Chapter 7 – The Ransom of Pier 42

“Vanessa,” Luca breathed, his voice vibrating with a hatred so pure it felt like a physical force in the small, damp room.

Vanessa smiled, tapping the red plastic cap of the inhaler against her manicured fingernail. Behind her, three massive men holding automatic weapons stepped into the doorway, completely blocking our only exit. Marcus raised his weapon, but he was hopelessly outgunned.

“Surprise, darling,” Vanessa purred, her eyes flicking over Luca, then landing on me with absolute disgust. “I told you, you shouldn’t have fired the maid. Now look at the mess you’re in.”

“Give me the medicine,” Luca demanded, standing up slowly. He positioned his massive frame completely between Vanessa and the mattress where little Leo lay gasping for air.

“Oh, I don’t think so,” Vanessa sneered.

She walked further into the room, her high heels clicking sharply against the concrete floor.

“My brother called me from the mountain before you shot him,” Vanessa said, her smile fading into a cold, calculating glare. “He told me you were coming. Did you really think I was going to sit locked in your cellar while you ruined my life?”

“You ruined your own life the second you touched my son,” Luca growled.

Leo let out a weak, agonizing cough. His small hands clawed at his own throat. The blue tint around his lips was deepening. We were running out of time.

“Please,” I begged, stepping forward, ignoring the guns pointed directly at us. “He is suffocating. He’s going to suffer brain damage if he doesn’t get oxygen right now. Give me the inhaler.”

Vanessa laughed, a harsh, brittle sound.

“I don’t care if the little bastard dies,” she spat. “In fact, that was the original plan. But then I realized he is the perfect leverage.”

She reached into her pristine white coat and pulled out a thick stack of legal documents. She tossed them onto the filthy floor at Luca’s feet.

“Sign them,” Vanessa ordered.

Luca looked down at the papers. “What is this?”

“It’s a transfer of power,” Vanessa said smoothly. “It signs complete ownership of the Moretti shipping lines, the offshore accounts, and the downtown real estate over to the Bellini family. You step down as Boss. You leave Chicago tonight, empty-handed. And in exchange, I give the maid the inhaler.”

My stomach churned. She wasn’t just a jealous fiancée. She was a ruthless corporate raider, executing a hostile takeover using a suffocating four-year-old child as a bargaining chip.

“My empire is worth billions,” Luca said, his jaw locked.

“And your son’s life is priceless,” Vanessa countered. “Sign it, Luca. Or watch him choke to death on this mattress.”

Leo let out a high-pitched, rattling wheeze. His eyes rolled back slightly.

“Luca, he’s losing consciousness!” I screamed, pressing my hands against the boy’s chest, trying to manually stimulate his breathing. “He has two minutes, tops!”

Luca didn’t hesitate. He didn’t bargain. He didn’t threaten.

The most powerful man in Chicago dropped to his knees, picked up a discarded pen from the floor, and signed his name on the documents. He sacrificed everything he had built, everything his family had fought for over three generations, without a second thought.

He gathered the papers and held them out.

“I signed them,” Luca said, his voice cracking. “Now give her the inhaler.”

Vanessa smirked victoriously. She snatched the papers from his hand, quickly checking the signature to ensure it was authentic.

“Good boy,” she whispered.

Then, she looked down at me.

She held the inhaler out, dangling it just out of my reach.

“Catch,” she sneered.

Instead of tossing it to me, Vanessa threw the inhaler hard toward the back of the room. It bounced off the concrete wall and fell directly into a deep, filthy drainage grate set into the floor.

“No!” I screamed, diving toward the grate.

Luca roared, a sound of pure, unadulterated violence, and lunged at Vanessa.

The basement exploded into chaos.

Marcus opened fire, dropping one of Vanessa’s guards instantly. The remaining guards returned fire. The deafening sound of automatic weapons filled the tiny room, deafening and terrifying.

I ignored the bullets flying over my head. I threw myself onto the filthy concrete, scraping my hands as I pried at the rusted iron bars of the drainage grate.

“Come on, come on!” I sobbed, my fingers bleeding as I pulled with every ounce of strength I had.

With a loud crack, the rusted grate gave way.

I plunged my arm into the freezing, stagnant water inside the drain. My fingers blindly searched the muck.

Please God. Please.

My fingertips brushed against smooth plastic.

I grabbed it and yanked my arm out. I had the inhaler.

I scrambled backward across the floor, sliding in the filth until I reached the mattress.

Leo was completely limp. He had stopped breathing entirely.

“No, no, baby, stay with me,” I panicked.

I quickly shook the inhaler, placed the mouthpiece between his small, pale lips, and pressed the canister.

Pssh.

Nothing happened.

I stared at his chest. It didn’t rise. He was too weak to inhale the medication himself.

I had to force it into his lungs.

I took a deep breath, placed my mouth completely over his, sealed my lips around his tiny nose, and triggered the inhaler directly into his airway, blowing the medication deep into his lungs.

I pulled back.

One second. Two seconds.

Suddenly, Leo’s chest hitched.

He let out a violent, ragged gasp, his spine arching as the medication hit his restricted airways.

He began coughing uncontrollably, his tiny hands clutching my sweater. But the blue tint around his lips immediately began to fade. The oxygen was returning.

He was breathing.

I pulled him into my arms, sobbing hysterically as I rocked him back and forth. “You’re okay, sweet boy. You’re okay. I’ve got you.”

I looked up.

The gunfire had stopped.

Marcus was bleeding from a graze on his shoulder, but the three guards were dead on the floor.

And standing in the center of the room, holding Vanessa completely off the ground by her throat, was Luca.

TITLE: The Photograph in His Pocket

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