Chapter 5 – THE PRICE OF TRUTH

The rain hammered against the tin roof of the warehouse, sounding like a thousand frantic drumbeats.

I stayed near the rusted entrance, shielding Lucy’s eyes with my hand. I couldn’t let her see her mother with a gun to her head.

Luca froze, his weapon still raised, aimed dead center at his uncle’s chest.

“Let her go, Marcus,” Luca said. His voice was terrifyingly calm, the kind of calm that preceded a slaughter.

Marcus chuckled, a dry, rasping sound. “Or what? You’ll shoot me? If I fall, my finger pulls this trigger, Luca. Anna dies before I hit the concrete.”

Anna squeezed her eyes shut. She was shivering violently in the damp air. “Luca, please,” she sobbed. “Just take Lucy and leave. He doesn’t care about the tape anymore. He just wants to hurt you.”

“I am not leaving you,” Luca swore, his eyes locked onto hers. “Never again.”

Richard stepped into the light, standing shoulder-to-shoulder with his brother. He wasn’t armed, but his hands were curled into tight fists.

“You lied to me,” Richard said, his voice shaking with betrayed rage. “You made me think she was a threat to the family. You used me to protect yourself.”

“Oh, grow up, Richard,” Marcus sneered, pressing the barrel harder against Anna’s temple. She winced. “You were always the weak one. So desperate to protect the family legacy, so eager to play the ruthless mob boss. I just pointed you in the right direction.”

Marcus looked back at Luca. “Toss the gun away, Luca. Slide the tape across the floor. Then maybe I’ll let her walk out of here.”

“If I give you the tape, we both know you’ll kill her anyway,” Luca said.

“Probably,” Marcus agreed with a sick smile. “But if you don’t, I shoot her right now. Your move, Boss.”

My heart pounded against my ribs. I looked down at Lucy. She had slipped from my grip and was staring past my legs at the scene.

“Mommy,” Lucy whimpered.

Anna’s eyes snapped open. She saw her little girl standing near the door.

A primal, desperate strength suddenly flooded the frail, sickly woman.

“Lucy, close your eyes!” Anna screamed.

And then, Anna did the unthinkable.

Instead of pulling away from the gun, she threw her body backward, slamming her head directly into Marcus’s face.

There was a sickening crunch of cartilage.

Marcus stumbled back with a howl of pain, his gun waving wildly into the air.

BANG.

The gunshot echoed through the massive warehouse, deafening and bright.

I screamed, throwing myself over Lucy to protect her.

For a split second, I thought Anna was hit.

But it wasn’t Marcus’s gun that had fired.

I looked up.

Luca was standing with both arms extended, smoke curling from the barrel of his weapon.

Marcus was staring down at his chest, a blossoming red stain spreading across his expensive tailored suit. The gun slipped from his fingers, clattering onto the concrete floor.

He swayed on his feet for a second, then collapsed backward into the shadows.

“Anna!”

Luca dropped his weapon and sprinted across the room. He fell to his knees beside her chair, his hands desperately tearing at the ropes binding her wrists.

“Luca,” she gasped, falling forward into his chest the moment she was free.

He caught her, crushing her against him. He buried his face in her wet hair, his broad shoulders shaking with silent sobs.

“I’ve got you,” he whispered fiercely, rocking her. “I’ve got you. I’m so sorry. I’m so damn sorry.”

Richard stood a few feet away, watching them. The realization of what he had stolen from his brother—eight years of this love, eight years of a family—finally shattered him. He dropped to his knees on the filthy floor and put his face in his hands, weeping bitterly.

I let out a breath I felt like I had been holding for an hour.

“Mommy!”

Lucy broke free from my grip and ran as fast as her little legs could carry her across the warehouse floor.

Anna looked up, tears streaming down her bruised face. She reached out her frail arms.

Lucy crashed into them, burying her face in her mother’s neck. “Mommy, I found him. I found Mr. Luca just like you said.”

Luca wrapped his massive arms around both of them, sealing them in a protective embrace that nothing on earth could ever break again.

“You found him, baby,” Anna cried, kissing her daughter’s dark curls. “You did so good.”

Luca looked down at the little girl. He gently cupped Lucy’s cheek, his thumb wiping away a tear.

“You don’t have to call me Mr. Luca anymore, sweetheart,” he said, his voice thick with emotion.

Lucy looked up at him with wide, innocent eyes. “What do I call you?”

Before Luca could answer, Anna suddenly gasped.

Her eyes rolled back into her head.

Her body went completely limp in Luca’s arms.

“Anna?!” Luca shouted, catching her before she hit the floor.

Her skin was white as paper. Her lips were turning blue.

“Mommy!” Lucy screamed.

Luca pressed two fingers to Anna’s neck. He looked up at me, absolute terror in his eyes.

“Her heart stopped,” he whispered.

TITLE: THE FINAL BEAT

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