Chapter 6 – THE EXPLOSIVE REVELATION

Luca froze. He glanced at the small security monitor mounted on the basement wall.

My heart stopped.

The camera showed the inside of the panic room. Teresa was still sitting on the velvet couch, her arms wrapped protectively around Sophie.

But strapped to the underside of the heavy steel door—the door I had just run through—was a blinking red light attached to a block of C4 plastic explosive.

“I planted it three months ago,” Andrew said, his voice dripping with smug satisfaction. “When I came for a ‘custody visit’ and asked to use your guest restroom. Your security is pathetic, Luca.”

“No,” I choked out, a sob tearing at my throat. “Sophie!”

“The detonator is linked to my thumb,” Andrew explained, holding up the small device. “If I release the pressure, the door blows inward. The overpressure in a sealed room that small will kill them instantly.”

Luca’s gun remained perfectly steady, aimed right at Andrew’s head, but I saw the micro-tension in his jaw. The subtle shift of a man who realized he was cornered.

“What do you want, Rossi?” Luca asked, his voice low and lethal.

“Finally showing me some respect,” Andrew sneered. “I want the ledger. The real one. Not the fake one your father gave the feds ten years ago.”

“I don’t have it,” Luca said flatly.

“Don’t lie to me!” Andrew shouted, his thumb pressing harder on the detonator. “My father died in prison because of what your family did! I want the accounts, and I want my daughter. She’s the heir to the Romano docks, and with her, my family takes back Chicago.”

“She is eight years old!” I screamed, stepping toward him. “She’s not a pawn for your mafia wars!”

“Emily, stay back,” Luca warned softly.

“She doesn’t know her place,” Andrew sneered. “She never did. Always asking questions, always trying to be independent. That’s why I took the money, Emily. I had to break you down so you’d be compliant.”

I looked at the man I had once loved. The man I had cried over.

He was nothing but a monster in a tailored suit.

“I will give you the ledger,” Luca said, slowly lowering his weapon.

My head snapped toward him. “Luca, no!”

“The ledger for my mother and the girl,” Luca negotiated, ignoring me. “You let them walk out of that room, and I will open the floor safe.”

Andrew smiled. “Good boy. Go open it. Emily stays down here with me as collateral.”

Luca hesitated. He looked at me, his dark eyes communicating something I couldn’t quite read. A silent promise.

“Do it, Luca,” I whispered. “Save them.”

Luca nodded once, turned, and walked up the basement stairs.

I was left alone in the dark with my ex-husband.

“You’re pathetic,” Andrew laughed, keeping the gun trained on me. “You traded a bad husband for a mafia boss. You think he actually cares about you? You’re just the maid.”

“He cares more about Sophie than you ever did,” I shot back.

Suddenly, the lights in the basement flickered.

Then, the entire mansion plunged into pitch-black darkness.

Andrew cursed, the red light of the detonator illuminating his panicked face.

In the darkness, I felt a hand grab my arm and pull me violently behind a concrete pillar.

It was Luca.

He hadn’t gone upstairs at all.

He leaned close to my ear, his breath hot against my skin. “The detonator is on a radio frequency,” he whispered. “My men just cut the power and activated a signal jammer. He can’t blow the door.”

Before I could process the relief, a gunshot shattered the darkness, the bullet sparking against the concrete inches from my face.

Andrew had Night Vision goggles.

“I can see you, Emily!” Andrew sang out in the dark.

And then, he grabbed me by the hair and yanked me out of Luca’s arms.