Chapter 7 - THE BURNING TRUTH
Minutes stretched into agonizing hours.
The heat from the burning community center pushed me back against the SUV. Sirens wailed in the distance, but the fire engines weren't here yet.
"Luca!" I screamed, choking on the thick, toxic smoke billowing from the entrance.
Dante stood firmly in front of me, his gun drawn, eyes scanning the perimeter. "Stay back, Ms. Carter. Boss knows what he's doing."
Suddenly, three figures burst through the wall of black smoke.
Luca was coughing violently, dragging my mother with one arm and supporting Margaret Ellis with the other. My mother’s face was covered in soot, but she was alive.
"Mom!" I shoved past Dante and ran to her, throwing my arms around her trembling body.
"Emily," she sobbed, clutching me tight. "You're safe. Thank God."
Luca handed Margaret over to his men and leaned against the hood of the car, gasping for air. His white shirt was scorched, his face black with ash, but his eyes were locked on me, ensuring I was alright.
"Did Vanessa do this?" Luca demanded, coughing as he walked toward Margaret.
Margaret slumped against the car, clutching a heavy, scorched wool coat. "Yes. She came looking for the copies of the ledger. She locked us in the back office and ordered her men to light the place up."
"She wanted to burn the evidence," my mother wheezed. "And us with it."
"She failed," Luca said grimly, patting the leather ledger secured tightly under his arm. "I have the original."
"Not just the ledger," Margaret said, coughing as she held up the scorched wool coat. "Marcus didn't just leave proof of Carlo's theft, Luca. He left a contingency plan."
I looked at the coat. It was an old, classic men's overcoat.
"That was my father's," Luca said, his brow furrowing.
"He left it with me the week before he died," Margaret explained, her hands trembling as she reached into a hidden seam in the lining. She ripped the stitching open and pulled out a sealed, legal document.
"The Bellinis forced Arthur Harris to forge your father's will," Margaret said. "They made it look like Marcus wanted the families merged through your marriage to Vanessa. But this... this is the real will. Signed, witnessed, and notarized."
Luca took the document. He broke the seal and scanned the pages in the glow of the burning building.
His eyes widened. He looked up at my mother, then at me.
"What does it say?" I asked, my heart pounding.
"It strips the Bellini family of all their shares in the Moretti empire," Luca read, his voice cutting through the crackle of the fire. "And it transfers full ownership of the legitimate properties—including the housing developments—to the woman he loved."
Luca stepped forward and looked directly at my mother.
"He left half the empire to you, Helen."
My mother wept, covering her face. I stood paralyzed. My mother wasn't just a maid. She was a billionaire. She was the rightful co-owner of the Moretti legacy.
A sharp, cruel laugh echoed from the darkness across the street.
We all turned.
Stepping out from the shadows of an alleyway was Vanessa Bellini. Her designer dress was ruined, her makeup smeared, and she was holding a silver revolver. Three heavily armed men flanked her.
"Isn't this a touching family reunion?" Vanessa sneered, pointing the gun directly at my mother. "Too bad it ends here."
Dante and the Moretti guards raised their weapons instantly, but Vanessa's men already had their lasers pointed at Luca's chest.
"Drop the guns, Dante!" Vanessa shouted. "Or I shoot Luca right in the heart."
Luca didn't flinch. He didn't drop the ledger. He just stared at the woman he had been engaged to a few hours ago.
"It's over, Vanessa," Luca said coldly. "Your father is in my custody. I have the ledger. I have the will. You have nothing."
"I have the gun!" she screamed, her hand shaking. She glared at me with pure venom. "You! You filthy little maid! You think you can walk into my house, steal my fiancé, and take my family's money? I'll kill you!"
She shifted her aim from my mother directly to my face.
My breath caught. I couldn't move.
"Vanessa, don't!" Arthur Harris's voice suddenly rang out.
The gray-haired attorney emerged from behind Vanessa's men, holding his hands up. He looked exhausted, defeated.
"Arthur?" Vanessa snapped. "What are you doing here?"
"I called him," Luca said smoothly.
Arthur stepped between Vanessa and me. "Put the gun down, Vanessa. The police are already on their way. I sent them all the forged documents. I confessed to everything."
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Vanessa’s face contorted in absolute rage. "You traitor!"
She pulled the trigger.
