Chapter 7 - THE ROSARY IN THE LOCKBOX
The world completely stopped spinning.
“No,” I whispered, the word barely making it past my lips. “No, no, no.”
I didn't wait for Luca or Vince. I turned and ran.
I sprinted down the grand hallway, my footsteps echoing against the marble floors, my lungs burning. I tore around the corner toward the East Suite, praying to God I would see the night maid standing by the door, praying it was a mistake.
The heavy double doors of the suite were wide open.
Maria was lying on the floor in the hallway, groaning, holding a bloody cloth to the back of her head.
I rushed past her into the bedroom.
The massive king-sized bed was empty. The comforter was thrown on the floor. Sophie’s pink backpack was unzipped, her clothes scattered.
“Sophie!” I screamed, dropping to my knees beside the bed, looking underneath.
Nothing.
Luca ran into the room seconds later, his gun drawn. He took one look at the empty bed, and the air seemed to physically leave his body.
“Vince!” Luca roared into his radio. “Lock down the perimeter! Nobody gets out of the front gates!”
“Boss, they didn't go for the gates,” Vince’s voice crackled back over the radio. “They drove a truck through the wrought-iron fence on the south lawn. They’re already gone.”
I collapsed against the side of the bed, a primal, agonizing sob tearing from my throat.
My baby. My sweet, innocent seven-year-old girl who just wanted to walk down an aisle and make her father proud. She was in the hands of the people who had murdered him.
Luca dropped to his knees beside me. He didn't try to offer empty comforts. He grabbed my shoulders, his grip bruisingly tight, forcing me to look at him.
“Emily, look at me,” Luca commanded, his voice shaking with a terrifying intensity. “I am going to get her back. Do you hear me? I will burn this entire city to the ground to bring her back to you.”
“Why did they take her?” I wept hysterically. “She’s just a little girl!”
“Leverage,” Luca said, his jaw locked. “Vanessa knows Marco failed at the storage unit. She knows I have the ledger. She wants to trade Sophie for the book and her brother.”
Luca stood up, pulling his phone from his pocket.
“Vince, trace Vanessa’s phone. Pull the GPS data from every car registered to the Bellini family. Now.”
While we waited, I sat on the edge of the bed, gripping Sophie’s faded blue baseball cap to my chest, inhaling the scent of her strawberry shampoo.
Luca paced the room like a caged tiger. He had completely shed the polished, restraint of a businessman. He was the head of a crime family going to war.
His phone buzzed. He answered it instantly.
“Where?” Luca snapped.
He listened for a moment, his eyes narrowing.
“The old cathedral,” Luca repeated. “The one we booked for the wedding.”
He hung up the phone and looked at me.
“They’re at the Holy Name Cathedral in the city. The renovations are finished, but it’s closed to the public until tomorrow.”
“I’m coming with you,” I said, standing up, my legs shaking but my resolve absolute.
“Emily, it’s too dangerous—”
“She is my daughter, Luca!” I screamed, the fierce, terrifying instinct of a mother taking over. “I am not staying here while that monster holds my child!”
Luca looked at the fire in my eyes and nodded once.
“Stay behind me,” he ordered.
We took the armored SUV, speeding down the highway toward downtown Chicago. The sun was fully up now, casting a bright, cheerful light that felt completely inappropriate for the nightmare we were living.
The massive gothic structure of the Holy Name Cathedral loomed over the city street.
Luca parked a block away. He handed me a heavy, bulletproof vest from the trunk.
“Put this on,” he demanded.
I slipped it over my sweater, the weight of it a terrifying reminder of the reality of this world.
Luca signaled to the four heavily armed men he had brought with him. They moved silently toward the side entrances of the church.
Luca and I approached the massive wooden front doors. They were slightly ajar.
“Stay behind me,” Luca whispered again.
He pushed the door open, his gun raised.
The interior of the cathedral was breathtakingly beautiful. Sunlight streamed through the stained-glass windows, painting the marble floors in shades of red and gold. The long center aisle—the one Sophie had practiced walking down for months—stretched toward the grand altar.
Standing at the very end of that aisle, near the altar steps, was Vanessa Bellini.
She was wearing a long, elegant white coat, holding a small silver pistol.
And sitting on the marble steps in front of her, crying quietly, was Sophie.
“Sophie!” I screamed, trying to run forward.
Luca grabbed my arm, yanking me hard behind his broad back.
“Don’t take another step, Emily!” Vanessa shouted, aiming the pistol directly at the back of Sophie’s head.
My heart completely stopped. I clamped my hands over my mouth to stifle my sobs.
“Let her go, Vanessa,” Luca said, his voice echoing off the vaulted ceilings. It was cold, deep, and absolutely lethal.
“Where is my brother?” Vanessa demanded, her perfectly styled hair slightly messy, her eyes wide and frantic.
“He’s tied up in a storage unit,” Luca replied, taking a slow, measured step down the aisle. “He confessed, Vanessa. He told me everything. About my mother. About Carlo Rossi. And about the mechanic.”
Vanessa laughed, a sharp, hysterical sound.
“Of course he did. Marco always was weak. But it doesn't matter. You have the ledger, I have the brat. We make a trade, Luca. You give me the book and the offshore account passwords, and you let me walk away. Or I paint these marble steps with her.”
“Mom!” Sophie cried out, terrified by the loud voices.
“I’m right here, baby!” I yelled back, tears streaming down my face. “Don’t move, sweetheart!”
Luca took another step forward.
“You’re not walking away, Vanessa,” Luca said softly. “You killed an innocent man because he found out you were stealing from me. You manipulated a child. You broke my family apart.”
“Your family?” Vanessa sneered. “You don't have a family, Luca! You’re a bastard! A mutt! You think these men will follow you when they find out Frank Moretti wasn't your real father?”
Luca didn't flinch.
He reached into his pocket with his left hand and pulled out a delicate, silver rosary.
Vanessa’s eyes locked onto it, and she froze.
“You left this in my mother’s lockbox,” Luca said, holding the beads up. “Along with the ledger.”
Vanessa swallowed hard, her hand shaking slightly on the gun.
“I know what this is, Vanessa,” Luca said, his voice dropping to a dangerous whisper. “This isn’t just a rosary. It’s the key to the Bellini offshore accounts. Your father gave it to you before he went to prison. It’s the only way you can access the money you stole from me.”
Vanessa’s face went pale. She had brought Sophie here for leverage, but Luca held the one thing she actually cared about.
“Give it to me,” Vanessa ordered.
“Let the girl go first,” Luca commanded.
“Throw it to me!” Vanessa shrieked, pressing the barrel of the gun closer to Sophie’s head.
Luca didn't hesitate. He tossed the silver rosary high into the air, landing it halfway down the aisle, about twenty feet from where Vanessa stood.
Vanessa’s greed took over.
May you like
She took her eyes off Luca and stepped away from Sophie, rushing forward to grab the rosary off the floor.
It was the only opening Luca needed.
