Chapter 5 - THE DOCTOR WHO MENDED MY ARM CAME TO BREAK MY FAMILY
Dr. Harris raised the gun.
He didn’t look like the gentle physician who had stitched my arm just eight hours ago.
He looked cornered. Desperate.
“Back inside, Luca,” Harris ordered, stepping into the apartment.
Luca didn’t flinch.
He moved his broad shoulders, completely blocking Harris’s view of my son.
“You’re out of your depth, Thomas,” Luca said. His voice was terrifyingly calm. “You’re a corrupt doctor, not a hitman.”
“Vanessa said you’d figure it out!” Harris hissed, his hands shaking. “She said if I didn’t eliminate the loose ends, you’d torture me.”
“She lied,” Luca replied evenly.
Harris blinked.
“If you put the gun down,” Luca continued, “I will just kill you.”
Harris’s face twisted in panic.
He pulled the trigger.
Thwip.
The suppressed shot tore through the air.
Luca lunged forward, twisting his body. The bullet grazed his shoulder, shattering the mirror behind us.
Before Harris could fire again, Luca grabbed his wrist, snapping it back with a sickening crunch.
Harris screamed, dropping the gun.
Luca slammed him against the wall, his forearm pressing against the doctor’s throat.
“Who paid you?” Luca demanded.
“Vanessa!” Harris choked out. “She gave me fifty thousand to list the death as a heart attack!”
“Why almonds?”
“She wanted it to look natural! The almond oil triggered anaphylaxis. She just used the pillow to keep her quiet!”
My stomach heaved.
Leo started crying in the bedroom.
Luca’s eyes darkened with a monstrous rage.
He let go of Harris’s throat and hit him once across the jaw.
Harris slumped to the floor, unconscious.
Luca picked up the gun and tucked it into his coat.
He didn’t check his bleeding shoulder. He just turned to me.
“Grab the boy. We have ten minutes before Vanessa realizes Harris failed.”
I threw some clothes into a duffel bag, wrapped Leo in a blanket, and followed Luca to a black SUV waiting in the alley.
We drove in silence.
The city lights blurred outside the window.
Luca’s phone buzzed.
He put it on speaker.
It was Mrs. Carter, the head housekeeper. Her voice was trembling.
“Mr. Moretti… I’m so sorry to call this late.”
“What is it, Mrs. Carter?”
“It’s Vanessa. She just left the estate in a rush. She took the safe keys.”
Luca’s grip on the steering wheel tightened.
“Did she take the cash?”
“No, sir.” Mrs. Carter hesitated. “She took the family deeds. The property titles.”
Luca ended the call.
He looked at me through the rearview mirror.
“She’s not just trying to escape. She’s trying to steal the estate before the wedding is officially canceled.”
“Can she do that?” I asked.
“Not without my signature,” Luca said. “Which means she has a buyer lined up. Someone who doesn’t care if the paperwork is perfectly legal.”
He pulled the SUV into a heavily guarded underground garage.
Men in dark suits surrounded the car immediately.
Luca stepped out, helping me and Leo.
“Keep them secure,” Luca ordered his men.
He looked at me.
“You stay here. I’m going to end this.”
I grabbed his arm. The fabric was wet with his blood.
“Let me help,” I said. “She trusts me. She thinks I’m just a scared housekeeper.”
Luca shook his head. “It’s too dangerous.”
“She destroyed my family once,” I said, the words slipping out before I could stop them.
Luca froze.
“What do you mean, once?”
I reached into my bag and pulled out a faded photograph.
It was a picture of my late husband, standing next to a familiar, red-haired woman.
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“Vanessa is the reason my husband died,” I whispered.
TITLE: THE GHOSTS WE HIDE IN OUR APRON POCKETS
