for Antonia!"
She exhaled.
Wiped the blood that splashed out on her face when Bernardo bended.
She spat on the ground and eyed Bernardo.
She's still not satisfied.
She circled him.
Then, with the skill of someone who grew up playing with bombs and watching cage fights—
Maria grabbed Bernardo by the collar.
And slammed him into the floor like a wrestler.
"This is for my husband!!" she yelled.
Tony rushed in and pulled his mother off Bernardo.
Not because he was afraid of the damage Maria caused, or because he felt pity towards Bernardo, but because he didn't want his mother to get hurt.
And because he also wants to kick Bernardo's ass.
Bernardo laid down on the ground.
Curled, bloodied and groaning.
Then Maria roared.
Snarled.
Her braided hair became undone.
Her brass knuckle gleaming with blood.
"She's really a wild woman," Don Leon rasped, his eyes sparkled with pride.
Three men helped him walk.
Away from the wrecked restaurant.
"Leandro was lucky," he added.
"She's one hell of a woman, just like my wife.."
But as the chaos died down.
Bernardo's men kneeling on the ground.
All weapons down.
Leandro and Don Leon were now being treated.
Tony looked around.
"Where is he?"
People just looked at each other.
No one answered.
"Where is he??"
Tony started panicking.
"Who are you looking for?" Alessandro asked.
Tony's eyes almost bulged out of their sockets as he collared Alessandro.
"Where is Angel?"
**