Chapter 5 – The Blood On The White Shirt

The two guards spun around.

They didn’t even have time to raise their weapons. Luca moved with a terrifying, brutal efficiency. He grabbed the first guard by the collar and slammed his head against the marble wall with a sickening crack. The man slumped to the floor.

The second guard raised his gun, but Luca caught his wrist, twisted it until the bone snapped, and drove a knee into his chest. The guard collapsed, gasping for air.

It took less than five seconds.

Vanessa screamed and aimed her revolver at Luca.

“Drop it!” she shrieked.

Luca didn’t stop walking toward her. The blood on his shirt was dark and wet. It wasn’t his.

“Elias is dead,” Luca said. His voice was a calm, mechanical monotone. The voice of a man who had detached from his humanity. “The men at the gate are dead. It’s just you, Vanessa.”

Vanessa’s hands shook wildly. “Stay back! I’ll shoot!”

Thomas stepped forward and pressed the barrel of his silenced pistol directly against the back of Vanessa’s head.

“Lower the weapon, Vanessa,” Thomas said.

Vanessa froze. She looked over her shoulder at the old man she had humiliated for hours. She dropped the revolver. It clattered against the hardwood floor.

Luca stepped into the nursery. He looked at me. “Where is Sophie?”

“In the closet. She’s safe,” I said quickly.

Luca closed his eyes for a fraction of a second. Relief washed over his hardened features. Then he looked at the letter in my hand.

“What is that?” he asked.

I looked at Thomas. The old man nodded.

I handed the letter to Luca. He read it in silence. As his eyes scanned his dead wife’s words, the muscle in his jaw ticked.

He finished reading and looked at me. “Your mother was Mary Collins?”

“Yes, sir,” I whispered.

“Elias ruined her to protect the Bellini family.”

“Yes.”

Luca folded the letter and put it in his pocket. He turned to Vanessa.

“You poisoned my wife. You tried to erase my daughter’s memory of her. You lied to my sister-in-law.” Luca’s voice grew dangerously soft. “And tonight, you humiliated the man who practically raised me.”

Vanessa fell to her knees, sobbing. “Luca, please! I loved you! I did it because I wanted to be a mother to Sophie! Catherine was weak!”

“Get her up,” Luca ordered.

Two of Luca’s own men appeared in the doorway. They hauled Vanessa to her feet.

“Take her to the basement,” Luca said. “To the vault.”

Vanessa screamed, thrashing against the guards. “No! Luca, please!”

They dragged her down the hallway, her screams fading into the massive house.

Luca walked over to the closet and opened the door. He knelt down and pulled Sophie into his arms. She buried her face in his neck.

“It’s okay, principessa,” he whispered. “The bad lady is gone. She’s never coming back.”

Luca carried Sophie to the bed and tucked her in. He looked at me.

“Hannah. Stay with her.”

“Of course, Mr. Moretti.”

Luca turned to Thomas. “Old man. We have work to do.”

Thomas nodded, slipping the pistol back into his coat. “The Bellini family will retaliate by morning, Luca.”

“Let them,” Luca said. “They don’t know what we have.”

“What do we have?” Thomas asked.

Luca reached into his pocket and pulled out the brass skeleton key Elias Thorne had thrown on the dining room floor.

“Elias told me to check the vault,” Luca said. “He thought the Bellini family owned half my empire. But he didn’t know Catherine had a false bottom in her jewelry box.”

Luca looked at me. “Hannah. Go to the master bedroom. Bring me Catherine’s jewelry box.”

I ran down the hall to the master suite. I found the heavy, ornate mahogany box on the vanity. I brought it back to Luca.

He smashed the wooden bottom of the box against the edge of the desk. The wood splintered, revealing a hidden compartment.

Inside was a small silver key and a stack of black leather ledgers.

Luca opened the first ledger.

His eyes widened.

“Thomas,” Luca whispered. “The Bellinis didn’t just kill Catherine. They’ve been stealing from the Chicago Commission for ten years. This is the proof. If the other families see this…”

“The Commission will wipe the Bellini family off the map,” Thomas finished.

Suddenly, a massive explosion shook the mansion.

The windows rattled, and the lights flickered and died.

We were plunged into total darkness.

“They’re not waiting for morning,” Luca said into the dark.

TITLE: The Siege In The Dark

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