Chapter 3 - THE MEN WHO CAME THROUGH THE BACK DOOR
The darkness lasted three seconds.
It felt longer.
Elina heard chairs scrape.
A woman screamed near the dining room.
Then Luca’s voice cut through the black.
“Down.”
A hand grabbed Elina’s shoulder.
She reacted without thinking.
She drove her elbow backward.
Someone cursed.
“Easy,” a bodyguard hissed. “I’m moving you.”
The emergency lights flickered red.
Luca had Gabriel pressed against his chest.
Two men surrounded them.
Another drew a gun.
Elina’s heart slammed.
She had seen guns before.
Behind convenience-store counters.
In the holster of a cop.
Never in the hand of a man staring at a restaurant entrance like he expected someone to die there.
A crash came from the kitchen.
Luca turned.
“Back door.”
One of his men moved.
Then gunfire cracked.
The sound was enormous indoors.
Elina dropped behind the bar.
Glass shattered overhead.
Gabriel screamed.
Luca crouched, shielding him with his entire body.
“Get them out!”
“Service hallway!”
Elina grabbed Gianni’s sleeve.
“Move!”
The old man seemed frozen.
She pulled him.
For all the men with weapons around her, Elina was the one who remembered the kitchen had an employee exit into the alley.
They ran.
Luca followed with Gabriel.
A bodyguard opened the hallway door.
Another shot hit the wall behind them.
Elina ducked.
Plaster sprayed her hair.
They reached the kitchen.
Staff were crouched behind stainless-steel counters.
Someone was crying.
Gianni yelled:
“Everybody stay down!”
Luca thrust Gabriel toward one of his men.
“No.”
The bodyguard stared.
“Boss—”
“I said no.”
He kept the child.
Even now.
Elina noticed that.
He trusted men with weapons.
Not with his son.
The rear kitchen door suddenly rattled.
Locked.
Someone outside was trying to force it.
Luca turned.
“Other exit?”
Elina pointed.
“Dry storage.”
They ran through shelves of flour and canned tomatoes toward a narrow door used by garbage crews.
Elina shoved it.
Nothing.
“Sticks.”
“What?”
“It swells when it rains.”
She kicked near the bottom.
Again.
The door flew open.
Cold rain hit her face.
Two black SUVs were already pulling around the corner.
Luca’s men.
She had no idea when they had been summoned.
Probably the second the lights went out.
A bodyguard opened the rear door.
“Get in.”
Elina stopped.
“I’m not going anywhere with you.”
Luca stared at her.
Someone fired from inside the restaurant.
The decision became easier.
“Fine.”
She got in.
Gianni followed.
Luca climbed in with Gabriel.
The SUV accelerated before the doors fully shut.
Elina grabbed the seat.
“What about everyone else?”
“My men will get them out.”
“You don’t know that.”
“They will.”
His certainty irritated her.
It also calmed something inside her against her will.
The vehicle tore through Brooklyn streets.
Rain streaked across black windows.
Gabriel cried against Luca’s chest.
Luca tried to settle him.
Nothing worked.
Elina looked away.
Not my problem.
Then Gabriel’s cry broke into exhausted gasps.
Damn it.
She held out her arms.
Luca looked at her.
“What?”
“Give him to me.”
“You just told me you don’t know me.”
“I know him enough to know he’s terrified.”
For a second, Luca hesitated.
Then handed Gabriel over.
The baby grabbed Elina’s shirt.
His cries softened.
Then stopped.
Gianni watched from across the SUV.
His face was pale.
Elina noticed.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
“People keep saying nothing tonight and then ruining my life ten seconds later.”
Gianni closed his eyes.
Luca looked at him.
“What are you hiding?”
Gianni whispered:
“Marina used to do that.”
Elina looked down at Gabriel.
“What?”
“Touch Sofia’s back exactly like that.”
Elina’s hand froze.
She had been rubbing slow circles between the baby’s shoulder blades.
The way her mother had done to her when she had nightmares.
Of course.
Not magic.
Learned comfort.
Passed from mother to daughter.
Maybe Sofia had done the same with Gabriel.
The realization hurt.
Elina kissed the baby’s hair before she could stop herself.
Luca saw.
His face tightened.
Not anger.
Grief.
“Where are we going?” she asked.
“My house.”
“No.”
“It’s secure.”
“No.”
“Elina.”
“I’m not staying in a mafia mansion.”
Gianni actually made a choking sound.
Luca stared at her.
“You say that like I have a guest brochure.”
“You know what I mean.”
“You were just shot at.”
“Because of you.”
“Possibly because of you.”
That silenced her.
She looked at Gianni.
“Were those DeSantis men?”
He shook his head.
“I couldn’t see.”
Luca took out his phone.
A bodyguard in the front seat spoke.
“Three shooters. Kitchen entrance. One vehicle.”
“Plate?”
“Stolen.”
“Anyone hurt?”
“Marco caught glass. No bullet wounds.”
Luca nodded.
“Police?”
“Already coming.”
Elina stared.
“You call police?”
He looked at her.
“Restaurants with thirty witnesses generally attract them.”
Fair.
His phone buzzed.
He read a message.
Something changed.
“What?” Elina asked.
He ignored her.
“Luca.”
His eyes lifted.
“There was a package left behind.”
“Package?”
“At table seven.”
Her stomach tightened.
“Your table?”
“Yes.”
“What’s in it?”
“A photograph.”
He showed her.
The image had been sent by one of his men.
An old photograph.
Two young women stood outside Orelio.
One was unmistakably Maria.
Or Marina.
Elina’s mother.
Maybe nineteen.
Beside her stood another girl.
Younger.
Fourteen or fifteen.
Same eyes.
Same smile.
Sofia.
On the back, written in black marker:
ONE DAUGHTER ESCAPED.
ONE DAUGHTER DIED.
THE LAST ONE COMES HOME.
Elina’s fingers went cold.
“Last one?”
Luca’s voice hardened.
“You.”
She shook her head.
“No.”
“Somebody knows who you are.”
“How?”
“Maybe Gianni talked.”
Gianni recoiled.
“I didn’t.”
“Maybe someone saw her at the restaurant.”
“Tonight?”
“Possibly.”
Elina looked down at herself.
Waitress uniform.
No secret heiress.
No hidden mafia princess.
She almost laughed.
“This is insane.”
Luca leaned forward.
“Yes.”
“I don’t have anything they want.”
“You don’t know that.”
“My bank account has forty-three dollars.”
“That may be the least relevant thing about you.”
She glared.
“You really know how to comfort people.”
“I’m working on it.”
That surprised her enough that she almost smiled.
Almost.
The SUV entered a gated property overlooking the water.
Not a mansion exactly.
Worse.
A fortress pretending to be a home.
Stone walls.
Security cameras.
Men at the gate.
Elina looked at Luca.
“You live here with a baby?”
His expression changed.
“Yes.”
“That seems depressing.”
Gianni closed his eyes like he was preparing for death.
Luca looked out the window.
“Sofia picked it.”
Elina immediately regretted the comment.
“I’m sorry.”
He nodded once.
The SUV stopped.
Inside, the house was quiet.
Too quiet.
A woman in her fifties rushed forward.
“Gabriel.”
Luca’s face softened.
“My sister, Teresa.”
Teresa Romano barely looked at Elina at first.
She took Gabriel.
He cried immediately.
Then Teresa looked at Elina.
And dropped the baby blanket she was holding.
“Oh my God.”
Elina was getting tired of that reaction.
Teresa stared.
“Sofia?”
Luca said:
“No.”
Teresa’s eyes filled.
She stepped closer.
Elina instinctively stepped back.
Teresa stopped.
“I’m sorry.”
Her voice shook.
“You look…”
“I know.”
Teresa covered her mouth.
Then Gabriel screamed in her arms.
Elina sighed.
“Give him here.”
Teresa handed him over without hesitation.
Gabriel settled.
Teresa stared harder.
Luca noticed.
“You knew Marina?”
Teresa’s face changed.
“Yes.”
“How?”
“She came here once.”
Luca went still.
“When?”
Teresa immediately regretted speaking.
“Teresa.”
His sister looked at Elina.
Then back at him.
“After Sofia died.”
Silence.
Luca stared.
“Marina came here after Sofia died?”
“Yes.”
“When?”
“Nine months ago.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“She made me promise.”
Luca laughed once.
Dangerously.
“Everybody in my life apparently made very interesting promises while I was grieving.”
Teresa flinched.
“What did she want?”
“To see Gabriel.”
Elina looked down at the baby.
Her mother had seen him?
Impossible.
“My mother died five years ago.”
Teresa stared.
“What?”
Elina’s heartbeat changed.
“Maria Valdez died five years ago in Queens.”
Teresa’s face drained.
“No.”
Elina’s voice sharpened.
“Yes.”
Teresa shook her head.
“The woman who came here said she was Marina.”
Luca looked between them.
“What did she look like?”
Teresa described her.
Dark hair.
Late forties.
Scar near the chin.
Green coat.
Elina went very still.
Her mother had no scar.
And five years ago, she had been fifty-four.
“Do you have security footage?”
Luca already had his phone out.
Teresa whispered:
“It was deleted.”
“By who?”
“I don’t know.”
Luca’s face changed.
Then Gianni spoke from behind them.
“I do.”
Everyone turned.
He looked terrified.
“The woman who came here wasn’t Marina.”
Elina stared.
“Then who was she?”
Gianni swallowed.
“Her sister.”
Luca frowned.
“Sofia’s grandmother?”
“No.”
Gianni shook his head.
“The other sister.”
Elina felt cold.
“How many daughters did that family hide?”
Gianni looked directly at her.
“Enough to start a war.”
Then Luca’s security chief entered the room.
“Boss.”
Luca turned.
“We caught someone at the east gate.”
“Who?”
The man hesitated.
“A woman.”
Elina’s stomach tightened.
“She says she knows Elina.”
“What name?”
The guard answered.
“Maria Valdez.”
Elina stopped breathing.
“My mother is dead.”
The security chief looked at her.
The room went silent.
May you like
Then he said:
“She says that’s what they were supposed to make you believe.”
