The night at Lake Como was a thick, ink-black void. The abandoned boathouse crouched in the shadow of the cliff like a lurking predator, its broken windows leaking a flickering, sickly yellow light—the dying glow of emergency lanterns.
Inside, the air was a stale mix of rotting wood and ancient dust. Elisa was bound crudely to a tilted wooden chair, her wrists raw and bleeding from the coarse hemp rope. Her hair was a tangled mess, her face bruised, and her expensive suit ruined with grime. Yet, her ice-blue eyes remained piercingly bright, locked onto the man pacing before her like a caged beast, his voice a low, guttural snarl.
Alessandro was in a state far more terrifying than he had been in the parking garage. His jacket was gone, his sleeves rolled up, and his collar torn wide, his hair clawed into a wild nest. His eyes were shot with blood, his face a distorted wreckage as he spat out broken, poisonous sentences.
"You think you won?! You think standing on that stage, whispering pretty words and showing 'evidence,' is enough to crush me?!" He stopped abruptly, leaning into Elisa's space, his breath hot with madness. "Let me tell you something, Elisa Rossi! The Visconti family has reigned for generations! It takes more than your cheap little tricks to shake us! You ruined my reputation? I will make you, your peasant husband, your idiotic father, and that entire godforsaken town pay the price!"
He grabbed her jaw, his grip so savage that Elisa gasped in pain. "Look at you now! Like a drowned rat! Where's your baker now? Huh? Where's your family? Can they save you? Do they even dare to show up?! They'll do nothing but shiver in their holes like rats in the countryside!" He shoved her back, breaking into a fit of neurotic laughter.
"Alessandro, look at yourself!" Elisa forced her voice to stay calm, fighting through the terror. "Stop this while you still can! The police are already looking for me! The Visconti family will never allow this!"
"The family?! Hahaha!" Alessandro laughed as if she'd told the world's greatest joke. "The family sees me as a disgrace now! Because of you! Because of you!" His mood swung back to explosive rage. He snatched up a rusted iron pipe and hurled it against the wooden wall, the heavy thud echoing through the shack. "If I can't have it, no one will! Especially not that... that damned Costa!"
Right then—
BOOM!
The rotted wooden door was kicked open with such force that the panels splintered.
Lorenzo's silhouette cut through the darkness like a lightning strike, bringing with him the freezing night wind of the lake. His eyes, sharp as a hawk's, instantly locked onto the bound Elisa, then onto the manic Alessandro.
Alessandro's roar cut off mid-breath. He spun around, and at the sight of Lorenzo, his bloodshot eyes erupted with a frantic, murderous hatred. "You?! How dare you find this place! You're a dead man!" He cast aside the pipe and charged like a maddened bull.
Lorenzo didn't retreat. He stepped into the charge, pivoting to avoid the brunt of the impact while driving a vicious elbow into the side of Alessandro's neck. The strike was fast, lethal, fueled by suppressed fury and the agonizing worry for Elisa's safety.
"Ugh!" Alessandro's head snapped back, the world going dark as pain flared in his neck. Lorenzo gave him no room to breathe, following up with a heavy, driving hook straight into the pit of his stomach.
"Gah—" Every curse in Alessandro's throat turned into a painful retch. He stumbled backward, crashing into a broken table, and collapsed into a heap on the floor, gasping for air.
Lorenzo didn't give him a second glance. He lunged toward Elisa. "Hold on," he said, his voice low and urgent, his hands working quickly to fray the ropes at her wrists.
"Lorenzo..." Elisa's voice trembled with a flicker of hope amidst the wreckage.
"Almost there..." He was focused on the knots, though his peripheral vision remained alert, watching the man on the floor.
Alessandro's breathing grew heavy and ragged. He shook his head, trying to clear the black mist and the nausea roiling in his gut. He saw Lorenzo untying Elisa, and his fury overrode the pain once more. "Don't touch her!!" he rasped, clawing and struggling to find his feet.
Lorenzo's eyes sharpened. The ropes were mostly loose, held by a final strand. He didn't have time to finish the job because Alessandro was already swaying to his feet, his face a mask of blood, sweat, and madness. He snatched up a broken wooden oar from the floor.
"I'll kill you!!" Alessandro hoisted the oar high, swinging it toward the back of Lorenzo's head with murderous intent.
Lorenzo dove to the side. The oar hit the floorboards with a dull thud, splinters flying. He scrambled up, facing the lunging Alessandro once more.
The two collided again in the cramped space, a brutal exchange of fists and bodies slamming against the debris. The noise was deafening.
Finally, Alessandro was sent reeling back. The back of his head slammed into an old wooden barrel with a hollow thump. He went limp, collapsing into a heap, his chest heaving with a jagged, wheezing sound. He was out—at least for now.
Lorenzo gasped for air, sweat mixed with blood dripping from his brow. Ignoring his own injuries, he spun back to Elisa.
Just as he turned, Elisa had managed to strip away the last of the bindings.
"Move! Now!" Lorenzo grabbed her arm, hauling her up from the chair. Elisa's legs buckled, but Lorenzo caught her, holding her steady.
Supporting each other, they stumbled out the door and onto the narrow, jagged rock path overlooking the abyss of the black lake.
The moment they vanished into the night, Alessandro's eyelids flickered. Shaking his throbbing head, he forced his heavy eyes open. Through his blurred vision, he saw the empty chair and the open door.
"No... don't... run..." A broken rasp escaped his throat. Fueled by a final surge of pure malice, he dragged himself up in a twisted crawl, his eyes darting frantically until they landed on a dust-covered wooden chest in the corner.
He lunged for it, throwing the lid back. Inside lay an old hunting rifle and several rounds of ammunition—a relic from the Visconti family's old hunting days by the lake.
"Run?! I'll show you where you can run!!" He laughed hysterically, his hands trembling as he jammed the shells into the chamber. He snatched the gun and pursued them out of the boathouse with a staggering, desperate speed.
The cold night wind cut like a blade. Lorenzo and Elisa ran for their lives along the slippery cliffside path, with Alessandro's cursed shouts and footsteps closing in like a herald from hell.
"Stop! You bitch! You bastard! I'll kill you both! No one leaves here alive!!"
CRACK—!!!
A deafening gunshot exploded against the cliffs, startling the birds into the sky. The bullet slammed into the rock less than a meter from them, sending sparks flying.
Elisa's heart stopped. Lorenzo violently yanked her to the inside of the path, using his own body to shield her from the line of fire.
"Don't look back! Run!" he growled, his voice breaking in the wind.
Another CRACK! The bullet whistled past Lorenzo's ear, the searing heat of its passage stinging his skin.
Ahead was a sharp rocky bend. If they could make it around, they would be safe from the direct fire. They sprinted with everything they had.
Just as Elisa's body cleared the corner, the third shot rang out.
This time, the sound was muffled, yet it carried a terrifying weight.
Elisa felt the hand gripping hers suddenly tighten, followed by a violent jerk backward. She turned in horror—
Lorenzo's body jolted. His forward momentum was forcibly halted as he slammed against the rock wall. He let out a muffled groan, his right hand instinctively clutching his upper left chest. His dark clothing was instantly saturated with a deeper, darker stain that glistened like oil under the moonlight. The wet patch was widening with a sickening speed.
"Lorenzo!!" Elisa's soul seemed to leave her body as she lunged back to catch him.
"Go... leave me..." His lips lost all color instantly. His voice was a mere wisp of air, yet he still tried to push her away.
Behind them, the sound of Alessandro's manic laughter and the metallic slide of the rifle bolt drew closer.
Suddenly, the night sky was torn apart by the shrill, heavenly wail of sirens! Several blindingly bright police searchlights pierced the dark like swords of judgment, bathing the narrow path in a harsh white glare and exposing Alessandro, gun in hand, for all to see.
"POLICE! DROP THE WEAPON! DROP IT NOW!" The roar of a megaphone echoed against the lake and cliffs.
Alessandro was blinded by the light, but he had completely crossed the line into insanity. Instead of dropping the gun, he screamed at the lights and the sirens, hoisting the rifle once more.
BANG! BANG! BANG!
A rapid succession of shots rang out—this time, from above. The highly-trained police snipers fired to neutralize the threat.
"AAAUGH!" Alessandro shrieked as the rifle flew from his grip. He clutched his bleeding arm and thigh, stumbling backward before collapsing onto the dirt.
A flood of officers swarmed down from the heights and the flanks.
Elisa heard none of it. Her entire world had shrunk down to the man in her arms. She lowered him gently until he was leaning against a flat section of rock. The hand he held over his wound was completely soaked in crimson; the warm fluid was pulsing through his fingers, dripping onto the ground and pooling into a terrifying, vivid red.
Under the moonlight and the strobing police lights, his face was as pale as paper. His breathing became shallow and frantic, each gasp a tremulous vibration of agony. He tried to look at Elisa, but his eyes were beginning to lose their focus.
"No... no... Lorenzo, look at me. Please, look at me..." Elisa's voice was a shattered wreck. Tears flooded out, mixing with the droplets of his blood on her face. She tried in vain to cover his hand with her own trembling fingers, attempting to apply pressure, but she felt only the slick, warm slip of life fading away. "AMBULANCE! CALL AN AMBULANCE!!!" she shrieked at the officers rushing toward them.
Lorenzo's blood-stained hand rose, agonizingly slow, as if trying to reach her tear-streaked cheek with the last of his strength. But his fingers slumped mid-air, leaving only a blurred streak of red against her skin.
"E-li... sa..." His lips moved, a ghost of a sound escaping them, before his eyes slowly drifted shut. His head slumped powerless to the side.
"Lorenzo! LORENZO!!" Elisa felt her heart tear in two. She clung to his cooling body, burying her face in the hollow of his blood-soaked neck, letting out a primal, desperate wail. The cold night wind roared past, swallowing her cries, leaving only the bottomless lake below to reflect the chaotic lights of the tragedy above.
The police swarmed the wailing Alessandro as paramedics rushed down with a stretcher. But Elisa's world had collapsed into a void of red and ice. She held Lorenzo with a death grip, as if letting go would mean he would vanish forever into the boundless dark.