Chapter 4 – THE TRAITORS

The red emergency lights cast long, demonic shadows across Vanessa’s face.

She smiled, a cold, empty expression.

“Did you really think I’d live in this house for a year without buying a few of Luca’s men?” she asked smoothly.

The two guards kept their weapons raised, aiming directly at us.

My heart hammered in my throat. We were trapped. The reinforced steel door was right behind us, but we didn’t have time to open it.

Teresa squeezed my hand, stepping slightly in front of me, shielding my body with her own.

“What do you want, Vanessa?” Teresa asked, her voice entirely devoid of fear.

“I want the cross, Teresa,” Vanessa said, walking slowly down the aisle of wine racks. “Take it off and slide it across the floor. If you do, I’ll tell my men to make it quick for the maid.”

I stopped breathing.

“You’re not going to hurt Hannah,” Teresa stated.

“I don’t think you have a say in the matter anymore, old woman,” Vanessa sneered. “Your son is busy fighting a losing battle upstairs. My father’s men have surrounded the estate. It’s over.”

Vanessa raised her pistol, aiming it directly at my chest.

“The cross. Now.”

Teresa didn’t hesitate.

She reached behind her neck and unclasped the heavy silver chain. She held the crucifix in her palm.

“Mrs. Moretti, no,” I whispered.

“It’s just metal, sweetheart,” she whispered back. “You are worth more.”

Teresa tossed the silver cross onto the stone floor. It clattered loudly, sliding and coming to a stop near Vanessa’s designer heels.

Vanessa’s eyes lit up with greedy triumph.

She bent down to pick it up.

But in that exact moment, a brilliant, blinding light flooded the wine cellar.

The main power hadn’t just been restored—the massive overhead security floodlights had been manually activated.

Vanessa screamed, covering her eyes from the blinding glare.

A shadow dropped from the ventilation grate above the staircase.

It was Matteo.

Before the two corrupt guards could even blink, Matteo fired twice. Both traitors dropped to the stone floor, neutralized instantly.

Vanessa stumbled backward, dropping her gun and clutching the silver cross against her chest.

Footsteps thundered down the wooden stairs.

Luca appeared.

He was breathing heavily, his white shirt torn at the shoulder, but his eyes were blazing with a fury so intense it made the air in the cellar crackle.

“Did you really think,” Luca said, his voice echoing like thunder, “that I didn’t know which of my men were taking your father’s money?”

Vanessa backed against a wine rack, trembling uncontrollably.

“You knew?” she gasped.

“I’ve known for three weeks,” Luca said, stepping into the light. “I intercepted their bank transfers. I just needed to know exactly who they were reporting to. And tonight, you gave me your father’s name.”

Vanessa shook her head, tears ruining her expensive makeup.

“My father’s men are outside! You can’t win, Luca!”

“Your father’s men walked into an ambush,” Luca said coldly. “The police are already waiting at the perimeter. The Romano family is finished tonight.”

He held out his hand.

“Give me my father’s cross.”

Vanessa looked at the silver crucifix in her hand. She looked at the dead guards. She looked at the steel door.

She was completely out of options.

With a sob of pure defeat, she threw the cross onto the ground.

Matteo stepped forward, grabbing Vanessa roughly by the arms and dragging her up the stairs. She didn’t fight him this time. She just wept.

Luca didn’t watch her go.

He immediately holstered his weapon and rushed over to us.

He dropped to his knees on the cold stone floor in front of his mother.

“Are you hurt?” he asked frantically, his hands checking her arms, her face. “Did she touch you?”

“I’m fine, Luca,” Teresa smiled, cupping her son’s face. “I’m perfectly fine.”

He let out a long, shuddering breath, pressing his forehead against her shoulder.

Then he looked up at me.

“Thank you,” he whispered. “For staying by her side.”

“I would never leave her,” I said, my voice thick with emotion.

Luca stood up, retrieving the silver cross from the floor. He wiped the dust off it and gently clasped it back around his mother’s neck.

“It’s over, Mom,” he said softly.