Chapter 5 – THE TICKET TO NOWHERE

I stared at the knife buried in the stuffed bear.

Luca stormed into the room, his eyes scanning the empty corners, the discarded blankets, the open window. When he saw the knife, a dangerous, unnatural calm settled over him.

He didn’t shout. He didn’t curse. He walked over, pulled the knife from the bear, and took the train ticket.

“Midnight,” Luca read aloud, his voice devoid of emotion. “The Silver Star line. Departing in exactly one hour.”

“She wants you to meet her there,” I said, my voice shaking. “She took Isabella and Rosa.”

“No,” Luca said softly. He flipped the ticket over.

There, written in smeared lipstick, was another message: Bring the Ledger, or the little bird falls.

Luca looked at me. “She doesn’t want me. She wants the Naples Ledger. The heirloom your grandmother hid.”

“But I don’t know where it is!” I cried. “My grandmother never told me about a ledger! She only gave me this bracelet!”

Luca stared at my wrist.

He dropped the ticket and stepped closer, grabbing my hand gently. He looked at the braided leather closely.

“Your grandmother was a smart woman, Emily,” Luca said quietly. “She knew a physical book could be burned, stolen, or destroyed.”

He pulled a small pocketknife from his suit jacket.

“Mr. Moretti, what are you doing?”

“Trust me,” he whispered.

He carefully sliced through the thickest part of the leather braid on my wrist.

I gasped as the leather fell away.

Hidden inside the hollow core of the bracelet was a tightly rolled piece of microfilm.

I stared at it in shock. I had been wearing the family’s most dangerous secret on my wrist for twenty years.

“The Ledger,” Luca breathed. “Names, bank accounts, dates. Everything needed to destroy the rival families. Vanessa wants this to buy her safety from the Syndicate.”

He put the microfilm in his pocket.

“We’re going to Union Station,” he said.

The drive was a blur of neon lights and rain. When we arrived at the massive, echoing hall of Union Station, it was nearly deserted. Just a few late-night travelers sleeping on wooden benches.

“Stay close,” Luca muttered, his hand resting inside his jacket on his weapon.

We walked toward the platform for the Silver Star.

The train was idling, steam hissing from beneath the steel wheels.

Standing on the empty platform, holding a terrified Isabella by the arm, was Antonio the locksmith.

“Antonio?” I gasped.

The Italian man looked terrified. He was sweating profusely, holding a gun to Isabella’s head.

“I am sorry, Mr. Moretti,” Antonio cried, his hand shaking violently. “Vanessa promised she would kill my family in Sicily if I didn’t help her.”

“Where is she?” Luca asked, his voice echoing in the cavernous station.

“She is not here,” Antonio wept. “She told me to take the child on the train. To bring her to New York.”

“Daddy!” Isabella sobbed.

Luca didn’t flinch. “Let my daughter go, Antonio. You know I don’t miss.”

“I can’t!” Antonio shouted. “Vanessa is watching! She has a sniper!”

Before Luca could react, a red laser dot appeared on Luca’s chest.

From the shadows of the upper walkway, a voice rang out through a megaphone.

“Drop the gun, Luca. And tell your little maid to leave the microfilm on the bench.”

It was Vanessa.

“If you don’t,” she laughed, “I’ll just have Antonio shoot the kid.”

I looked at Antonio. The poor man was sobbing, his finger trembling on the trigger.

But then, the doors of the train behind Antonio slid open.

A figure stepped out of the shadows of the train car.

It was a woman in a heavy wool coat.

She raised a heavy iron wrench and slammed it into the back of Antonio’s head.

He collapsed like a stone.

Isabella screamed and stumbled forward. Luca caught her in his arms, shielding her from the sniper above.

The woman in the coat dropped the wrench and looked at Luca.

She pulled down her hood.

It was Elena.

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