Chapter 8 - THE LEDGER BOUND IN BLACK LEATHER
“Surprise, darling,” Vanessa sneered over the sound of the pouring rain.
Her makeup was smeared down her cheeks like war paint. The gun in her hand was shaking, but it remained pointed squarely at my mother’s temple.
My mother looked exhausted, her face pale and drawn, but when her eyes met mine, she didn’t look afraid. She just looked sad.
“Hannah,” my mother whispered, her voice barely carrying over the storm. “You shouldn’t have come.”
“Mom,” I sobbed, fighting against Luca’s grip. But he held me firmly behind him, shielding my body with his own.
“How did you get here, Vanessa?” Luca demanded, his voice a low, dangerous rumble. “My men put you in a car to the police station.”
Vanessa let out a manic, broken laugh.
“Your men work for whoever pays them the most, Luca! Did you forget that Marco has been siphoning your money for twenty years? He bought half your security team while you were busy mourning your perfect Catherine!”
Rossi took a drag of his cigarette and flicked it into the puddles.
“She’s right, boss,” Rossi shrugged. “Marco had a backup plan. The cops pulling Vanessa’s car were Marco’s payroll guys. They brought her straight to me.”
“And now,” Vanessa spat, stepping closer to my mother, “we’re taking Marco’s private jet out of the country. But first, I’m going to take the one thing Catherine’s little pet maid cares about.”
Vanessa clicked the hammer back on the gun.
“No!” I screamed, trying to push past Luca.
“Vanessa, stop!” Luca barked, raising his hands slowly to show he was unarmed, subtly pushing his own pistol back into its holster. “You pull that trigger, my snipers will drop you before the shell casing hits the ground.”
Vanessa scoffed, though her eyes darted nervously to the shadows of the cranes above us.
“You’re bluffing. You came alone.”
“Did I?” Luca asked coldly.
Suddenly, a red laser dot appeared directly on the center of Vanessa’s forehead. Then another appeared on Rossi’s chest.
Rossi froze, raising his hands slowly. “Okay, okay. Easy, Luca.”
Vanessa panicked, her breath hitching, but she didn’t lower the gun from my mother’s head.
“It doesn’t matter!” Vanessa shrieked. “If I die, she dies with me! And Marco’s ledger goes into the ocean! You’ll never be able to prove Marco stole the money, and the Commission will tear your family apart!”
Luca didn’t flinch.
He slowly reached into the inside pocket of his tailored jacket.
“You mean this ledger?” Luca asked.
He pulled out a thick, black leather book and held it up in the rain.
Rossi’s eyes went wide. Vanessa gasped.
“How… how do you have that?” Vanessa stammered. “Marco locked that in his private safe!”
Luca smiled. It was a terrifying, humorless smile.
“Because three years ago, before she died, Catherine didn’t just find the ledger. She made a copy.”
Luca tossed the black leather book onto the wet pavement between them. It landed with a heavy thud, splashing water onto Vanessa’s ruined shoes.
“My wife knew she was dying,” Luca said, his voice laced with venom and heartbreak. “She knew you were poisoning her. But she needed time to gather the proof against Marco to protect Sophie’s future. She sacrificed herself to give me the evidence I needed to destroy you both.”
Vanessa stared at the ledger, her hands trembling violently.
Her entire plan—twenty years of Marco’s deceit, her own murderous greed—had been outsmarted by the gentle woman she thought she had defeated.
“Drop the gun, Vanessa,” Luca commanded, his voice echoing like thunder.
Vanessa looked wildly around the docks. The red laser dot remained fixed on her forehead. She had nowhere to run. No money. No Marco to protect her.
She let out a guttural scream of frustration and swung the gun away from my mother—pointing it directly at Luca.
Before she could pull the trigger, three things happened at once.
Rossi, realizing it was over, dove into the freezing water of the harbor to escape.
The sniper on the crane fired.
And my mother, using the last of her strength, stood up from the wheelchair and tackled Vanessa to the ground.
The gunshot rang out, echoing across the water.
Vanessa’s gun discharged into the air as the sniper’s bullet clipped her shoulder. She collapsed onto the wet pavement, screaming in pain, clutching her bleeding arm.
“Mom!” I broke free from Luca and sprinted across the pavement.
I dropped to my knees beside my mother, pulling her into my arms. She was breathing heavily, her face pale, but she was alive.
Luca’s men poured out from the shadows, swarming the pier. Enzo and two others pinned the screaming Vanessa to the ground, slapping heavy iron cuffs on her wrists.
Luca walked over slowly. He stood above Vanessa, looking down at her writhing on the ground.
“Take her to the feds,” Luca told Enzo coldly. “Give them the ledger, the poison, and everything else. Make sure she never sees daylight again.”
Enzo dragged Vanessa away, her curses fading into the sound of the rain.
Luca knelt down beside me and my mother. He took off his dry, warm suit jacket and wrapped it carefully around my mother’s shivering shoulders.
“Margaret,” Luca said softly. “You saved my family again.”
My mother looked up at him, offering a weak, tired smile. “You’re your father’s son, Luca. He would be proud of you.”
Luca helped me lift her gently.
“Let’s go home,” Luca said.
As we turned to walk back to the SUV, a glint of silver on the wet pavement caught my eye.
It had fallen out of Vanessa’s pocket when my mother tackled her.
I bent down and picked it up.
It was a small, velvet pouch.
I opened the drawstring and tipped it into my palm.
Inside was a tarnished silver locket. I clicked it open.
My breath caught in my throat.
May you like
Inside wasn’t a picture of Vanessa, or Luca, or Marco.
It was a picture of me, when I was a baby. And sitting next to me in the photo… was Uncle Marco.
