Chapter 1 - The Mistake
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The silence in the Route 17 Diner was absolute. It was the kind of heavy, suffocating quiet that usually precedes a car crash or a gunshot.
The leader of the thugs, still leaning against the booth with a smug smile plastered across his face, looked Matteo up and down. He saw a man in his mid-thirties, wearing dark jeans and a plain charcoal jacket. He didn't see an army. He didn't see a threat. He only saw a husband walking into a humiliating situation.
“Who touched my wife?” Matteo asked again.
His voice didn't rise. It didn't tremble. It was flat and cold, like the winter wind coming off the harbor.
The leader let out a sharp, mocking laugh and pushed himself off the booth. He took a step toward Matteo, puffing out his broad chest, towering over him by at least two inches.
“I did, buddy,” the leader sneered, pointing a thick finger at Matteo’s chest. “And if you know what’s good for you, you’ll take your little waitress, go home, and pretend you didn't see—”
The man never finished his sentence.
Matteo didn't wind up to punch. He didn't telegraph his movement. His left hand shot upward, bypassing the leader’s pointing finger, and clamped onto the man’s throat with the crushing force of an industrial vice.
The leader’s eyes bulged in instant panic. He tried to speak, but only a choked, wet gasp escaped his lips.
Matteo’s right hand moved just as fast. He grabbed the leader’s left wrist—the exact same wrist that had grabbed Lena’s uniform mere minutes ago. With a brutal, twisting motion that required zero effort, Matteo snapped the arm backward.
A sickening, wet crack echoed through the diner, louder than the thunder outside.
The leader fell to his knees, his face turning an unnatural shade of purple as Matteo held him upright by the throat, letting the broken arm dangle uselessly at an impossible angle.
The heavy man in the booth finally realized what was happening. He let out a roar of anger and reached into his jacket.
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“Matteo, gun!” Lena shouted, her voice breaking the spell over the diner.
Matteo didn't even look up. He simply turned his body, using the choking leader as a human shield, waiting for the heavy man to make his next fatal mistake.
