Chapter 5 - The Ticket to Nowhere
The gun was steady in Vanessa’s hand.
Luca instinctively stepped in front of Sophie, blocking her from the barrel.
“Put it down, Vanessa.” His voice was eerily calm, the voice of a man who had negotiated with cartels, not a fiancé caught in a domestic dispute.
Vanessa didn’t lower the weapon. Her eyes locked onto Sophie, peering around Luca’s shoulder.
“She hasn’t told you, has she?” Vanessa smiled, though it didn’t reach her eyes. “Your sweet, innocent maid who works double shifts to pay for her sick mother.”
“Don’t,” Sophie whispered from behind Luca. Her voice sounded broken.
“Don’t what? Tell him about Seattle?” Vanessa took a step closer, the moonlight catching the silver rosary resting against her collarbone. “Tell him how your mother didn’t have a stroke? She was beaten half to death by loan sharks because you stole seventy thousand dollars from their casino.”
Luca didn’t look back at Sophie. He kept his eyes on the gun.
“Is that true?” he asked quietly.
“Yes,” Sophie sobbed, the truth finally shattering her composure. “I was young. I thought I could cheat the house. They found out. They came for me, but they found her instead. I’ve been paying off the debt ever since. That’s why I’m here. That’s why I need the money.”
Vanessa laughed. It was a dry, hollow sound. “And she thought she could hide in Chicago. Working for the Moretti family. The irony is almost poetic.”
“It doesn’t matter,” Luca said. “You’re not shooting anyone in my house, Vanessa. The guards are at the bottom of the stairs.”
“They won’t hear this.” Vanessa raised the gun an inch higher. “And I’m not leaving empty-handed.”
Luca’s eyes drifted from the barrel of the gun down to the silver rosary around her neck.
He needed to see the crest on the back.
“You’re trapped,” Luca said smoothly, taking a slow step forward. “Even if you shoot us, you’ll never make it out of the estate. The gates are locked.”
“I don’t need to leave the estate yet.” Vanessa’s grip tightened. “I just need the journal.”
She gestured with her chin toward Luca’s pocket.
“I heard you reading it. Throw it on the floor.”
Luca didn’t move. “Who is the father, Vanessa? Who were you so afraid of that you sacrificed my brother?”
“Throw it!” she screamed, her calm facade finally cracking.
Luca slowly reached into his jacket. He pulled out the black leather journal.
But instead of tossing it to her, he tossed it hard to his left, into the dark corner of the room.
Vanessa’s eyes instinctively followed the movement.
It was only a second of distraction, but it was enough.
Luca lunged.
He caught her wrist, twisting it sharply upward. The suppressed gun fired with a muffled thwip, the bullet burying itself harmlessly into the ceiling plaster.
Vanessa fought like a cornered animal, scratching and kicking, but Luca overpowered her, pinning her arm behind her back and slamming her against the doorframe.
The gun clattered to the floor. Sophie kicked it away.
“Get zip ties from the desk,” Luca ordered, breathing heavily as he held Vanessa against the wood.
As he pressed her there, the silver crucifix swung forward, dangling from her neck.
Luca caught it with his free hand.
He flipped the cross over.
There, engraved into the silver backing, was a tiny crest.
A double-headed eagle clutched a serpent.
Luca’s blood ran cold.
It was the crest of the Romanov Syndicate. The most ruthless, bloodthirsty criminal organization in the Midwest.
“Dmitri Romanov,” Luca whispered, staring at the cross. “He’s Leo’s father.”
Vanessa stopped struggling. She let out a ragged, terrifying laugh.
“You’re a dead man, Luca. We all are.”
Sophie ran back with the plastic zip ties, binding Vanessa’s wrists behind her back.
As Vanessa slumped against the wall, her small designer clutch fell from her hand, spilling onto the floor.
Lipstick. A compact mirror.
And a single piece of stiff cardstock.
Sophie picked it up.
It was an Amtrak train ticket. First class. Departing tomorrow morning at 6:00 AM for Montreal.
But what made Sophie gasp wasn’t the destination.
“Mr. Moretti,” she said, handing him the ticket.
Luca looked at it.
It was a family cabin reservation.
Under the passenger list, it read:
Vanessa Bellini.
Leo Bellini.
And Arthur Bellini.
Luca looked at Vanessa, his mind racing. “Who is Arthur?”
Vanessa just smiled, blood dripping from a cut on her lip.
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“Arthur is the man who’s currently downstairs,” she whispered. “The man you’ve been calling my father all evening. And right now, he’s slipping poison into your mother’s champagne.”
TITLE: The Fake Father’s Bracelet
