Chapter 10 – THE EMPTY BED AT THE HOSPITAL

Gunfire echoed in the distance, a terrifying, rhythmic popping sound that seemed to vibrate through the floorboards of the mansion.

Luca didn’t panic. He moved with terrifying precision.

He grabbed my arm and pulled me out of the maid’s quarters. “We have three minutes before they reach the front doors. We need to get to the safe room.”

“My mother!” I yelled, pulling back. “She’s in the guest wing!”

“I know,” Luca said, his eyes dark and focused. “Enzo is already moving her. Come on!”

We sprinted down the grand hallway. The beautiful, quiet mansion had instantly transformed into a war zone. Luca’s guards were taking up positions behind marble pillars and heavy oak furniture, racking shotguns and barking orders.

Teresa emerged from her suite, carrying a sleeping Sophie wrapped in a heavy blanket.

“Luca!” Teresa cried over the noise.

“Go to the basement, Mom,” Luca ordered, pushing us toward the concealed door behind the library bookshelf. “Enter the code. Do not come out until I knock three times.”

“You’re not coming with us?” I asked, panic rising in my throat.

Luca pulled a heavy assault rifle from a hidden weapons cache behind a painting. He checked the magazine and slapped it back in.

“I’m the Boss, Hannah,” Luca said softly, though his eyes were completely devoid of warmth. “I don’t hide in basements while men attack my home.”

He looked at me, reaching out to cup my cheek with his rough hand.

“I will keep you safe,” he whispered. “I promise.”

Before I could answer, the massive oak front doors of the mansion exploded inward in a shower of splinters and glass.

“Go!” Luca yelled, shoving me behind the hidden door.

The heavy steel door slammed shut, plunging Teresa, Sophie, and me into darkness, save for the dim emergency lights humming along the floor.

We hurried down the concrete steps into the reinforced bunker.

It was a large room, stocked with food, water, medical supplies, and a bank of security monitors displaying dozens of camera feeds from around the estate.

Sitting on a cot in the corner, looking bewildered and terrified, was my mother. Enzo had gotten her down here just in time.

“Mom!” I ran to her, throwing my arms around her neck.

“Hannah, thank God,” she sobbed, holding me tight.

Teresa set Sophie gently on another cot. The little girl was remarkably calm, having grown up in a world where midnight drills were a reality. She curled into a ball and went back to sleep.

I turned to the security monitors.

The screens showed absolute chaos.

Black SUVs had crashed through the front iron gates, littering the pristine driveway. Dozens of armed men in tactical gear were swarming the grounds. The Romanos were making a brutal, all-out push to wipe out the Moretti family and take Chicago in one night.

I found the feed for the main foyer.

Luca was standing at the top of the grand staircase.

He wasn’t hiding. He was leading his men.

The gunfight was deafening, even through the soundproof bunker walls. Muzzle flashes lit up the marble floors like lightning.

I watched in horror as one of Luca’s men fell, taking a bullet to the shoulder. Luca seamlessly stepped into the gap, laying down suppressive fire to cover his wounded man as another guard dragged him away.

“He’s incredible,” my mother whispered, watching the screen over my shoulder. “Just like his father.”

I looked at my mother. The secret I had learned just minutes ago hung heavy in the air between us.

“Mom,” I said softly, not looking away from the screen. “I know about Dad.”

My mother froze.

I turned to look at her. “I know he was Marco’s partner. I know he betrayed the family, and I know why the Commission had him killed.”

Tears instantly filled her eyes. She reached out, her hands shaking.

“Hannah… I wanted to tell you. Every day of my life, I wanted to tell you. But I was so afraid you would hate me for not saving him.”

“You saved a good man instead,” I said, my voice thick with emotion. I grabbed her hand and squeezed it. “You did the right thing. I’m not angry.”

She let out a broken sob of relief, kissing my forehead.

Suddenly, a loud buzzer sounded from the security console.

One of the screens flashed red.

It was the feed for the kitchen, located right above the bunker.

Five Romano hitmen had bypassed the main firefight in the foyer. They had slipped through the servants’ entrance and were moving silently through the kitchen.

And they were carrying heavy breaching charges.

“They know where the bunker is,” Teresa gasped, pointing at the screen.

The men were setting the explosives directly above the reinforced hatch that led down to our location.

If those charges blew, the steel door wouldn’t hold.

I grabbed a walkie-talkie from the desk and pressed the button. “Luca! Luca, are you there?”

Static hissed, followed by the sound of gunfire. “Hannah! Stay off this channel—”

“There are five men in the kitchen!” I screamed. “They’re setting C4 on the bunker hatch! Luca, they’re going to blow the door!”

Silence.

Then, on the kitchen camera feed, the double doors burst open.

Luca walked in alone.