After they leave, Vega says, "Let's go." He leads the way, a dark, powerful silhouette, navigating the terrain with silent, almost unnatural ease. He is like a predator in his element.
He keeps his pace relentless. He doesn't look back. I follow, trusting his instinct, the only sound our ragged breaths and the soft thump of our feet on the forest floor, driving us deeper into the inescapable blackness.
CARMINE POV
The massive, black iron gates of the Vastano estate are no match for the twin armored SUVs leading the convoy. With a deafening screech of stressed metal, the gates are rammed inward, crumpling like tinfoil, and the driver drives through the breach.
I'm accompanied by ten black cars—a phalanx of highly trained, heavily armed men that floods the perfectly manicured gravel driveway. The lead SUV stops right at the foot of the imposing front steps.
