Chapter 10

The bags for Hawaii sat unpacked at the foot of our bed, mocking me.

We weren’t going anywhere.

Within an hour of discovering the bounty, the Moretti estate was transformed into a fortress. Armed guards patrolled the perimeter. The steel shutters on the windows were permanently locked down.

“We have to move you to a safe house,” Luca paced the floor of the bedroom, his phone pressed to his ear as he barked orders to his lieutenants across the city.

“No,” I said firmly, sitting on the edge of the bed. “I am not running again, Luca.”

He hung up the phone and walked over to me, kneeling so we were eye to eye. “Emily, there is a two-million-dollar price tag on our heads. Every low-level thug in Chicago is going to try their luck.”

“Then we fight them here,” I insisted, gripping his hands. “If we run, we show them we are weak. I spent five years running. I won’t raise my daughter in hiding.”

Luca stared at me, a mixture of awe and fear in his eyes.

Before he could argue, a massive explosion rocked the western wing of the estate.

The ground shook so violently that the bedside lamp shattered on the floor.

The alarms instantly began blaring.

“They breached the west wall!” Marco yelled through the radio clipped to Luca’s belt. “We have multiple hostiles in the courtyard!”

Luca’s eyes turned murderous. He grabbed his rifle from under the bed.

“Stay in the panic room,” he ordered. “Do not come out until I come for you.”

I grabbed Grace, who was crying, and rushed into the reinforced closet. The steel door slid shut, and I immediately turned on the monitors.

There were at least a dozen armed men flooding into the western gardens. They were sloppy, disorganized—street thugs looking for a quick payday, not trained mercenaries.

But there were so many of them.

I watched the screens in horror as Luca and his men engaged them in the courtyard. The night lit up with the flash of gunfire.

“Mommy, my tummy hurts,” Grace whimpered, burying her face in my lap.

“Shh, it’s okay,” I rocked her.

Suddenly, I noticed something on camera four.

While the main firefight raged in the courtyard, a single figure in dark clothes was scaling the trellis on the eastern side of the house.

Directly below our bedroom window.

He was bypassing the entire fight, sneaking in through the one blind spot the guards had left exposed.

I grabbed the emergency radio Luca had left on the panic room cot.

“Luca!” I screamed into the mic. “East window! Someone is climbing up!”

Static crackled. “Emily, stay inside! I’m pinned down in the courtyard!”

I looked at the monitor. The man had just reached the balcony. He kicked in the glass door of our bedroom.

He was inside.

He walked slowly toward the closet, holding a silenced pistol. He stopped in front of the panic room door.

He began wiring an explosive charge to the steel frame.

He was going to blow the door open.

I couldn’t wait for Luca. If that door blew, the shockwave inside this tiny room would kill Grace instantly.

I set Grace gently on the cot. “Cover your ears, baby. Close your eyes.”

I picked up the heavy steel fire extinguisher resting in the corner of the panic room.

I took a deep breath, marched to the control panel, and hit the manual override to open the door.

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