Chapter 5 - THE BRACELET
The steel barrel against my spine was freezing, but the words chilled me deeper than the metal.
Your mother has been working for me.
“Drop the gun, Luca,” the woman ordered. The voice didn’t belong to Vanessa. It was older, raspy, and trembling slightly.
Luca stood perfectly still, his body shielding the open safe. His own weapon was drawn, pointed into the darkness where the woman stood behind me.
“Mrs. Carter,” Luca said, his voice terrifyingly calm. “Take the gun off the girl.”
The head housekeeper stepped slightly into the dim beam of Luca’s penlight, keeping me between them as a human shield. Her usually neat silver hair was disheveled. Her hands were shaking violently as she gripped the revolver, but her finger was tight on the trigger.
“I can’t do that, Mr. Moretti,” Mrs. Carter wept. Tears streamed down her wrinkled face. “If I don't bring her down to the basement, they’ll kill my grandson. Vanessa promised me they would let him go if I delivered the girl.”
My mind spun in sickening circles. “My mother,” I gasped, staring at the sapphire rosary in my hand. “What did you mean about my mother?”
Mrs. Carter let out a choked sob. “Twenty years ago, your father found out Donatello was using his shipping company to move contraband. He was going to the police. Vanessa’s father ordered the hit. When your father died, your mother was left with nothing. Vanessa’s family bought her silence. They paid for her medical bills, kept her in that tiny apartment, in exchange for her doing... errands.”
“Errands?” I felt sick to my stomach. My mother, the sweetest, frailest woman I knew, working for the mob?
“She laundered the money, Grace,” Mrs. Carter confessed. “Small amounts, over twenty years. She did it to keep you safe. But when Vanessa realized you were looking for a job to pay for your mother’s new treatments, she hired you. She wanted you close. You were the perfect fall guy. The daughter of a thief.”
“Don't listen to her, Grace,” Luca said sharply. His eyes were locked on Mrs. Carter. “Martha, you’ve been in my family for thirty years. You know Vanessa will kill your grandson anyway. She leaves no loose ends.”
“I have no choice!” Mrs. Carter wailed, pressing the gun harder into my neck. “She’s with Marcus right now. They’re planning to kill you tonight, Luca. They’re going to play the fake tape for Donatello, and Marcus is going to shoot you for ‘betraying’ the family. They’ve been working together since Leo died.”
Luca’s expression didn't change, but I saw the slight tightening of his grip on his pistol. Marcus. His underboss. His best friend since childhood.
The betrayal was absolute. Vanessa hadn't acted alone. She had poisoned his entire inner circle.
“Martha,” I said softly, ignoring the gun against my skin. I held up the sapphire rosary. “If Vanessa is holding your grandson, where is she keeping him?”
“The old warehouse on 9th Street,” she sobbed. “Please, Grace, just walk with me. I’m so sorry.”
“You don't have to do this,” I pleaded. “Luca has the real tapes. He has the proof. If we take this to Donatello, Vanessa and Marcus are finished. Your grandson goes free.”
Mrs. Carter hesitated. The barrel of the gun wavered against my skin.
In that split second of doubt, Luca moved.
He didn't shoot. He lunged forward with terrifying speed, grabbing the barrel of Mrs. Carter’s revolver and twisting it sharply toward the ceiling. The gun fired with a deafening CRACK that echoed through the massive house.
Mrs. Carter screamed, dropping the weapon as Luca easily wrestled it from her grip.
“Are you hurt?” Luca demanded, grabbing my shoulders, his eyes frantically scanning my face.
“I’m fine,” I gasped, my ears ringing from the gunshot.
“That shot is going to bring half the syndicate up here,” Luca cursed, grabbing the hard drive and shoving it into my coat pocket. “Martha, take the servant’s stairs. Get out of the city. Now!”
The older woman collapsed to her knees, weeping, and reached into her apron pocket. She pulled out a heavy silver men’s bracelet and shoved it into my hands.
“Take it,” she choked out. “Leo’s bracelet. Vanessa gave it to Marcus the night Leo died. I stole it from Marcus’s room. It proves they were together that night. It proves everything.”
I grabbed the heavy silver chain.
Suddenly, the heavy oak doors of the music room were kicked open.
The hallway lights spilled in, blinding us. Standing in the doorway, silhouetted by the light, was Marcus. He held an assault rifle, and behind him stood three armed men.
“Well, well,” Marcus sneered, his eyes darting from Luca to me, and finally down to the sobbing housekeeper. “Looks like the rat trap worked. Vanessa said you’d come back for the tapes, Luca. You always were predictable.”
Luca stepped in front of me, completely shielding my body with his own. He raised his pistol, pointing it dead center at his former best friend’s chest.
“You helped her kill Leo,” Luca said. The betrayal in his voice was devastating.
“Leo was weak,” Marcus spat. “He wanted to go legitimate. You can’t run a billion-dollar empire with clean hands, brother. Vanessa understands that. She’s going to make a magnificent queen.”
“She’s going to bury you the moment you stop being useful,” Luca fired back.
Marcus laughed. “Maybe. But tonight, I’m the hero who catches the traitor. Donatello is waiting downstairs to hear your confession, Luca.”
Marcus raised his rifle.
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“Get down!” Luca roared, shoving me hard to the floor behind the heavy grand piano.
The music room erupted into a deafening roar of gunfire.
