Chapter 8 – The Confession And The Safe House

The glowing screen of the burner phone illuminated the sheer terror on Helen Carter’s face. The Bellinis hadn’t made a deal with her; they had used her, and now they were leveraging her son’s life to extract the final piece of the puzzle.

Helen’s knees buckled. Daniel caught her by the arm before she hit the floor, dragging her back up to a standing position.

“They’re going to kill him,” Helen sobbed, all of her arrogant bravado completely shattered. “They’re going to kill my boy.”

“They don’t want your boy, Helen,” Luca said, his voice cold and devoid of sympathy. “Carlo Bellini is a businessman. He doesn’t care about a fifty-thousand-dollar gambling debt from six years ago. He wants leverage over me.”

Luca walked slowly around the desk, stopping mere inches from the woman who had betrayed him.

“Where is Jason?” Luca demanded softly.

“I can’t tell you,” Helen wept, shaking her head frantically. “If you find him, you’ll kill him for the debt!”

“If I wanted Jason dead, he would have been dead six years ago,” Luca snapped, the powerful, terrifying aura of the Boss returning in full force. “I don’t care about the money. I care about the fact that Carlo Bellini is using the father of Rachel’s child to bait me into a war. If Carlo gets his hands on Jason, he won’t just kill him. He’ll use him to lure Rachel out of this house. And if Rachel leaves, he kills her.”

I gasped, pressing my hand over my mouth. The realization was sickening. Carlo didn’t just want to take over Luca’s empire; he wanted to destroy the woman Luca had chosen to protect.

“Tell me where he is, Helen,” Luca commanded, his dark eyes boring into hers. “Or I swear to God, I will personally hand you over to the Bellinis tonight.”

Helen broke.

“He’s in a safe house on the West Side,” she cried, the words spilling out in a panicked rush. “A little motel off Route 47. Room 112. I’ve been sending him money every month to keep him hidden. He doesn’t even know I’m working for you!”

Luca looked at Daniel. “Get a strike team ready. Five men. Heavily armed. We leave in two minutes.”

“Yes, Boss,” Daniel nodded, immediately reaching for his radio.

“Wait!” I yelled, stepping forward and grabbing Luca’s arm. “You’re going out there? The hitman at my apartment was a trap to get you out of the estate! This could be another one!”

Luca looked down at my hand resting on his arm. His expression softened instantly. He reached up and gently covered my hand with his own, his thumb brushing over my knuckles.

“I have to go, Rachel,” Luca said quietly, his voice meant only for me. “If Carlo gets Jason, he has a weapon he can use against you. I won’t allow that. I am going to end this tonight.”

“But you could be killed,” I whispered, tears brimming in my eyes. The thought of losing the man who had torn his world apart to save my daughter was unbearable.

“I’m not going to die,” Luca promised, leaning down slightly so we were eye to eye. “I have too much to come back for.”

My heart hammered a frantic rhythm against my ribs. I stared into his dark, intense eyes, seeing the absolute truth in them. He wasn’t just fighting for his empire anymore. He was fighting for us.

“Lock this woman back in the basement,” Luca ordered Daniel, his tone shifting back to cold authority. “Do not let her out of your sight. Rachel, go upstairs. Lock the door to the guest suite. Do not open it for anyone but me or Daniel.”

I nodded mutely.

Luca turned and walked out of the library, the heavy oak doors swinging shut behind him.

I spent the next three hours sitting on the edge of the plush king-sized bed in the second-floor guest suite. My mother was asleep in the adjoining room, completely exhausted from the trauma of the evening. Sophie was curled up beside me, clutching her stuffed rabbit, breathing softly in a deep, peaceful sleep.

The mansion was eerily quiet. The thick, soundproof walls muffled any noise from the security teams patrolling outside. Every tick of the grandfather clock in the hallway felt like a hammer against my nerves.

At 2:15 AM, my phone buzzed on the nightstand.

I snatched it up. The caller ID was blocked.

“Hello?” I answered, my voice shaking.

“Rachel.”

It was Jason.

My breath caught in my throat. I hadn’t heard that voice in six years. It sounded older, rougher, edged with panic.

“Jason? Where are you?” I asked, standing up from the bed and walking into the sitting area so I wouldn’t wake Sophie.

“Rachel, you have to listen to me,” Jason rushed out, sounding out of breath. “I’m at the motel. Luca Moretti’s men just showed up. They’re shooting at the Bellini crew in the parking lot. It’s a bloodbath.”

“Luca is there to protect you!” I urged, clutching the phone tightly. “Jason, you have to go with him! Carlo Bellini is trying to kill you!”

“I know that!” Jason shouted over the faint, muffled sound of gunfire in the background of the call. “But I’m not going with Moretti! He’s the reason I’m in this mess!”

“No, he’s not! He’s trying to save our daughter from being used as bait!” I argued fiercely.

“Rachel, listen to me,” Jason’s voice suddenly dropped, turning terrifyingly serious. “Moretti didn’t come here to save me. He came here for the ledger.”

I froze. “What ledger?”

“The black book,” Jason panted. “Six years ago, before I ran, I stole the Bellini family’s financial ledger. It has every bribe, every dirty politician, every offshore account they’ve ever used. That’s why Carlo has been hunting me. That’s why he wants me dead. And that’s why Moretti is here. If Luca gets that ledger, he can destroy the Bellini family permanently and unfreeze his own money.”

My mind raced. Luca hadn’t mentioned a ledger. He had told me he was going to the motel to protect Jason, to protect me.

“Jason, where is the ledger?” I asked, my stomach twisting with dread.

“It’s not at the motel,” Jason said. “I hid it. I’ve kept it safe for six years as an insurance policy. But I need to get out of the city tonight. I need money, Rachel. I need you to bring me the fifty thousand dollars Moretti gave you.”

I gasped. “How do you know about that?”

“My mother called me before they locked her in the basement,” Jason admitted. “She told me Moretti wrote you a check for fifty grand. Rachel, bring me the money, and I’ll tell you where the ledger is. You give the ledger to Moretti, and he’ll let you walk away from all this. We can be a family again.”

I stared at the dark sitting room, the phone pressed hard against my ear.

Jason, the man who had abandoned his two-year-old daughter to run from his own gambling debts, was now trying to extort me using the money the mafia boss had given me to keep my child safe.

“You want me to come to a shootout to hand you a check?” I asked, my voice turning icy cold.

“I’m not at the motel anymore,” Jason said quickly. “I slipped out the back window. I’m three blocks away, at the old abandoned train yard on 5th Street. Come alone. Bring the check. If you don’t, I’m taking the ledger to the FBI, and they’ll arrest Moretti for murder. He’ll go to prison, and you and Sophie will have nothing.”

He hung up.

I stood in the dark, my hand shaking as I lowered the phone.

Jason was blackmailing me. He was going to destroy Luca—the man who had bought my daughter a birthday cake, the man who had stood between my family and a hitman.

I looked back into the bedroom. Sophie was sleeping peacefully, safe behind the fortified walls of the Moretti estate.

I walked over to my purse, pulled out the fifty-thousand-dollar check, and folded it into my pocket.

Then, I walked out of the guest suite, quietly locking the door behind me. I wasn’t going to let Jason destroy the man who had saved us.