Chapter 6 - THE BLINKING GREEN LIGHT
The small green light pulsed steadily in the palm of my hand, casting a faint, eerie glow in the pitch-black back of the van.
I stared at it, my heart hammering a frantic rhythm against my ribs.
Vanessa hadn't left this lighter in the back of the van by accident.
Daddy breaks stuff all the time.
Luca knew. He knew Marco was the leak.
The realization hit me with the force of a freight train. Luca hadn't walked blindly into an FBI ambush at the meatpacking plant. He had orchestrated the entire scenario. He had intentionally left Marco behind with us, knowing Marco would betray the safe house location to Don Bellini.
And Luca had planted this tracker on Vanessa to ensure he could follow her exactly where she was going.
"Hannah?" Sophie whispered, trembling against my side. She saw the green light.
I quickly closed my hand, hiding the glow.
"Shh," I breathed into her ear, pulling her impossibly close. "Daddy is coming."
Sophie’s tears stopped instantly. A tiny, fragile spark of hope ignited in her dark eyes.
The van sped through the desolate, industrial streets of Chicago. The scent of rusted metal and stagnant river water began to filter through the cracks in the doors. We were nearing the docks.
"Did you confirm the transfer, Marco?" Vanessa’s sharp voice cut through the silence from the front seat.
"The offshore accounts are moving now," Marco replied, his voice tense as he drove. "The Volkovs are facilitating the laundering. As soon as we hand the kid over to your father, my cut hits my account in the Caymans."
My stomach turned. Marco wasn't just betraying his family for power; he was doing it for a payout, facilitated by the Russian cartel.
The van suddenly slowed, turning sharply onto a gravel road. The tires crunched loudly before we came to a hard stop.
"Get them out," Vanessa ordered.
The back doors were ripped open by two massive Bellini thugs. The cold night air rushed in, biting at my skin.
"Move," a thug grunted, grabbing my arm and hauling me out of the van.
I stumbled, pulling Sophie with me.
We were standing in front of a massive, rusted shipping container yard right on the edge of Lake Michigan. The icy wind whipped off the water, howling through the steel canyons.
Dozens of armed men in dark suits patrolled the area.
In the center of the yard, illuminated by the harsh glare of portable halogen work lights, sat a black town car.
Standing in front of the car, wearing a heavy cashmere overcoat, was Don Bellini.
And kneeling on the cold gravel beside him, her hands tied behind her back, was Rachel.
"Mom!" Sophie screamed, tearing her hand from mine and trying to run forward.
A thug caught Sophie by the waist, lifting her effortlessly off the ground as she kicked and sobbed.
Rachel looked up, her bruised face instantly crumbling when she saw her daughter. "Sophie! No, don't hurt her! Please!"
Don Bellini smiled, a cold, reptilian expression. He casually adjusted his leather gloves.
"Ah, Marco," Don Bellini greeted as Marco and Vanessa walked up to join him. "You delivered exactly as promised. I appreciate a man who understands the value of a timely betrayal."
Marco nodded nervously, eyeing the armed men surrounding them. "The girl is yours, Don Bellini. Now, let Rachel go, and release my funds."
Don Bellini laughed. A dry, humorless sound that echoed off the shipping containers.
"Let her go?" Bellini repeated, looking down at Rachel. "Marco, my boy, you lack vision. If I let Rachel go, she goes to the police. If I kill her, Luca has nothing left to lose, and a man with nothing to lose is a dangerous enemy."
Marco paled. "But our deal—"
"The deal is altered," Bellini stated coldly.
He gestured to the thugs.
"Put the mother and the child in the shipping container," Bellini ordered. "We are loading them onto the freighter heading for Montenegro tonight. They will be much more useful to me alive and hidden overseas. Luca will spend the rest of his miserable life looking for them, and he will never dare to strike my family for fear of their safety."
My blood ran cold. He wasn't just going to kill them. He was going to traffic them to the other side of the world to use as permanent leverage against the Moretti syndicate.
"No!" Rachel screamed, fighting against her restraints as two men hauled her to her feet.
"And the maid?" one of the thugs asked, pointing a gun at me.
Bellini barely glanced at me. "Put a bullet in her head and throw her in the lake. She is of no use to us."
The thug raised his weapon, aiming directly at my face.
Sophie shrieked, reaching out for me.
I didn't close my eyes. I didn't beg. I gripped the silver lighter in my pocket so tightly the metal bit into my palm.
Come on, Luca, I prayed silently.
The thug placed his finger on the trigger.
Crack.
The shot echoed through the container yard.
But I didn't feel any pain.
The thug standing in front of me suddenly stiffened. A small, neat hole appeared in the center of his forehead. His eyes rolled back, and he collapsed onto the gravel like a sack of stones.
Absolute silence fell over the yard for a fraction of a second.
Then, all hell broke loose.
"Sniper!" Marco screamed, diving behind the black town car.
Before Don Bellini’s men could even raise their weapons, a deafening explosion ripped through the front gates of the container yard.
A massive, armored bulldozer—stolen from a nearby construction site—smashed through the steel fencing, roaring into the yard and completely crushing two of Bellini’s SUVs.
Behind the bulldozer poured three dozen heavily armed men dressed in black tactical gear, the iconic Moretti crest emblazoned on their vests.
Silvio was leading the charge, firing a heavy assault rifle from the hip, mowing down Bellini’s guards before they could return fire.
The element of surprise was absolute. The ambush was brutal and overwhelming.
In the chaos, the thug holding Sophie dropped her to grab his weapon.
"Sophie, run!" I screamed, lunging forward and grabbing her hand.
I dragged her behind a towering stack of shipping containers just as the yard erupted into a full-scale war zone. Bullets sparked against the rusted steel all around us.
"Mom!" Sophie cried, trying to pull away from me to run back toward the center of the yard.
"I know, baby, I know!" I yelled over the deafening gunfire, pinning her against the metal wall to shield her. "We have to wait!"
I peeked around the edge of the container.
Don Bellini was retreating toward the docks, his bodyguards forming a human shield around him. Vanessa was screaming, scrambling into the black town car.
But Rachel was still kneeling on the gravel, completely exposed in the crossfire.
Suddenly, a figure dropped from the top of the shipping containers directly behind Rachel.
It was Luca.
He was dressed in full black tactical gear, a suppressed submachine gun in his hands. He moved with a terrifying, predatory grace, cutting down two guards who tried to grab Rachel.
He grabbed Rachel by the collar of her jacket and hauled her behind the engine block of a destroyed SUV, shielding her with his own body.
He pulled a knife and sliced the zip-ties on her wrists.
"Where is she?" Luca yelled over the gunfire.
"Hannah has her!" Rachel sobbed, pointing frantically toward our hiding spot.
Luca’s eyes locked onto mine across the chaotic yard.
The sheer, overwhelming relief that washed over his face was impossible to hide.
He raised his hand, signaling me to stay put.
But as Luca turned to cover Rachel’s retreat, Marco suddenly stood up from behind the town car.
Marco wasn't aiming at Luca.
He was aiming his pistol directly at Rachel’s back.
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"If I can't have the empire, you don't get the family!" Marco screamed, his face twisted in absolute madness.
He pulled the trigger.
