Chapter 12 - THE NEW DON
The sound of flesh hitting concrete echoed over the blaring alarm.
“Frank, stay down!” Luca roared in the darkness.
I dropped to my hands and knees, crawling frantically over the cold stone floor toward the sound of Mia’s whimpering.
“Mia? Frank?” I whispered, sweeping my hands out.
My fingers brushed against a coarse wool sweater. Frank grabbed my arm.
“We’re here, Emily,” he choked out. I pulled him and Mia behind a massive oak wine barrel, shielding them with my body.
Ten feet away, a brutal struggle raged in the pitch black. Grunts of pain, the sickening thud of fists against bone, and the clatter of metal as a gun was kicked across the floor.
Marco was bigger, but Luca was fighting for his family.
A sudden, sharp crack echoed through the cellar. Someone screamed—a high, agonized yell—followed by a heavy thud.
Then, dead silence.
My breath hitched. I squeezed my eyes shut, terrified to call out.
“Luca?” I whispered, my voice trembling.
A beat of terrifying silence.
Then, a heavy sigh.
“I’m here.”
Relief crashed over me so hard I almost collapsed.
I carefully stood up and felt my way back to the junction box along the wall. I threw the lever back up.
The lights flickered on, blindingly bright.
Luca was leaning against a stone pillar, wiping a smear of blood from his split lip.
At his feet, Marco lay unconscious, his arm bent at a sickening, unnatural angle. Luca hadn't just beaten him; he’d broken him entirely.
Frank let out a long, shaky breath and buried his face in Mia’s hair.
I walked over to Luca. He looked at me, his chest heaving, and for a moment, the hardened mob boss completely melted away. He reached out and pulled me into a fierce, desperate hug.
I hugged him back, burying my face in his chest. We were family. We had survived.
“You found the kill switch,” Luca murmured into my hair.
“My father left the blueprint,” I said, pulling back to look at him. “He built a panic room right under your nose.”
Luca smiled, a real, weary smile. “Thomas Hayes was a hell of a man.”
Thirty minutes later, the police arrived to cart Marco away. With the evidence from the Bellini bust and Marco’s illegal entry, he was going away for life.
The estate finally quieted down.
Luca and I sat on the back patio overlooking the expansive gardens. The sun was setting, casting a warm golden glow over the property. Frank was inside, reading Mia a bedtime story, the sound of her innocent laughter floating through the open windows.
I held the leather portfolio on my lap.
“So,” Luca said, pouring us both a glass of wine. “Fifty-one percent. What is the new boss’s first order of business?”
I looked down at the deeds. A legitimate empire built on decades of blood and secrets.
“We clean it up,” I said firmly. “We sell off the underground assets. We legitimize the casinos. We start a foundation in my father’s name. And in Isabella’s.”
Luca looked at me, a deep respect in his dark eyes. He raised his glass.
“To Thomas and Isabella,” Luca said softly.
“To family,” I replied, clinking my glass against his.
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I wasn't a maid anymore. I wasn't an orphaned girl struggling to pay rent. I was Emily Moretti.
And as the stars came out over our empire, for the first time in my life, I was exactly where I belonged.
