Chapter 5 – THE PRICE OF AN EMPIRE

The living room, once a place of quiet grief, instantly became a war zone.

Luca didn’t flinch. He slowly lowered his phone, his dark eyes fixed on Marcus Bellini. He stepped smoothly in front of me, putting his body between the guns and where I sat on the sofa.

“Marcus,” Luca said, his voice entirely devoid of fear. “You broke into my home. You know the penalty for that in our world.”

Marcus chuckled, leaning heavily on his cane. He was older than Vanessa, his face scarred from years of brutal street politics before he transitioned to wearing expensive suits.

“There are no rules tonight, Luca,” Marcus said. “My sister just called me in hysterics. She said you threw her out. Broke the engagement.”

“She forged my signature to steal my daughter,” Luca replied coldly.

“She was managing a nuisance,” Marcus waved a dismissive hand. “But that’s irrelevant now. When you broke the engagement, you broke our financial agreement. And I don’t like losing money.”

“You aren’t losing money. You’ve been laundering it through my docks for years,” Luca stated, nodding toward the open music box on the table. “I have the proof. Elena found it.”

Marcus’s eyes flicked to the wooden box, and for a second, his smug smile faltered.

“Ah,” Marcus murmured. “The dead wife’s insurance policy. I always told Vanessa it was a mistake not to find that key.”

Hearing him admit it so casually made my blood run cold.

“You killed her,” Luca said, his voice shaking with restrained violence.

“A tragic surgical error,” Marcus corrected smoothly. “Surgeons are so underpaid these days. It’s amazing what a million dollars can make a scalpel do.”

Luca lunged forward.

One of the armed men instantly slammed the butt of his rifle into Luca’s stomach. Luca grunted, falling to his knees, but he didn’t stay down. He immediately grabbed the man’s leg, trying to pull him to the floor.

“Stop!” Marcus shouted.

Another guard pointed his weapon directly at my head.

Luca froze, his hands still gripping the guard’s combat boot. He looked at me, seeing the terror in my eyes, and slowly released his grip, raising his hands.

“Good,” Marcus said, stepping closer. “Now, here is how this works, Luca. You are going to sign a real document tonight. One that transfers fifty-one percent of your shipping company to Bellini Enterprises. You do that, and I walk out of here. You don’t, and we kill you, the maid, and then we go upstairs and find the little girl.”

My heart hammered against my ribs. Lily. She was asleep upstairs. Completely defenseless.

Luca slowly stood up. He wiped a drop of blood from his lip.

“You think a piece of paper saves you?” Luca asked. “My men will hunt you down.”

“Your men are currently dealing with a fire at your downtown warehouse,” Marcus smiled. “A diversion. It will take them twenty minutes to get here. By then, we’ll be gone.”

Marcus pulled a folded legal document from his jacket pocket and tossed it onto the glass table, right next to the music box. He tossed a heavy gold pen beside it.

“Sign,” Marcus ordered.

Luca looked at the paper. Then he looked at me.

“Hannah,” he said quietly.

“Yes, Mr. Moretti?” my voice shook.

“I’m sorry I brought you into this.”

“Just sign it, Mr. Moretti,” I pleaded, tears spilling down my cheeks. “Please. It’s just money.”

Luca picked up the pen. He leaned over the table.

But he didn’t sign the paper.

Instead, his hand shot out, grabbing the heavy, carved wooden music box.

In one fluid, violent motion, Luca hurled the heavy wooden box directly into the face of the guard aiming the gun at me.

The box shattered against the man’s helmet. The guard stumbled backward, his gun firing wildly into the ceiling.

Chaos erupted.

Luca didn’t hesitate. He tackled the second guard, wrestling him to the floor.

“Run, Hannah!” Luca roared over the shouting. “Get Lily!”

I didn’t think. I scrambled off the sofa and sprinted toward the grand staircase.

“Stop her!” Marcus screamed.

A bullet shattered a crystal vase on the pedestal right next to me. I screamed, ducking low, and scrambled up the carpeted stairs on my hands and knees.

I reached the landing and ran down the hallway to Lily’s room.

I threw the door open.

Lily was sitting up in bed, clutching her blankets, her eyes wide with terror. “Hannah! What’s the loud noise?”

“We have to go, sweetheart,” I said, running to her and pulling her out of bed. “Right now.”

I grabbed her hand and pulled her into the hallway.

But as we reached the top of the stairs, my blood turned to ice.

Standing on the landing, blocking our only way down, was Vanessa.

She was holding a small silver pistol, aiming it directly at my chest.

“Going somewhere, maid?” she sneered.

TITLE: THE STAIRCASE

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