Chapter 7 - The Shot In The Dark
I pulled the iron ring with all my strength.
The heavy wooden trapdoor groaned, revealing a pitch-black, narrow wooden staircase leading deep into the earth.
Luca rushed in behind me, hauling Marcus Bellini up by the collar of his coat with one hand. Marcus groaned in agony, clutching his bleeding shoulder.
“Down,” Luca ordered, shoving Marcus toward the trapdoor.
“The detonator is on a timer!” Marcus coughed, spitting blood onto the floorboards. “It’s going to blow in ten seconds!”
“Then you better walk fast,” Luca snarled.
He practically threw Marcus down the stairs. I grabbed my mother’s hand and helped her down the steep, creaking steps.
Luca followed last, slamming the heavy wooden trapdoor shut above us just as the world above erupted in fire.
The explosion was deafening.
The concussive force violently shook the ground, raining centuries of dust and dirt down on our heads from the ceiling of the cellar. The heavy trapdoor splintered but held beneath the collapsing weight of the cabin above.
We were plunged into absolute, suffocating darkness.
For a terrifying minute, the only sound was our ragged breathing and the settling debris above.
“Mom?” I coughed, the dust choking my lungs.
“I’m here, baby,” she wheezed in the dark, squeezing my hand tightly.
A click echoed, and a blinding beam of white light cut through the blackness.
Luca had pulled a tactical flashlight from his belt.
He swept the beam across the room.
The storm cellar was small, damp, and lined with cinderblocks. Marcus Bellini was slumped against the far wall, breathing heavily, holding his bleeding arm.
In the center of the room sat a heavy, antique iron safe.
Luca walked over to it.
He didn't ask for a combination. He pulled the small brass key from his pocket—the one we had cut from Scout’s collar.
He slid it into the mechanical lock beneath the dial.
It turned with a heavy, satisfying clunk.
Luca pulled the heavy iron door open.
Inside the safe lay a thick, leather-bound ledger, and beside it, an old, dust-covered portable cassette player.
Luca reached in and pulled the ledger out. He opened it, shining his flashlight on the pages.
“This is it,” Luca murmured, his voice echoing in the small concrete room. “Bank transfers. Hit orders. Payoffs. It’s a complete record of every crime Marcus Bellini committed to seize power.”
Marcus laughed weakly from the corner. It sounded like grinding stones.
“It doesn't matter, Luca,” Marcus spat. “We’re buried alive under ten tons of burning timber. You’ll suffocate before you ever show that book to the Commission.”
Luca ignored him. He picked up the cassette player and pressed the play button.
There was a hiss of static, and then a voice filled the damp room.
A voice I had never heard, but Luca instantly recognized.
“If you are listening to this, I am already dead,” Frank Moretti’s voice said. It sounded tired, heavy with regret.
Luca froze, staring at the spinning tape.
“I built my life on blood,” Frank’s voice continued. “But there is a line even men like me shouldn't cross. Marcus crossed it.”
The tape crackled.
“Fourteen years ago, Marcus found out his wife, Elena, was pregnant. But Elena had secretly gone to the police. She was going to turn Marcus in to protect her unborn child from this life.”
Marcus stopped laughing. He stared at the tape player, his eyes wide in the dark.
“Marcus beat her. He left her for dead in a hospital in Milwaukee,” Frank’s voice echoed. “A brave nurse named Mary Collins saved her life. She helped Elena give birth.”
My mother squeezed my hand so tightly her nails dug into my skin. She was sobbing silently in the dark.
“Elena didn't survive the night,” Frank confessed. “But the baby did.”
My heart stopped.
I looked at my mother.
“I helped Mary hide the child,” Frank’s voice said softly. “I bought Scout from a truck stop to have a reason to meet Mary in public. We forged birth certificates. We made the baby disappear.”
I couldn't breathe. The air in the cellar felt entirely devoid of oxygen.
“Marcus thinks his child died with Elena. If he ever finds out the truth, he will corrupt her. He will turn her into the monster he is.”
Frank’s voice paused. When he spoke again, it sounded like a prayer.
“Mary, if you are listening to this, thank you for raising her. Thank you for loving her.”
The tape clicked, and stopped.
May you like
Complete, absolute silence fell over the cellar.
The flashlight beam trembled in Luca’s hand. He slowly turned it away from the safe, and aimed it directly at me.
