Chapter 3 – THE TRAITOR IN THE RANKS

“Which man?” Luca asked, his voice deathly calm.

The nurse trembled, pulling her knees to her chest.

“He was tall. Dark hair. He had a scar above his left eyebrow. He said his name was Daniel.”

The name hit the room like a physical blow.

Mrs. Carter let out a sharp gasp, clutching her chest.

“Daniel?” she whispered. “Lu… Daniel has been with the family for fifteen years. He took his first communion with you.”

Luca didn’t speak.

His face drained of all color, leaving only a cold, terrifying mask of absolute betrayal.

Daniel.

The man he trusted with his life.

The man he had left at the mansion to guard Salvatore Bellini.

Luca immediately pulled his phone from his pocket and dialed the estate security desk.

It rang four times before a junior guard answered.

“Boss?”

“Where is Daniel?” Luca demanded.

“Sir, he left ten minutes ago. He said he was coming to reinforce you at the hospital.”

“And Bellini?”

A long, horrifying pause followed.

“Sir… Bellini is gone. Daniel dismissed the guards and escorted him out.”

Luca ended the call and crushed the phone in his grip until the screen splintered.

“He’s been working for Salvatore this whole time,” Luca said, his voice hollow. “He played me. He played all of us.”

I looked at the black rose on the bed.

“Mr. Moretti,” I said cautiously. “If Daniel works for Salvatore, why did he leave a rose and a photograph? That feels like a message, not an assassination.”

Luca looked at me, his dark eyes narrowing.

“Olivia’s right, my boy,” Mrs. Carter added softly. “Daniel knew Giovanni. He knew about that photograph.”

Luca turned back to the terrified nurse.

“Did he hurt her? My mother. Did he hurt her when he took her?”

The nurse shook her head frantically.

“No! He disconnected her monitors carefully. He carried her like she was made of glass. He told her she was finally going to be safe.”

The reversal hit Luca instantly.

He staggered, gripping the doorframe.

“He didn’t kidnap her,” Luca realized, the puzzle pieces clicking together in real-time. “He extracted her. He rescued her before Salvatore’s real assassins could get here.”

“But if he rescued her, why release Salvatore at the mansion?” I asked.

Luca’s eyes widened.

“Because Salvatore didn’t know Daniel took her. Daniel had to release him to maintain his cover, or Salvatore would have ordered his men to burn Chicago to the ground.”

Luca pulled his backup phone from his inner pocket and accessed the GPS tracker embedded in Daniel’s security vehicle.

A red dot blinked on the digital map.

It was stationary.

“He’s at the old St. Jude’s Cathedral on the south side,” Luca said. “It’s been abandoned for years.”

We ran back to the SUV.

The rain was falling harder now, blurring the streetlights into streaks of yellow and red.

Luca drove with terrifying precision, sliding through wet intersections and ignoring every red light.

When we reached the massive, crumbling stone cathedral, the iron gates were chained shut.

Luca drove the heavy SUV straight through them, the chains snapping like brittle twigs.

He parked near the heavy oak doors and stepped out into the downpour, pulling his weapon.

“Stay in the car,” he ordered us.

“I’m not leaving you, sweetheart,” Mrs. Carter said stubbornly, unbuckling her seatbelt.

I helped her out, and the three of us pushed through the heavy wooden doors.

The interior of the cathedral was pitch black, smelling of damp stone and old incense.

Moonlight filtered through the shattered stained-glass windows, illuminating the dust in the air.

“Daniel!” Luca’s voice echoed through the massive nave.

No answer.

We moved cautiously down the center aisle toward the altar.

That’s when I saw it.

Lying across the marble steps of the altar was Eleanor’s small blue suitcase.

It was open, clothes spilled across the stone.

But Daniel wasn’t holding it.

Daniel was lying face down next to the pews, a pool of dark blood expanding rapidly across the floor beneath him.

And standing over him, holding a suppressed pistol, was Vanessa.

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