Chapter 7 - The Icing On The Cake
The beam of the flashlight trembled in Vanessa’s hand, casting erratic, dancing shadows against the parlor walls.
Carlo Bellini, a man feared across the eastern seaboard, looked entirely broken. His expensive tailored suit was soaked with rain from the storm outside, his gray hair plastered to his forehead. But his grip on the pistol pressed against his daughter’s skull did not waver.
“Tell him,” Carlo repeated, his voice cracking with the agonizing weight of betrayal. “Tell him what you did to your own family to get this house.”
Vanessa’s lips curled into an ugly, defiant sneer. Even with a gun to her head, she possessed the arrogant delusion of a predator who believed she was untouchable.
“I did what you were too weak to do, Father,” she spat, her voice dripping with venom. “The Morettis were choking our supply lines. They were taking our territory. You wanted to sign a peace treaty and die a peaceful old man. I wanted to rule.”
Luca stepped forward, his massive frame blocking the moonlight, shielding his dying mother on the couch behind him.
“You orchestrated the hit four years ago,” Luca said, his voice a low, lethal hum. “You killed my father. You killed Hannah’s husband. And you framed your own father for it by stealing his pocket watch.”
“And it worked beautifully,” Vanessa mocked, a sickening pride in her voice. “Until that idiot Elias survived. Until you decided to play savior to a little maid and her bastard child. I had everything perfectly aligned, Luca. We were going to be married. Our families would merge. And then your pathetic mother just wouldn't die quietly.”
Teresa groaned on the couch, her hand clutching her chest. Her breathing was becoming frighteningly erratic.
“Mom,” Luca whispered, throwing a desperate glance back at her.
I scrambled around the edge of the sofa, keeping Leo safely tucked behind my legs. I grabbed Teresa’s hand, rubbing her cold skin, trying to keep her conscious. "Stay with us, Mrs. Moretti. The doctor is coming."
"There is no doctor," Vanessa laughed coldly. "I had my men intercept him at the service tunnel. He’s currently locked in the trunk of a sedan three miles from here."
Luca’s gun snapped up, aiming directly between Vanessa’s eyes. "Where are the real pills, Vanessa? Give them to me, or I will drop you right here, and your father won't stop me."
Carlo didn't move to protect his daughter. He just closed his eyes in shame.
“You think I’m stupid?” Vanessa asked, reaching into the pocket of her tactical jacket with her free hand. She pulled out a small, amber prescription bottle. She shook it. The faint rattle of real pills echoed in the quiet room.
“I want a trade,” Vanessa demanded. “The pills for the deed to the Southside ports. And safe passage out of the city. You sign the transfer papers tonight, Luca, or your mother suffocates on her own failing heart in five minutes.”
“You’re insane,” Carlo whispered. “You betrayed our blood for concrete and water?”
“I betrayed you because you’re obsolete, old man,” Vanessa hissed.
With a sudden, violent twist, Vanessa slammed her elbow backward into her father's ribs. Carlo grunted in pain, his finger slipping off the trigger. In a flash, Vanessa spun around, pointing her suppressed pistol not at Luca, but directly at me and Leo.
“Drop the gun, Luca!” Vanessa screamed, the facade of control completely shattering. “Drop it, or I blow the maid’s head off, and then I shoot the brat!”
Leo screamed and buried his face in my chest. I threw my arms around him, curling my body into a protective shell over my son.
“Don't!” Luca roared, dropping his gun to the Persian rug. He held his hands up. “Okay! Okay. You win, Vanessa. You want the ports? They’re yours. Just give me the pills.”
Vanessa smirked, breathing heavily. She tossed the amber bottle onto the floor. It rolled across the carpet, stopping inches from Luca’s boots.
“The deed is in the safe in my office,” Luca said, his eyes never leaving the barrel of Vanessa’s gun. “I’ll take you there. Just let Hannah and the boy go.”
“Nobody is going anywhere until the ink is dry,” Vanessa snapped.
Suddenly, a weak, raspy voice echoed from the sofa.
“You won't find the deeds in the safe, Vanessa.”
We all turned.
Teresa Moretti had managed to push herself up onto one elbow. Her face was ashen, her lips tinged blue, but her eyes possessed the terrifying, ancient authority of a Mafia matriarch.
“What did you say, you old hag?” Vanessa demanded.
“I said, they aren't in the safe,” Teresa wheezed, forcing a small, triumphant smile. “I knew you were a snake the day you walked into this house. I knew you were stealing money from the joint accounts. So yesterday, I had Luca’s lawyer transfer the port deeds into a blind trust.”
Vanessa’s face went completely pale. “You’re lying. Who controls the trust?”
Teresa’s eyes shifted away from Vanessa. She looked past Luca, past the guns, and rested her gaze warmly on me.
“The trust,” Teresa whispered, “is in the name of Hannah Collins. And it cannot be transferred without her signature.”
Vanessa turned her gun fully on me. The click of the hammer cocking echoed like thunder in the silent room.
“Well,” Vanessa smiled, a psychotic gleam in her eyes. “It’s a good thing I brought a pen.”
Before I could even process the horror of what was happening, the parlor doors exploded inward.
A deafening crash shattered the tension. Marco hadn't been standing still. He had slipped out during the argument and flanked the hallway.
He didn't fire a gun. He threw something massive and heavy straight into the room.
It was the four-tier, lemon birthday cake.
It smashed directly into Vanessa’s chest, a heavy barrage of thick frosting and dense cake. The impact knocked her completely off balance, her finger jerking on the trigger.
The gun fired. A bullet shattered the antique mirror above the fireplace.
In the fraction of a second that Vanessa was blinded by frosting and shock, Elias lunged forward, swinging his heavy silver-tipped cane like a baseball bat.
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It struck Vanessa’s wrist with a sickening crack. The gun flew from her hand, sliding across the floor.
Luca dove for the pill bottle.
