Chapter 6 - THE HOTEL MOGUL'S GAMBIT
The shock of seeing Elias Thorne holding a shotgun in a dark alleyway was paralyzing. The wealthy, polished real estate developer looked terrifyingly out of place, his expensive tailored suit illuminated by the harsh headlights of the armored truck.
“Elias?!” Arthur Bellini roared from the other side of the steel truck, his voice echoing off the brick walls. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?!”
Elias didn’t answer Arthur. He pumped the shotgun with a sharp, intimidating clack.
“Hannah! Get Luca in the truck! Now!” Elias yelled, his eyes wide with desperate panic.
The spell broke. I scrambled across the wet pavement, sliding to my knees beside Luca. His breathing was ragged, his face pale from the blood loss in his arm and thigh.
“Come on, Mr. Moretti,” I grunted, grabbing his good arm and throwing it over my shoulder. “You have to stand up.”
Luca gritted his teeth, forcing himself upright using my body for support. We hobbled awkwardly toward the open door of the armored truck.
“Teresa! Bring the girl!” Elias shouted toward the Aston Martin.
Teresa threw the car door open. Despite her frail legs, the adrenaline pushed her forward. She grabbed Elena’s hand, pulling the terrified, heavily pregnant surrogate out of the sports car and rushing her toward the truck.
Bullets began pinging against the heavy steel armor of the truck as Arthur’s men recovered and opened fire.
“Get in! Get in!” Elias yelled, firing a single, deafening shotgun blast blindly around the front of the truck to suppress the hitmen.
I shoved Luca into the back of the armored vehicle, then reached back to help Teresa and Elena climb up the high metal steps. Once they were inside, I scrambled in after them.
Elias threw the shotgun into the back with us, slammed the heavy side doors shut, and sprinted to the driver’s seat.
The armored truck roared to life, the massive engine shaking the metal frame. Elias threw it in reverse, crushing the remains of the medical van further into the wall, then slammed it into drive and tore out of the alleyway, tires screeching onto the main street.
The interior of the truck was dark, lit only by the faint glow of the streetlights passing through the small, bulletproof windows. It smelled of old money and gun oil.
Teresa immediately fell to her knees beside Luca, weeping as she pressed her hands against the bleeding wound on his thigh.
“My boy, my beautiful boy,” she sobbed.
I grabbed a thick canvas money bag from the floor, ripped it open, and pressed the heavy fabric against his shoulder wound.
Luca groaned, his head falling back against the steel wall. But his eyes immediately searched the dark interior until they found Elena.
She was huddled in the corner, clutching her swollen belly, shaking violently in her thin hospital gown.
“Elena,” Luca rasped, his voice weak. “Are you hurt? The baby…?”
“I’m okay, Mr. Moretti,” Elena cried, wrapping her arms around herself. “They didn’t hurt me. They just grabbed me from the bed.”
Luca let out a long, shuddering exhale, relief washing over his pale face.
“Elias!” Luca yelled toward the driver’s cabin, his voice gaining a fraction of its former authority. “Why did you do this? You were Arthur’s partner!”
Elias didn’t look back. He kept his eyes fixed on the road, driving erratically to make sure we weren’t being followed.
“I was his partner, Luca!” Elias yelled back over the roar of the engine. “But Arthur has gone insane! He isn’t just coming after you! He’s trying to wipe the board clean!”
“What do you mean?” I asked, holding the pressure on Luca’s wound.
“Thirty minutes after I left your mansion, Arthur’s men showed up at my hotel,” Elias said, his voice trembling with residual terror. “They came to kill me, Luca. Arthur realized I knew too much about the original contract. He realized I could testify to the Commission that the contract was signed under duress and extortion, which would void it entirely.”
Teresa gasped, looking up from Luca’s leg.
“I barely made it out the service elevator,” Elias continued, turning hard onto a side street. “I knew Arthur would go after the surrogate next. He bragged to me about finding her location yesterday. He wanted the baby to ensure the Moretti bloodline fell under his control legally.”
“Where are we going, Elias?” Luca demanded, struggling to stay conscious. “The safe houses are compromised. The airstrip is a trap.”
“We aren’t hiding, Luca,” Elias said firmly. “We’re ending this.”
Elias slammed on the brakes.
The heavy armored truck skidded to a halt.
I looked out the small bulletproof window in the back door. We weren’t at a safe house. We weren’t at an airport.
We were parked in the dark, empty lot behind the Grand Azure Hotel. The very same hotel where Teresa had cleaned floors twenty years ago.
“Why are we here?” I asked, panic rising in my throat.
Elias killed the engine and climbed into the back with us. He looked at Teresa, his face filled with a profound, agonizing regret.
“Teresa, twenty years ago, I failed you,” Elias said softly. “I chose a profitable alliance with a monster over doing what was right for a desperate mother. I sent you into Arthur Bellini’s claws.”
Teresa stared at him, tears streaming down her face. She didn’t speak.
Elias turned to Luca.
“I can’t undo the past, Luca. But I can give you the future.”
Elias reached into his expensive suit jacket and pulled out a heavy, brass key.
“Arthur Bellini doesn’t keep his most damaging secrets at his estate,” Elias said, his eyes darkening. “He keeps them here. In a private, off-the-books vault beneath the foundation of this hotel. It’s where we used to store the illicit cash before we washed it through the casinos.”
Luca struggled to sit up, his eyes widening. “What’s in the vault, Elias?”
“The ledger,” Elias said.
Teresa gasped. I felt a cold chill run down my spine.
“Arthur’s shadow ledger,” Elias explained grimly. “It contains the names, bank accounts, and payoff amounts for every judge, police captain, and politician Arthur has bought for the last two decades. If that ledger goes to the FBI, Arthur’s entire empire collapses overnight. He loses his police protection. He loses the judges. He becomes a dead man walking.”
“Arthur would never give you the key to his own destruction,” Luca argued, wincing in pain.
“He didn’t,” Elias smiled, a cold, bitter expression. “I made a copy ten years ago as my own insurance policy. But I never had the courage to use it.”
Elias handed the brass key to Luca.
“Take the ledger to the feds, Luca. Burn Arthur to the ground.”
Luca looked at the heavy brass key resting in his blood-stained palm. He closed his eyes, fighting the pain and exhaustion.
“I can’t,” Luca whispered.
“What do you mean you can’t?!” Elias shouted. “It’s the only way to save your family!”
“Look at me, Elias!” Luca yelled, gesturing to his bleeding leg and arm. “I can barely stand! If Arthur realizes you saved us, he’s going to send every hitman he has to this hotel within ten minutes. I can’t fight them off. And I will not leave my mother and my unborn son unprotected in this truck to go digging through a basement!”
The reality of the situation crashed over us. Luca was right. He was severely injured. He couldn’t make the run.
Silence fell over the dark interior of the truck.
I looked at Teresa, weeping over her son. I looked at Elena, shivering in the corner, clutching the innocent life inside her. I looked at Luca, the man who had treated me with more respect in eleven months than anyone else had in my entire life.
I took a deep breath.
I reached out and plucked the heavy brass key from Luca’s bloody hand.
“Tell me where the vault is,” I said, looking directly at Elias.
Luca grabbed my wrist with his good hand. His grip was surprisingly strong.
“No, Hannah,” Luca said, his eyes filled with a desperate, terrifying panic. “Absolutely not. I forbid it.”
“You can’t forbid me, Mr. Moretti,” I said softly, gently prying his fingers off my wrist. “I don’t work for you anymore, remember? You said I only answer to myself now.”
“Hannah, it’s a suicide run!” Luca pleaded, his voice breaking. “Arthur’s men could already be sweeping the building! You’re a civilian!”
“I’m the only one who can walk without limping, Luca,” I said, tears finally filling my eyes as I looked at the man I had come to deeply care about. “I can run fast. I can hide. I’ll get the ledger, and I’ll come right back.”
I turned to Elias. “Where is it?”
Elias stared at me in awe. “Service elevator B. Take it to the sub-basement. Behind the old boiler, there’s a steel door. That’s the vault. The ledger is in a black lockbox on the top shelf.”
“Ten minutes,” I said, zipping up my jacket.
“Hannah, please!” Luca shouted, struggling to sit up.
I didn’t look back. If I looked back at him, I wouldn’t be able to leave.
I threw the back doors of the armored truck open and sprinted across the dark alleyway toward the service entrance of the Grand Azure Hotel.
I slipped inside the dimly lit service hallway. It smelled of bleach and old laundry. I ran past the industrial washing machines, my heart pounding so hard I could hear it in my ears.
I found Service Elevator B. I hit the button.
The doors opened immediately. I stepped inside and hit the button for the sub-basement.
The elevator descended with a low, mechanical hum.
Ding.
The doors opened to a dark, concrete basement. It was suffocatingly hot, the air thick with the smell of rusted metal and sulfur from the massive boilers humming in the center of the room.
I crept out of the elevator, keeping my back against the concrete wall. I moved slowly, checking every shadow.
I found the massive old boiler. And right behind it, just as Elias promised, was a heavy steel door with a brass keyhole.
I rushed to the door, my hands shaking violently as I jammed the brass key into the lock.
It turned with a heavy, satisfying click.
I pulled the steel door open and stepped into the small, concrete vault. It was lit by a single bulb. Shelves lined the walls, filled with stacks of cash, gold bars, and lockboxes.
I scanned the top shelf.
There it was. A small, black lockbox.
I grabbed it, pulling it down. The box was unlocked. I opened it to make sure.
Inside rested a thick, leather-bound ledger.
I let out a massive sigh of relief, tears of joy springing to my eyes. I had it. The evidence that would end Arthur Bellini’s reign of terror. The evidence that would buy Luca’s freedom.
I snapped the box shut, tucked it securely under my arm, and turned back toward the vault door.
But I froze.
Standing in the doorway of the vault, blocking my only exit, was a man holding a suppressed pistol.
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It wasn’t one of Arthur Bellini’s hitmen.
“You’re a very brave girl, Hannah,” Matteo Moretti smiled, a vicious, jagged scar pulling at the corner of his mouth. “But that ledger belongs to me now.”
