Chapter 2 – THE POLICE CRUISER ON THE LAWN

The flashing red and blue lights cut through the heavy velvet curtains of the dining room.

Luca didn’t hesitate.

“Marco, lock the perimeter. Take Maddie upstairs to the safe room.”

“No!” Madison grabbed his sleeve. “Dad, don’t go out there.”

“I’m not letting him near you,” Luca said softly. He kissed her forehead. “Go with Marco. Claire, stay with her.”

I grabbed Madison’s arm and pulled her toward the grand staircase. We hurried up the marble steps, but I couldn’t resist glancing out the large landing window.

Down on the immaculate front lawn, a battered Chicago police cruiser was parked diagonally across the grass. The driver’s side door was wide open.

But there was no one inside.

“Claire, hurry,” Marco ordered, pushing us toward the heavy steel door at the end of the hallway.

Inside the safe room, Madison collapsed onto a leather sofa, burying her face in her hands. She was wearing the silver cufflinks she’d tried to give Luca. They looked impossibly heavy on her small wrists.

“He’s going to ruin everything,” she sobbed. “My wedding. Dad’s life. Everything.”

“He won’t,” I said, sitting beside her. “Your dad won’t let him.”

Madison shook her head. “You don’t understand, Claire. Richard is sick. He doesn’t just want money. He wants to watch people bleed.”

Downstairs, a heavy thud echoed through the mansion. It sounded like a door being kicked open.

I moved toward the security monitors mounted on the wall. The screens showed the foyer, the driveway, and the study.

On screen three, Luca was standing in the center of his mahogany study. His gun was drawn, pointed directly at the leather armchair facing the fireplace.

Someone was sitting in his chair.

I tapped the audio button. Static hissed, followed by a voice that made my skin crawl.

“Nice place, Moretti. A lot of glass, though. Real easy to break.”

It was Richard Vance.

He didn’t look like a mastermind. He wore a cheap leather jacket and had a week’s worth of graying stubble. But his eyes were dead, flat, and terrifying.

“You have exactly ten seconds to tell me why you’re in my house before I put a bullet in your knee,” Luca said.

Richard smiled, revealing yellowed teeth. “I’m here to RSVP for Saturday. Chicken, preferably.”

“You’re not going anywhere near my daughter.”

“She’s my daughter.” Richard leaned forward. “And unless you want the feds digging up Julia’s grave to find out what you put in it, you’ll let me walk her down that aisle.”

Luca’s gun didn’t waver. “Julia’s death was an accident. The police closed the case four years ago.”

“Yeah, because you bought the cops.” Richard reached slowly into his jacket.

“Hand out,” Luca barked.

Richard pulled out a folded piece of paper and tossed it onto the desk.

“Julia didn’t lose control of her car on the ice,” Richard sneered. “She called me five minutes before she died. She was crying. Said she found out what you were really doing in the basement of this house, and she was taking Maddie and leaving you.”

Madison gasped behind me. She was staring at the monitor, her face pale.

“Mom never called him,” Madison whispered. “She hated him.”

On the screen, Luca didn’t look at the paper. “You’re lying.”

“Am I?” Richard pointed at the paper. “Open it. It’s the phone records. A three-minute call from her cell to my burner.”

Luca slowly lowered his gun by an inch. He reached for the paper with his left hand and flipped it open.

I watched Luca’s face. For a split second, the hardened mafia boss looked completely shattered.

The record was real.

“She called you,” Luca whispered.

“She called to say you were a monster,” Richard laughed. “And then suddenly, her brakes fail on the bridge? Give me a break.”

Richard stood up. “I want two million dollars, Moretti. And I want the front row seat at that wedding. Or I go to the FBI with this, and I tell them exactly what Julia found in your basement.”

Luca raised his gun again, aiming right between Richard’s eyes.

“You don’t know what’s in my basement.”

“I don’t have to,” Richard smiled. “I just have to point them in the right direction.”

Suddenly, the safe room door handle rattled.

I jumped back. Marco had locked it from the outside when he left us.

“Marco?” I called out.

No answer.

The handle twisted violently, followed by the sound of metal grinding against metal. Someone was picking the heavy deadbolt.

Madison grabbed my arm, her nails digging into my skin.

On the monitor, Luca was still in the study with Richard.

Which meant whoever was trying to break into the safe room with us wasn’t Richard Vance.

The lock clicked.

The heavy steel door swung open.

Standing in the doorway was David, Madison’s fiancé.

He was wearing his hospital scrubs, out of breath and sweating. But that wasn’t what made me scream.

In his right hand, David was holding a blood-soaked crowbar.

“David?” Madison whispered, standing up slowly.

David looked at her, his eyes wide and frantic. “Maddie. You need to come with me right now. Luca is not who you think he is.”