Chapter 5 - THE GRANDMOTHER’S SECRET
I pressed my hand over my mouth to stifle a gasp, backing into the shadows beside Luca.
Mrs. Miller—the frail, crying woman who had played the victim in the dining room—was standing perfectly straight. The faded blue coat was gone, revealing a sharp, immaculate black suit beneath. Her hands weren't trembling. The gun she held against her own granddaughter’s head was completely steady.
“I don't understand,” I whispered in horror.
Luca’s eyes were narrowed, absorbing the scene with lethal calculation. “She wasn't hiding from Vanessa. She was working with Rossi.”
In the center of the warehouse, Marco Rossi leaned back in his chair, smoking a cigar. He looked at Mrs. Miller with a cruel smile.
“You played the part beautifully, Evelyn,” Rossi chuckled. “Luca bought the whole ‘ashamed daughter’ routine. He actually felt sorry for you.”
Mrs. Miller—Evelyn—didn't smile. Her eyes were cold, calculating.
“Vanessa is weak,” Evelyn said, her voice devoid of the gentle warmth she had faked earlier. “She fell in love with Julian six years ago. She hesitated. She almost didn't push him off that boat. If I hadn't been there to finish the job, she would have ruined everything.”
My stomach churned. Vanessa hadn't acted alone. Her mother had orchestrated the entire plot.
“And now?” Rossi asked, gesturing to the crying child in the chair.
“Now, Vanessa is a liability,” Evelyn stated coldly. “She got greedy. She wanted to marry Luca and take the empire for herself. She forgot our deal, Marco.”
“The deal was simple,” Rossi nodded, standing up. “You deliver the child to me. I execute the child, extinguishing the Moretti bloodline. The Commission hands Chicago over to me, and you walk away with twenty million dollars from the offshore accounts.”
Evelyn kept the gun leveled at Mia’s head. “The money first, Marco. Transfer it to the Cayman account.”
Rossi pulled a heavy tablet from his jacket. He tapped the screen a few times.
“It’s done,” Rossi said. “Now, finish the job.”
Evelyn looked down at her six-year-old granddaughter. Mia was weeping, her small body shaking in the wooden chair.
“I’m sorry, Mia,” Evelyn said, though there was no remorse in her voice. “But family is just business.”
She cocked the hammer of the gun.
“Close your eyes!” I screamed, unable to stay hidden a second longer.
I didn't think. I threw the heavy metal flashlight in my hand with every ounce of strength I possessed.
The heavy cylinder sailed through the air and struck Evelyn squarely in the temple just as she pulled the trigger.
The gunshot went wide, sparking off the concrete floor inches from Mia’s chair.
Evelyn staggered backward, dropping her weapon.
“Kill them!” Rossi roared, spinning toward our hiding spot in the shadows.
Luca moved faster than I could comprehend. He stepped out from the crates, his weapon raised, and unleashed a barrage of rapid, precise fire. Three of Rossi’s men dropped instantly, clutching their chests.
“Get the girl!” Luca yelled to me over the deafening roar of gunfire.
I scrambled out of the shadows, sprinting across the open warehouse floor. Bullets chewed into the wooden crates around me, but I kept my eyes fixed on the little girl in the chair.
I reached Mia, frantically untying the thick ropes binding her wrists.
“It’s okay, sweetheart, I’ve got you!” I yelled, pulling her out of the chair.
“Emma!” Mia cried, burying her face in my shoulder.
I scooped her up and ran behind a massive steel shipping container just as a line of bullets tore through the chair we had been standing next to.
Luca was a one-man army. He moved through the warehouse with terrifying efficiency, utilizing the shadows, systematically taking down Rossi’s thugs. He wasn't just a boss who sat behind a desk; he was a highly trained killer protecting his blood.
But there were too many of them.
Rossi and five remaining men pinned Luca down behind a forklift.
“You’re outgunned, Moretti!” Rossi shouted, firing blindly toward the forklift. “You should have stayed at your dinner party!”
I crouched behind the shipping container, holding Mia tight against my chest. My heart was pounding frantically. We were trapped. Luca couldn't hold them off forever.
I looked frantically around our hiding spot for a weapon, a distraction, anything.
My eyes landed on a heavy, red industrial lever mounted on the wall next to the container. It controlled the massive, overhead rolling doors of the warehouse loading dock.
If I opened the doors, we could escape into the harbor. But it would also expose us to Rossi’s men.
I had no choice.
I reached out and yanked the heavy red lever downward.
The warehouse alarms blared instantly. The massive steel doors began to slowly roll upward, grinding loudly on their tracks.
Cold, freezing rain and wind whipped into the warehouse from the dark harbor outside.
Rossi and his men spun around, distracted by the sudden noise and the blinding flash of lightning over the water.
Luca took the opportunity. He surged from behind the forklift, taking down two more of Rossi’s men before they could react.
“Run!” Luca yelled to me, gesturing toward the open loading dock.
I grabbed Mia’s hand and sprinted toward the rain-slicked dock.
We burst out into the storm, the freezing wind instantly soaking us. The dark, churning water of the harbor was ten feet below the concrete ledge.
I heard heavy footsteps behind me.
I turned around, expecting to see Luca.
Instead, Evelyn was standing there.
She had recovered her gun. Her face was bleeding from where the flashlight had hit her, her eyes wild with madness.
“You ruined everything!” Evelyn screamed over the storm, aiming the gun directly at me.
I stood in front of Mia, shielding her with my body. I had nowhere to run. The water was behind me.
Evelyn pulled the trigger.
But the gunshot didn't come from her weapon.
Evelyn froze. A look of profound shock washed over her face.
She looked down at her chest. A dark red stain was blooming across her immaculate black suit.
May you like
She collapsed forward onto the wet concrete.
Standing behind her, holding a smoking pistol, was Vanessa.
