Chapter 6 – THE TICKETS TO NOWHERE

The blood drained from my face.

Mrs. Donovan. The woman who had dedicated her entire life to keeping St. Catherine’s open, who had fed me when I was a hungry teenager, was now a hostage.

“Where is she?” I asked into the phone, my voice trembling.

“Bellini sent coordinates to Luca’s encrypted phone,” Rossi replied, the sound of a roaring engine audible in the background. “It’s an abandoned shipping yard on the South Side. The boss is on his way there now.”

“He can’t go alone!” I yelled. “Marcus will kill him!”

“He’s not alone. But Natalie, Luca gave me strict orders. I am downstairs in an armored car. I am to take you and your mother to a safe house in the suburbs until this is over.”

“No,” I said instantly. “I have the deposit slip with the account numbers. If Luca doesn’t have this, he has no leverage to trade for Mrs. Donovan.”

“The boss doesn’t want you in the crossfire.”

“I’m coming down,” I said, hanging up the phone.

I turned to my mother. “Mom, Rossi is downstairs. He’s going to take you somewhere safe.”

“Natalie, you can’t go to that shipping yard,” my mother pleaded, grabbing my arm with her twisted hands. “Marcus is a monster. I watched him destroy Eleanor. I won’t lose you too.”

“You won’t,” I promised, hugging her tightly. “I’m just delivering the paper to Luca. I’ll stay in the car.”

I grabbed my coat and ran down the three flights of stairs. Rossi’s black SUV was idling in the alley. I threw the door open and climbed into the passenger seat.

Rossi looked at me, his massive frame tense. “I was supposed to take you to the safe house, Miss Brooks.”

“Take me to Luca,” I ordered, buckling my seatbelt. “Drive.”

Rossi hesitated for a fraction of a second, then slammed his foot on the gas. The SUV tore out of the alley, speeding toward the South Side.

The rain had stopped, leaving the city streets slick and reflective. The drive was terrifyingly fast. As we approached the industrial sector, the streetlights vanished, replaced by towering silhouettes of rusted shipping containers and massive, silent cranes.

We pulled into the abandoned yard.

In the center of the cracked concrete lot, illuminated by the harsh headlights of three black town cars, was a standoff.

Luca stood completely alone, his hands empty, facing Marcus Bellini.

Marcus was holding a suppressed pistol. Behind him, one of his suited men was holding a terrified Mrs. Donovan, a zip-tie secured tightly around her wrists.

Vanessa stood off to the side, wearing her white trench coat, looking pale and deeply uncomfortable with the reality of a gun being drawn.

Rossi parked the SUV fifty yards away, cutting the headlights.

“Stay here,” Rossi commanded, pulling his own weapon from his shoulder holster.

“Give it to me,” I said, holding out my hand.

Rossi frowned. “Give you what?”

“Your gun.”

Rossi stared at me like I was insane. “Absolutely not.”

“Rossi, if you walk out there, Marcus’s men will shoot Mrs. Donovan immediately. They don’t know me. They think I’m just a maid. Let me walk the deposit slip out to Luca.”

Rossi clenched his jaw, weighing the options. Finally, he reached into his ankle holster, pulled out a small, compact backup pistol, and handed it to me.

“Safety is off. Trigger pull is heavy. Don’t aim unless you intend to fire,” Rossi said grimly.

I slipped the cold metal into my coat pocket, keeping my hand wrapped tightly around the grip. In my other hand, I held the yellow deposit slip.

I opened the door and stepped out into the damp, freezing air.

As I walked toward the headlights, the gravel crunching under my boots drew everyone’s attention.

Luca turned his head. When he saw me, his eyes widened in sheer panic.

“Natalie, what the hell are you doing here?” Luca yelled, breaking his calm facade. “Get back in the car!”

“I brought what he wants,” I said, keeping my voice steady, walking until I was standing right beside Luca. I held up the deposit slip.

Marcus smiled, lowering his gun slightly.

“The maid,” Marcus chuckled. “You always did have a soft spot for the help, Luca. Your mother was the same way. Always defending the weak. Look where it got her.”

“Let Mary go, Marcus,” Luca demanded, stepping slightly in front of me to shield my body. “You have the ledger. You have the account numbers. You won.”

“Not yet,” Marcus said. He gestured to Vanessa. “Get the paper.”

Vanessa walked forward slowly. She wouldn’t look at Luca. She walked up to me and snatched the deposit slip from my hand.

She walked back to her father and handed it to him.

Marcus inspected the yellowed paper, tracing the offshore account numbers. A look of profound relief washed over his face. The last piece of evidence tying him to twenty years of corruption was finally in his hands.

“Thank you, Natalie,” Marcus smiled.

He pulled a silver Zippo lighter from his pocket, sparked it, and held the flame to the corner of the deposit slip. We watched as the paper curled, blackened, and turned to ash, drifting away in the wind.

“It’s gone,” Marcus said. “The ledger is useless now.”

“Release Mrs. Donovan,” Luca said, his voice hard.

Marcus sighed, adjusting his grip on the pistol.

“You know, Luca, I really did want to merge our families legitimately. It would have been poetic. But you had to go and ruin the engagement.”

Marcus raised the gun, pointing it directly at Luca’s chest.

“I can’t leave loose ends. And you, boy, are the biggest loose end of all.”

Vanessa gasped, stepping forward. “Dad, no! You said we were just making a trade! You promised no one would get hurt!”

“Grow up, Vanessa,” Marcus snapped. “This is how empires are protected.”

He cocked the hammer of the gun.

My heart stopped. I felt the cold metal of Rossi’s pistol in my pocket.

But before I could pull it out, a blaring siren shattered the silence of the shipping yard.

And it wasn’t the police.

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