Chapter 8 - THE RING OF BETRAYAL
The gold ring felt heavy and cold in my palm. The dried blood in the crevices of the crest seemed to burn my skin.
Luca stared at it, his breathing shallow and rapid. He looked like a man who had just watched his entire world crumble.
“My father died two days before yours,” Luca whispered, almost to himself. “A car bomb. There was nothing left. We buried an empty casket.”
I looked at the ring, confusion warring with the terror still vibrating in my chest.
“If your father died before mine,” I said slowly, “how could he have paid Carlo to kill him?”
Vanessa groaned from the floor. She pushed herself up onto her elbows, wiping a smear of blood from her cheekbone.
“Because he didn’t die in the car bomb, Luca,” Vanessa coughed, wincing in pain.
Luca spun toward her, his gun snapping up again. “What did you say?”
“He didn’t die!” Vanessa yelled, holding her hands up defensively. “Carlo told me everything when he recruited me! Your father faked his death to escape the Commission. He knew they were coming for him. So he planted the bomb, slipped away, and paid my uncle Carlo to tie up the loose ends.”
“My father was the loose end?” I asked, tears welling in my eyes again.
“Your father was his getaway driver,” Vanessa said softly, looking at me with genuine pity. “He knew where your father hid the money. He knew all the safe houses. Your father was the only man who could lead the Commission to him. So, the great Moretti patriarch paid to have him silenced.”
Luca shook his head, backing away. “No. No, my father loved me. He wouldn’t have abandoned me to the wolves. He wouldn’t have ordered a hit on a man with two little girls.”
“He didn’t care about you, Luca!” Vanessa spat, standing up slowly. “He cared about his own skin! And your mother knew! Why do you think she kept Natalie and Mia so close? Guilt! She knew her husband murdered their father to buy his own freedom!”
I dropped the ring. It bounced against the marble floor, the sharp sound cutting through the silence.
I looked at Luca. The man who had just risked his life to save me. The man who had shielded my sister with his own body.
He was the son of the man who destroyed my family.
Mia pulled urgently at my sleeve. She pointed to the velvet box I had dropped.
Nat, look.
I looked down. When the ring had fallen out, a small, folded piece of paper had dislodged from beneath the silk lining.
I picked it up and unfolded it.
It was a handwritten note, scrawled in hurried, desperate handwriting.
Luca. If you are reading this, Carlo betrayed me. He took the money, but he’s not letting me leave. He’s going to kill me and take the territory. Protect the driver’s family. Elena has the deed. I’m sorry.
I read it twice, my brain struggling to process the words.
I held the note out to Luca.
He took it. His eyes scanned his father’s handwriting.
A single tear slipped down Luca’s cheek.
“Carlo lied,” Luca whispered. His voice was broken, stripped of all its commanding authority. “My father didn’t pay Carlo to kill your father. My father paid Carlo to help him escape. But Carlo realized he could take everything if both men were dead.”
Vanessa gasped. “Uncle Carlo killed them both?”
“He killed my father first,” Luca said, his eyes darkening with a fresh, violent grief. “He took this ring off his finger as proof. Then he went after your father to silence the only witness to the escape plan.”
I covered my mouth, a sob tearing from my throat.
Fourteen years of pain. Fourteen years of my mother working three jobs, of Mia struggling in silence, of me scrubbing floors in this mansion.
All because of Carlo Bellini’s greed.
Luca turned to me. He didn’t look like a mafia boss anymore. He looked like a boy who had finally found the monster under his bed.
“Natalie,” Luca said, his voice raw. “I swear to you, I will make him pay for every second of pain he caused you. I will dismantle his entire life.”
I looked into his dark eyes, and for the first time, I didn’t see a boss. I didn’t see an employer.
I saw a partner.
“We have to find my mother,” I said, wiping my tears. “She called from the burner phone. She said Carlo was coming for us. If Carlo realizes he didn’t get Mia tonight, he’s going to go after the only leverage he has left.”
Luca’s expression hardened back into stone.
“Where does she live?”
“Southside. The old apartment complex on 4th Street.”
Luca turned to Vanessa. “You have a car waiting in the tunnel?”
Vanessa nodded, terrified. “Yes. Keys are in the ignition.”
“Get out of here,” Luca commanded. “Run, Vanessa. Because when I’m done with Carlo tonight, there won’t be a Bellini family left to protect you.”
Vanessa didn’t hesitate. She turned and ran toward the kitchen halls, disappearing into the shadows.
Luca grabbed my hand. His grip was warm and solid.
“Come on,” he said, looking at Mia, motioning for her to follow.
We ran out through the shattered foyer, into the cool night air. Marco, the security chief, had pulled an armored SUV to the front steps.
“Drive,” Luca ordered as we piled into the backseat. “4th Street. Step on it.”
The SUV tore out of the estate gates, tires screaming against the asphalt.
I held Mia tight against me in the dark cabin. My heart was pounding so fast I felt sick.
We were finally going to get the truth. We were finally going to be free.
But as we pulled onto 4th Street, the relief shattered into a million pieces.
Three fire trucks were already parked outside my mother’s apartment building.
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Flames were shooting out of our third-floor window, licking the night sky.
And standing on the sidewalk, holding a silver gas can, was Carlo Bellini.
