Chapter 10 – THE MIDNIGHT KNOCK

Vincenzo Romano stood in the moonlight of the foyer, a terrifying ghost returned from the grave.

He wasn’t supposed to be here. The feds had locked him away in a maximum-security black site.

But syndicate money could buy anything, even freedom.

“I know you’re up there, boy,” Vincenzo sneered, pressing the barrel of his gun harder against Teresa’s head. She whimpered behind the gag, her eyes wide with terror. “Bring my daughter down here, or I paint this marble floor with your mother’s blood.”

Luca gripped the banister, his knuckles turning white. He raised his pistol, aiming down the stairs.

“Let her go, Vincenzo,” Luca called out, his voice echoing with absolute authority. “You’re in my house now. You don’t walk out of here alive.”

Vincenzo laughed. “I brought thirty armed men, Luca. They have the perimeter secured. You have a pregnant wife and a little boy sleeping down the hall. Who do you think has the leverage here?”

I froze. Pregnant?

Luca shot me a quick, panicked glance.

I hadn’t told him. I had only taken the test that morning. I was going to tell him tonight, after the proposal.

Vincenzo had spies everywhere.

“I’m coming down,” I shouted, stepping out from the shadows of the hallway.

“Hannah, no!” Luca grabbed my arm.

“He wants me, Luca,” I whispered, tears filling my eyes. “If I don’t go, he’ll kill Teresa. And then he’ll come upstairs for Matteo.”

I pulled my arm free and slowly walked down the grand staircase, my hands raised.

Vincenzo’s icy blue eyes softened slightly when he saw me.

“Hannah,” he smiled, a twisted, possessive affection in his voice. “Look at you. Living in this house. Sleeping with the enemy. You broke my heart, little bird.”

“You broke your own heart when you abandoned my mother,” I said, stopping at the bottom of the stairs. “Let Teresa go. I’m here.”

Vincenzo shook his head. “Not yet. I need Luca down here too.”

Luca slowly descended the stairs, his gun still raised, aimed squarely at Vincenzo’s chest.

“Drop the gun, son,” Vincenzo ordered.

“I am not your son,” Luca spat.

Vincenzo’s smile vanished. “Teresa told me the truth. You carry my blood. You are a Romano.”

“She lied to you!” Luca yelled. “She lied to keep you from killing me when I was a child! My father was Salvatore!”

Vincenzo stared at him, the silence stretching taut until it felt like the air would snap. He looked down at Teresa, who was sobbing, nodding furiously to confirm Luca’s words.

The realization hit the old Don. He had spent decades protecting a boy from afar, believing he was his heir. He had sacrificed his own men in the syndicate wars to ensure Luca survived.

And it was all for nothing.

A terrifying, hollow rage consumed Vincenzo’s face.

“You lied to me,” Vincenzo whispered to Teresa.

He cocked the hammer of his pistol.

“No!” Luca screamed, lunging forward.

But Vincenzo didn’t shoot Teresa.

With blinding speed, he swung the gun toward me and fired.

The bullet tore through my shoulder, spinning me around. I collapsed onto the cold marble floor, gasping in agony as blood instantly soaked my sundress.

“Hannah!” Luca roared.

Luca fired twice. Both bullets hit Vincenzo squarely in the chest.

The old Don stumbled backward, dropping his gun. He hit the floor hard, staring up at the chandelier with wide, unseeing eyes.

The four men surrounding Vincenzo immediately raised their assault rifles, aiming at Luca.

But before they could pull the trigger, the front doors of the mansion were blown violently off their hinges.

A tactical squad in black armor poured into the foyer, laser sights cutting through the smoke.

“FBI! Drop your weapons!” a voice boomed over a megaphone.

The four Romano thugs looked at the overwhelming federal force and immediately dropped their rifles, raising their hands in surrender.

Luca didn’t care about the FBI. He threw his gun aside and slid across the marble floor, dropping to his knees beside me.

He ripped off his shirt, pressing the fabric hard against my bleeding shoulder.

“Stay with me, Hannah,” he begged, his tears dropping onto my face. “Look at me. Stay awake.”

“Matteo,” I gasped, the pain blinding me. “Is he safe?”

“He’s safe. He’s upstairs, he slept through it. Just breathe, baby. The ambulance is coming.”

I looked past Luca’s shoulder. Teresa had been untied by an agent and was rushing toward us, crying hysterically.

The nightmare was finally over. The last ghost of the Romano syndicate was dead on the floor.

My vision began to blur. The edges of the room faded to black.

“I love you,” I whispered, reaching up with a trembling hand to touch his cheek.

“Don’t you dare say goodbye,” Luca sobbed, kissing my forehead. “You promised to marry me.”

I smiled, closing my eyes. “I never break a promise.”

TITLE: The Final Vow

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