Chapter 6 – THE MOTHER’S SACRIFICE

“Mom!” I screamed.

My mother looked terrified. She was in her pajamas, a winter coat thrown hastily over her shoulders.

Vanessa looked like a cornered animal. Her elegant red dress was torn at the hem, her makeup smeared across her face.

“Give me the key!” Vanessa shrieked, pressing the barrel of the gun against my mother’s temple. “I know you have it, Emily!”

Luca moved instantly, pushing Sofia behind the heavy oak doors of the study.

Lorenzo and his tactical team raised their weapons.

“Drop the weapon, Vanessa!” Lorenzo shouted. “The house is surrounded. Your father has already been arrested.”

Vanessa laughed hysterically.

“My father is a coward! He folded the second the feds pulled him over. But I’m not going to rot in prison. Emily, give me the key to the ledger, or I swear to God I’ll paint this porch with your mother’s blood.”

I took a step forward, my hands raised.

“Vanessa, please. Let her go. She has nothing to do with this!”

“Her husband ruined my life!” Vanessa screamed. “Frank Carter kept those records. He was going to expose our whole operation. Give me the key!”

I looked at Luca.

He had the key in his pocket.

He met my eyes. He gave a tiny, almost imperceptible nod.

Luca slowly pulled the silver key from his pocket and tossed it onto the floor between us.

It clattered loudly against the marble.

“Take it,” Luca said, his voice dangerously calm. “Let the woman go.”

Vanessa dragged my mother forward, keeping her as a human shield.

She bent down clumsily, trying to grab the key without taking her eyes off the federal agents.

“Emily, I’m sorry,” my mother sobbed. “I didn’t know your father kept a ledger. I didn’t know!”

“It’s okay, Mom. Just stay calm,” I cried.

Vanessa’s fingers brushed the key.

But in that split second of distraction, my mother did something I never expected.

She reached up, grabbed Vanessa’s wrist, and bit down on it with all her strength.

Vanessa shrieked, dropping the gun.

It hit the floor and fired, a bullet shattering the glass chandelier above us.

Chaos erupted.

Lorenzo’s men surged forward.

Luca grabbed me by the waist and pulled me behind a marble pillar as shards of glass rained down.

When the dust settled, Vanessa was on the ground, her hands cuffed behind her back, screaming obscenities as federal agents dragged her away.

My mother was sitting on the floor, shaking but unharmed.

I ran to her, collapsing into her arms.

“Mom! Are you okay?”

She hugged me tightly, crying.

“I’m fine, sweetheart. I’m fine.”

Luca walked over and picked up the silver key.

He handed it to Lorenzo.

“Go get your ledger, Agent Bianchi. Put these animals away for good.”

Lorenzo took the key with a respectful nod.

“Thank you, Mr. Moretti. Your family is finally safe.”

Lorenzo turned to leave, but then he stopped.

He looked at me, then at Luca.

“There is one more thing,” Lorenzo said quietly. “In your father’s letter, Emily… he mentioned why he took the job at the Moretti estate six years ago.”

Luca frowned. “Frank Carter never worked for me.”

“No,” Lorenzo said softly. “But he was there the night your wife died. He didn’t just witness the hit-and-run. He pulled something out of the wreckage.”

Lorenzo reached into his pocket and pulled out a small, velvet pouch.

He handed it to Luca.

“Frank gave this to the FBI for safekeeping. He wanted it returned to you when the time was right.”

Luca opened the pouch.

Inside was an antique, gold pocket watch.

The watch Luca’s mother had given him. The watch his wife had been carrying the night she died.

But as Luca opened the face of the watch, a small piece of folded paper fell out.

Luca picked it up, unfolding it.

His face went completely pale.

“What is it?” I asked.

Luca looked up at me, his eyes wide with shock.

“It’s a birth certificate,” he whispered. “For a baby born seven months before my wife died.”

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