Chapter 6 - THE FLIGHT TO GENEVA
“If you hurt my sister, I will kill you myself,” I screamed at Julian, the sheer terror in my chest converting instantly into rage.
Julian just chuckled, wiping blood from his chin. “Nobody gets hurt if everybody cooperates. Luca lets me walk out the front door. I make a phone call. The girls come home.”
Luca stared at his cousin. His jaw was clenched so tightly I thought his teeth might shatter.
“You put a civilian in the middle of family business, Julian,” Luca said, his voice dropping to a terrifyingly calm register. “You brought a twenty-year-old nursing student into a mafia war. That breaks every rule our father ever wrote.”
“Rules are for men who are afraid to win,” Julian spat.
Luca grabbed Julian’s arm, twisting it violently behind his back. Julian yelled in pain.
“Walk,” Luca commanded, shoving his cousin toward the staircase.
He looked at me. “Come with me, Emily.”
We hurried down the grand staircase. The ballroom was still empty, the ruined engagement dinner sitting cold on the tables.
As we reached the foyer, Margaret emerged from the library. She was pale, still clutching the edges of her faded blue coat.
“Where is Sophie?” Margaret asked, her voice cracking.
“They took her,” I said, tears blurring my vision. “And they took my sister.”
Margaret covered her mouth.
“Stay here, Margaret,” Luca ordered. “Lock the doors. Do not let anyone inside unless it’s me or Marcus.”
We pushed out the heavy front doors into the freezing October night.
Luca’s black SUV was idling in the driveway. He shoved Julian into the backseat, securing his hands to the heavy metal grab-handle with a pair of zip-ties he pulled from the trunk.
I climbed into the passenger seat. Luca got behind the wheel.
The tires screamed against the asphalt as we tore out of the estate gates, heading toward the private airfield on 5th Avenue.
The drive was agonizingly tense. The city lights blurred past the windows.
“You’re a fool, Luca,” Julian taunted from the backseat. “Even if you get there, you can’t stop the plane. My men are heavily armed. You’re one man in a tuxedo.”
Luca didn’t look in the rearview mirror. “I’m not a man right now, Julian. I’m a father.”
He reached over and opened the center console of the SUV. He pulled out a heavy, black tactical radio and tossed it into my lap.
“Turn the dial to channel four,” Luca instructed.
I did as I was told with shaking hands.
“Hold the button and say ‘Execute Protocol Black’,” he ordered.
Julian’s arrogant smirk faltered in the backseat. “What are you doing?”
I pressed the button on the side of the radio. “Execute Protocol Black.”
For a moment, there was only static.
Then, a deep, gruff voice replied. “Copy that, Boss. The package is secure. The runway is closed.”
It was Marcus.
Julian lunged forward against his zip-ties, his face pressing against the metal partition. “You told me Marcus was at the warehouse with David and Vanessa!”
“I told you I was handling family business,” Luca corrected coldly. “I never said where Marcus was.”
We pulled up to the chain-link fence of the private airfield.
Through the darkness, illuminated only by the harsh glare of floodlights, sat a sleek white Gulfstream jet. The engines were whining, preparing for takeoff.
But parked directly across the runway, blocking the plane’s path, were three massive black armored trucks.
A dozen heavily armed men dressed in tactical gear stood in a semi-circle around the plane. Marcus stood at the front, holding a military-grade rifle.
Luca slammed the SUV into park and stepped out into the cold air.
I scrambled out behind him, my eyes scanning the tarmac.
“Clara!” I screamed.
Standing near the boarding stairs of the jet was my sister. She was wearing her blue nursing scrubs, looking terrified, holding tightly to Sophie’s hand.
Two of Julian’s men stood behind them, their weapons drawn but aimed at the ground. They were vastly outnumbered by Luca’s forces, and they knew it.
Luca grabbed Julian from the backseat, dragging him onto the tarmac.
“Tell them to drop the guns,” Luca ordered, pressing his pistol against Julian’s spine.
Julian surveyed the scene. His grand plan had crumbled in a matter of minutes.
“Stand down!” Julian yelled to his men.
The two thugs immediately dropped their weapons and raised their hands. Marcus’s men moved in, securing them against the side of the plane.
“Emily!” Clara cried out, running across the tarmac, pulling Sophie with her.
I ran to meet them, collapsing to my knees as I threw my arms around my little sister and the little girl I had sworn to protect.
“Are you okay?” I sobbed, checking them both for injuries.
“We’re okay,” Clara cried, hugging me fiercely.
Sophie pulled away from Clara and ran directly to Luca.
Luca dropped to his knees, ignoring Julian completely, and caught his daughter in a desperate embrace. He buried his face in her neck, his broad shoulders shaking as the invincible mafia boss finally let his tears fall.
“I’m sorry, Daddy,” Sophie whimpered.
“Don’t you ever apologize, sweetheart,” Luca whispered fiercely. “I’ve got you. Nobody is ever taking you away from me.”
Julian stood alone on the tarmac, surrounded by armed guards. He looked at Luca with pure hatred.
“You think this is over?” Julian spat. “David still transferred the money. The trust is gone. You’re broke, Luca. You can’t afford to pay these men to protect you anymore.”
Luca stood up, holding Sophie securely on his hip.
He looked at Julian with a strange, pitying expression.
“You really don’t know anything about Caroline, do you?” Luca asked quietly.
Julian frowned. “What are you talking about?”
Luca reached into his pocket and pulled out the small, heavy object wrapped in torn brown paper. The birthday gift Margaret had dropped.
“When my mother-in-law dropped this, the paper ripped,” Luca said. “It looked like a revolver. A heavy, black steel barrel.”
He pulled the remaining brown paper away.
It wasn't a gun.
It was a heavy, antique iron safety deposit box. The handle was shaped like a pistol grip.
Julian stared at it in confusion.
Luca held it up. “Caroline didn't leave her inheritance in the offshore accounts, Julian. She emptied them three years ago. The day before she died.”
Julian’s face went completely pale.
“And I know exactly where she hid the real documents,” Luca said softly. “Because there’s only one key in the world that opens this box.”
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Luca looked directly at me.
“Emily. Take off your necklace.”
