Chapter 12 - THE KNOCK AT THE SAFE HOUSE DOOR
Luca didn’t hesitate.
He didn’t take cover behind the massive marble island, and he didn’t wait for backup. He walked straight into the kitchen, his assault rifle raised.
Through the grainy black-and-white security monitor, I watched the mafia boss fight to protect everything he loved.
The five Romano hitmen scrambled, abandoning the explosives on the hatch to raise their weapons.
But Luca was faster.
The precision was terrifying. Three of the men dropped before they could even get a shot off. The remaining two dove behind the stainless-steel refrigerators, returning fire.
Sparks showered the kitchen as bullets ripped through the expensive appliances.
“He’s pinned down,” my mother whispered, clutching my hand so tight her knuckles were white.
On the screen, Luca was crouched behind a heavy oak butcher block. He ejected an empty magazine and slammed a fresh one home.
But one of the Romano men had flanked him, crawling over the countertops, raising his pistol directly aimed at the back of Luca’s head.
“Look out!” I screamed at the monitor, knowing he couldn’t hear me.
Suddenly, the hitman on the counter jerked violently and collapsed.
Enzo stepped into the frame, a smoking shotgun in his hands. He pumped the action and fired again, eliminating the final Romano guard behind the fridge.
The kitchen went still.
Luca stood up, breathing heavily. He looked up directly at the security camera in the corner of the room, raising two fingers in a silent signal.
We were safe.
Within an hour, the sirens of corrupt, paid-off police cruisers filled the driveway, acting as the cleanup crew for the Moretti family. The remaining Romano men had surrendered or fled once they realized their strike team had been decimated.
The coup had failed.
Luca’s territory was secured. Marco’s betrayal had been purged.
Three loud, distinct knocks echoed against the heavy steel door of the bunker.
Teresa let out a breath she had been holding for an hour. She walked over and punched in the access code.
The heavy door swung open.
Luca stood there. His face was covered in soot, his shirt torn, and he had a shallow cut above his eye, but he stood tall.
He walked down the stairs, his eyes finding mine immediately.
He crossed the room and pulled me into his arms.
It wasn’t the comforting, protective hug he had given me in my bedroom. This was desperate. Fierce. He buried his face in my neck, inhaling deeply, holding me so tightly my ribs ached.
“You’re okay,” he whispered, his voice cracking. “You’re safe.”
“I’m okay,” I breathed, wrapping my arms around his broad shoulders.
I didn’t want to let go. And he didn’t seem to want to, either.
When he finally pulled back, he looked at my mother.
“Margaret,” Luca said, his voice returning to its commanding cadence. “The house isn’t secure enough for you to stay here tonight. Enzo is going to take you to a private safe house in the mountains. Complete medical staff. You will live there under my protection until the Commission fully dismantles the Romanos.”
My mother nodded, tears in her eyes. “Thank you, Luca.”
“Hannah,” my mother said, reaching for my hand. “Let’s go.”
I took a step toward her, but Luca’s hand gently caught my wrist.
I stopped, looking back at him.
His dark eyes were intense, stripping away the walls of the boss, the widower, and the hardened man. He looked at me with raw, undisguised vulnerability.
“Your mother goes to the safe house,” Luca said softly, loud enough for only me to hear. “But you don’t have to.”
I swallowed hard. “I don’t?”
Luca stepped closer. “Catherine’s song is finished. My past is buried. And tomorrow, I have to rebuild this family from the ground up.”
He reached up, brushing a strand of hair behind my ear.
“I don’t want you to be a maid in this house anymore, Hannah,” Luca whispered. “I want you to stay. By my side. As an equal.”
I looked over at Teresa. She was smiling, holding Sophie, who had just woken up and was rubbing her eyes.
Sophie looked at me and grinned. “Are you staying, Hannah?”
I looked back at Luca.
For eleven months, I had been the invisible girl pushing a cleaning cart. I had been terrified of the bills, terrified of Vanessa, terrified of this dark world.
But standing here, holding the hand of the most powerful man in Chicago, I wasn’t afraid anymore.
I looked at my mother. She gave me a small, knowing nod, a smile touching her tired lips. She knew I belonged here, just as much as she had all those years ago.
I turned back to Luca.
“I’m staying,” I said.
Luca’s fierce, hardened face broke into a breathtaking smile.
He leaned down, and right there in the bunker, beneath the shattered remains of his old life, he kissed me.
It was a promise of a new beginning.
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The engagement dinner had been a disaster. The past had nearly destroyed us.
But as Luca held me close, surrounded by the family that was finally whole again, I knew the song was just starting.
