Chapter 3 – THE SILVER CROSS

The name sucked all the oxygen out of the room.

Marco Romano.

The head of the rival crime family. The man who had been trying to destroy the Moretti syndicate for two decades.

And his daughter had been sleeping in Luca’s bed for a year.

“Get her downstairs,” Luca ordered, his voice devoid of all emotion. “Tie her to the chair. Do not let her speak to anyone.”

As the guards dragged Vanessa away, her manic laughter echoed down the marble hallway.

Luca stood frozen for a moment, absorbing the catastrophic betrayal. The woman he was going to marry was a spy. The wedding was a setup.

He turned to us.

“Mom. Hannah. We need to leave this house immediately. If Marco knows her cover is blown, they will hit this estate within the hour.”

Teresa didn’t panic.

She reached for her small beaded purse on the table.

“I need to get the key,” she said.

Luca frowned. “What key?”

Teresa reached up to her neck. She was wearing a high-collared navy dress, but beneath the fabric, resting against her collarbone, was a heavy silver chain.

She pulled it out.

At the end of the chain hung an antique silver crucifix. It was thick and ornate.

“Your father didn’t just leave a safety deposit box, Luca,” she whispered, her fingers tracing the silver cross. “He left a vault. And this is the only key.”

Luca stared at the crucifix. “You’ve been wearing it this whole time?”

“Every day since he died,” she said.

She pressed a hidden mechanism on the back of the cross.

With a soft click, the side of the crucifix popped open like a locket. Inside, resting on a bed of dark velvet, was a small, intricately cut safety deposit key.

“Vanessa was looking for this,” Teresa said. “She searched my jewelry box three times this month. She thought I was losing my mind, but I was just pretending not to notice.”

Luca stared at his mother in awe.

“You played her,” he whispered.

“I protected our family,” she corrected gently.

Suddenly, the lights in the dining room flickered.

Then, with a heavy, mechanical clunk, the entire mansion plunged into pitch darkness.

I gasped, instinctively reaching out.

Teresa’s warm hand found mine in the dark.

“They cut the power,” Luca said, his voice instantly shifting from a son to a soldier.

I heard the distinct, metallic sound of him drawing his firearm from his shoulder holster.

“Hannah,” Luca ordered in the blackness. “Take my mother. Go through the servant’s corridor behind the kitchen. It leads to the underground wine cellar. There is a reinforced steel door behind the wine racks. Lock yourselves inside and do not open it for anyone but me.”

“What about you?” I asked, my heart hammering against my ribs.

“I have to hold the line with Matteo,” he said.

I felt a strong hand touch my shoulder in the dark. It was Luca.

“Keep her safe, Hannah,” he whispered. “Please.”

“I will,” I promised, my voice shaking but resolute.

I gripped Teresa’s hand and led her blindly toward the swinging kitchen doors. I knew this house better than anyone. I had scrubbed every inch of its floors.

We moved quickly through the dark, massive kitchen. The only light came from the pale moonlight spilling through the high windows.

Outside, the first sound of gunfire shattered the quiet night.

Teresa flinched, but she didn’t slow down.

We reached the narrow servant’s staircase and began to descend into the damp, cold basement.

“Careful on the steps, Mrs. Moretti,” I whispered, guiding her foot.

“I’m fine, sweetheart,” she replied.

We reached the bottom and hurried into the cavernous wine cellar. Thousands of glass bottles reflected the faint emergency lights glowing red near the floor.

I found the specific rack Luca had mentioned. I pushed against the heavy oak wood.

It swung open effortlessly, revealing a thick steel door with a keypad.

But as I reached for the handle, a cold voice echoed through the cellar.

“I wouldn’t touch that if I were you.”

I spun around.

Standing at the bottom of the stairs, holding a flashlight in one hand and a silenced pistol in the other, was Vanessa.

She wasn’t tied to a chair.

And standing right behind her were the two guards Luca had ordered to lock her up.