Chapter 5 - The Mother in the Foyer
“Let her go!” I screamed, sprinting down the grand staircase before my brain could process the danger.
The three massive guards paused, looking up at me in surprise.
I didn’t stop until I reached the foyer. I shoved the closest guard as hard as I could, throwing my arms around my mother.
“Mom! Oh my god, Mom, are you okay?” I cried, pulling her bruised, soaking wet body against mine.
My mother looked at me, her eyes wide with terror and exhaustion. “Hannah? What are you doing here? You’re not supposed to be here!”
“I work here,” I sobbed, touching the swelling bruise on her cheekbone. “Mom, who did this to you? Where is Leo?”
The entire foyer went dead silent.
I looked up.
Luca stood at the base of the staircase, his gun lowered but his posture perfectly rigid. His dark eyes darted between me and my mother, calculating the impossible reality unfolding in front of him.
“Mom?” Luca repeated, his voice dangerously low. He looked at my mother. “You are Clara? The woman who brought Matteo’s son into this world?”
My mother pulled me behind her, shielding me with her battered body.
“Don’t touch her,” my mother warned, her voice trembling but fierce. “She doesn’t know anything. I kept her away from all of this.”
Luca slowly holstered his weapon. He walked toward us, his imposing figure casting a long shadow across the marble floor.
“I don’t want to hurt your daughter, Clara,” Luca said softly. “I want to find my nephew. Who took him?”
My mother swallowed hard, tears mingling with the rain on her face.
“It was Arthur,” she whispered.
Luca frowned. “Arthur Bellini? Vanessa’s father?”
“No,” my mother said, shaking her head. “Arthur Vance. My ex-fiancé.”
Marco, the head of security, stepped out of the shadows near the door. “Boss, Arthur Vance is a mid-level enforcer for the Chicago Syndicate. They’re our biggest rivals.”
“I know who he is,” Luca snarled, his fists clenching. He looked back at my mother. “How does an enforcer for the Syndicate know about a child my mother kept hidden for five years?”
“Because Arthur never stopped watching me,” my mother sobbed, collapsing onto the bottom step of the staircase. “When I left him for Matteo, it broke his pride. He stalked me for years. He figured out I had a child, and he waited until the boy was old enough to be valuable leverage.”
I knelt beside her, holding her shaking hands. “Mom, why didn’t you tell me? I could have helped you!”
“You were in college, Hannah,” she cried, stroking my hair. “You had a future. I wasn’t going to drag you into a mafia blood feud. I just wanted Leo to be safe.”
Luca paced the foyer, his mind working with terrifying speed.
“Arthur Vance is using the boy to extort the Bellini territory from me,” Luca deduced. “He wants to deliver the ports to his Don to buy a captain’s seat.”
He stopped and looked at Marco.
“Where is Arthur Vance operating out of?” Luca demanded.
Marco pulled out his phone, typing rapidly. “He manages a string of illegal casinos in the South Side for the Syndicate. The biggest one is a front behind an old meatpacking plant on Halsted Street.”
“Gather the men,” Luca ordered, his voice laced with absolute, chilling resolve. “We are hitting the plant tonight.”
“Boss, wait,” Marco cautioned, stepping forward. “If we hit a Syndicate casino, it’s an act of war. The Commission will step in. And if Arthur panics, he might kill the boy.”
“If we wait, he kills the boy anyway!” Luca roared, his patience snapping. “That is my brother’s son! He is Moretti blood! We are going.”
“I’m going with you,” my mother said, struggling to stand.
“No, you’re not,” Luca stated firmly. “You are injured, and you are a liability in a firefight. Marco, put them both in the guest suite and post two guards on the door.”
“You can’t lock us up!” I protested, standing up. “He’s my brother!”
Luca walked over to me, stopping just inches away. The sheer intensity in his dark eyes made me hold my breath.
“Hannah,” Luca said quietly. “You risked your job tonight to make sure my mother could see me. Now, I am risking my empire to make sure you see your brother again. Let me do my job.”
I stared at him, overwhelmed by the fierce protectiveness in his voice. I slowly nodded.
Marco escorted us up to the guest suite, locking the heavy mahogany door behind us. I helped my mother into the massive bed, fetching warm towels to dry her hair and clean her cuts.
“I’m so sorry, Hannah,” she wept as I gently dabbed the bruise on her cheek. “I never wanted this life for you.”
“It’s okay, Mom,” I whispered, hugging her tightly. “Luca is going to bring Leo back. He promised.”
For the next two hours, we sat in agonizing silence. The rain pounded against the windowpanes. Every creak of the mansion made my heart race, hoping it was Luca returning with my little brother.
Around 2:00 AM, my mother finally drifted into an exhausted, fitful sleep.
I couldn’t sit still. I paced the luxurious room, my mind spinning.
Arthur Vance had kidnapped my brother. He was extorting Luca for the Bellini territory.
But something was bothering me. Something didn’t add up.
Vanessa Bellini.
Why did Vanessa invite Teresa to the dress fitting, knowing her mother would humiliate the old woman? Why did Vanessa demand the centerpiece block Teresa at dinner?
Vanessa hated Teresa. She wanted Teresa hidden, isolated, and broken.
But why?
I walked over to the window, staring out at the rain-slicked driveway.
Vanessa’s father was bankrupt. They needed the marriage to save their family. But Vanessa had acted like a woman deliberately trying to sabotage the engagement.
Unless... the sabotage wasn’t meant to break the engagement. It was meant to break Teresa.
I gasped, a terrifying realization hitting me like a physical blow.
Teresa was the only person in the Moretti family who knew about Leo’s existence.
Vanessa wasn’t trying to humiliate Teresa over a piece of lace. Vanessa was trying to push Teresa out of Luca’s life so the old woman wouldn’t be around to advise him.
But how would Vanessa know about the baby?
I ran to the door and pounded on it.
“Guard!” I yelled. “Guard, open the door!”
The heavy lock clicked, and a large man in a suit opened the door a crack.
“Miss, you need to stay inside,” he grunted.
“Where is Vanessa Bellini?” I demanded frantically. “Did she leave the estate after the dinner?”
The guard frowned. “No. The Boss ordered a full lockdown before she could reach the gate. She’s confined to her guest room in the East Wing.”
My blood ran cold.
“Who is guarding her?” I asked.
“Nobody,” the guard said. “All available men went with the Boss to the South Side. It’s just me and Tony on this floor.”
“You need to check her room right now,” I panicked, grabbing his sleeve. “She’s working with Arthur Vance!”
Before the guard could process what I was saying, the distinct, muffled pop of a silenced gunshot echoed from the East Wing.
The guard’s eyes went wide.
He didn’t hesitate. He drew his weapon and sprinted down the hallway toward the sound.
“Tony, stay with them!” the guard yelled over his shoulder.
I slammed the door shut and locked it, my heart hammering in my chest.
Silence descended on the hallway again.
I backed away from the door, moving to stand between the entrance and the bed where my mother slept. I grabbed a heavy brass candlestick from the dresser, gripping it like a baseball bat.
Two minutes passed.
Then, three soft, deliberate knocks sounded on the door.
“Tony?” I asked, my voice trembling.
“Open the door, Hannah,” a voice replied.
May you like
It wasn’t Tony.
It was Vanessa Bellini.
