Chapter 7 - The Silver Bracelet
“Where did you get that?” I demanded, stepping out from behind Luca, my eyes locked on Vanessa’s wrist.
Vanessa’s cold smile faltered for a fraction of a second. She glanced down at the heavy silver bracelet dangling on her arm.
“A gift,” Vanessa sneered. “From a man who appreciates my loyalty.”
She looked toward Silvio.
“That belonged to my grandmother,” I said, my voice trembling with rage. “She lost it the night she fled Naples. How do you have it?”
Silvio tapped his cane on the concrete floor, the sound echoing sharply in the damp night air.
“Because I was the one who took it from her, Emily,” Silvio said smoothly. “Forty years ago, Clara wasn’t just a baker’s daughter. She was promised to me. An arranged marriage between two powerful families in Naples.”
Luca stepped in front of me again, his body tense and ready to snap. “And my father took her away from you.”
“Thomas stole her!” Silvio’s voice suddenly boomed, the refined gentleman facade cracking to reveal the monster beneath. “He was my business partner! My best friend! And he smuggled my fiancée on a boat to America like a thief in the night!”
“Because she didn’t love you,” I said, grasping the gun in my pocket. “She was terrified of you.”
Silvio sneered. “Love is a child’s fairy tale. She humiliated me. Thomas humiliated me. And then, he had the audacity to build an empire in Chicago with my money while hiding my bride in the slums of the South Loop.”
Silvio took a step forward, Vanessa keeping her gun trained on Luca.
“When I finally found out about his little secret family,” Silvio continued, his eyes darkening, “Thomas panicked. He tried to buy me off. He bought a train ticket to Boston to meet me, to beg for a truce. But I didn’t want a truce. I wanted him dead. And I wanted Clara to suffer.”
“You killed him,” Luca stated, his voice a low, lethal growl.
“I had his brakes cut,” Silvio admitted freely. “It was tragically simple. But unfortunately, I couldn’t find Clara. Thomas had moved her before he died. Until two weeks ago, when my people finally tracked down a woman named Sarah Carter, who possessed a very unique family heirloom.”
He pointed at the rosary still hanging from Luca’s pocket.
“And that’s when you brought Vanessa into this,” Luca said, glaring at his former fiancée.
Vanessa lifted her chin. “Silvio approached my father. He promised that if I helped him secure Michael’s house and trap you, he would erase my family’s debts. And all I had to do was wear this bracelet today, to see if the little maid recognized it.”
“You used Michael’s kids,” Luca said, his voice dripping with disgust. “You used a housemaid. You’re pathetic, Vanessa.”
Vanessa’s hand shook slightly, but she kept the gun raised. “I’m surviving, Luca. Something you won’t be doing tonight.”
Silvio extended his hand toward me. “The train ticket, Emily. It is the only piece of physical evidence linking me to Thomas’s murder. Give it to me, and perhaps I will let you walk away.”
I looked at the small piece of cardstock in my hand.
This tiny piece of paper was the key to everything. If I gave it to Silvio, he would destroy it. He would walk away clean, holding the deed to Michael’s house, and our family would live in fear forever.
“No,” I said, gripping the ticket tightly.
Silvio’s eyes narrowed. “Excuse me?”
“I said no.” I stepped out from behind Luca, pulling the heavy steel handgun from my coat pocket and leveling it directly at Silvio’s chest.
Vanessa gasped, stepping back.
Luca didn’t move, but I could feel the shock radiating from him.
“You won’t shoot me, little girl,” Silvio mocked, though he stopped walking. “You don’t have the stomach for it.”
“I don’t need to shoot you to ruin you,” I said, my voice surprisingly steady. “My grandmother spent her whole life hiding from you. My mother grew up without a father because of you. I’m not hiding anymore.”
I took a step backward, toward the open storage unit door, holding the gun steady.
“Luca, move,” I ordered.
Luca didn’t hesitate. He backed up with me.
“Shoot them!” Silvio barked at Vanessa.
Vanessa’s hands were shaking violently now. “Silvio, she has a gun! If I shoot him, she’ll shoot you!”
“Do it, you useless coward!”
Before Vanessa could pull the trigger, the wail of police sirens pierced the night air.
Red and blue lights flooded the alleyway, washing over the storage unit. Tires screeched as three Chicago PD cruisers boxed in the entrance.
Silvio’s face contorted in fury. He spun toward Luca. “You called the cops? You broke our code?”
Luca smiled, a dark, predatory grin.
“I didn’t call the police,” Luca said smoothly.
We both looked toward the cruisers.
Stepping out of the lead car, holding a briefcase and flanked by two detectives, was Alessandro Ricci, the Italian banker.
“I called them,” Alessandro said, his voice echoing over the sirens.
Silvio froze, his eyes darting toward the exits, but there were none.
Alessandro walked forward, stopping just out of range of Vanessa’s trembling gun.
“Mr. Rossi,” Alessandro said formally. “My bank does not take kindly to fraudulent loans used to fund extortion. Especially when the money is wired through international accounts flagged by Interpol.”
Vanessa dropped her gun to the concrete. She threw her hands in the air, bursting into hysterical tears. “It was him! Silvio made me do it! I had no choice!”
Silvio ignored her. He stared at me, his eyes burning with decades of hatred.
“This isn’t over, Clara,” he whispered, projecting my grandmother’s name onto me.
“Yes, it is,” I said, and I lowered the gun.
Detectives swarmed the unit, slamming Silvio against the corrugated metal wall and clicking handcuffs around his wrists. Vanessa was sobbing as a female officer read her her rights.
Alessandro walked over to Luca and handed him the briefcase.
“The deed to Michael’s house, Mr. Moretti,” Alessandro said respectfully. “The bank has officially voided the transaction due to criminal fraud.”
Luca took the briefcase, letting out a long, heavy exhale.
He turned to me. The billionaire boss, the man who owned half of Chicago, looked at me with tears in his eyes.
“You okay, kid?” he asked softly.
I looked at the train ticket in my hand, then at the police hauling Silvio away.
“I’m okay, Uncle Luca,” I smiled.
May you like
But as we turned to walk back to the car, Alessandro cleared his throat.
“Mr. Moretti, Miss Carter,” the banker said gently. “There is one more thing. When we audited Mr. Rossi’s safety deposit box, we found something that belongs to you, Emily. Something your grandmother thought was lost forever.”
