Chapter 4 - THE RECEIPT ON THE MAHOGANY TABLE
The air left my lungs in a violent rush.
I lunged forward, grabbing the crumpled receipt off the mahogany table. My hands shook so badly I could barely read the printed text.
It was a transfer slip from a private transport company. Attached to it was a grainy, black-and-white printed photograph.
It was Lily.
She was walking across her college campus, wearing the yellow raincoat I had bought her for her birthday. A man in a dark hoodie was walking exactly three steps behind her.
“No,” I gasped, the paper crinkling in my tightening grip. “No, please, please don’t hurt her.”
I turned to Vanessa. I didn’t care about my pride. I didn’t care about the forty wealthy guests staring at me in horrified silence. I fell to my knees in front of her.
“I’ll leave,” I sobbed, grabbing the hem of her burgundy gown. “I’ll disappear. I’ll never say a word about the hotel or the bracelet. Just let her go!”
Vanessa looked down at me with absolute disgust. She yanked her dress out of my hands, taking a step back.
“You still don’t get it, do you, sweetheart?” Vanessa sneered. “This was never about you. You’re just a maid. You’re leverage.”
She looked up at Luca.
“The codes, Luca,” Vanessa demanded, extending her hand. “The main vault beneath the estate. Open it, transfer the bearer bonds to the offshore account Marcus set up, and the girl lives.”
Luca stood perfectly still. His face was a mask of chiseled stone, completely unreadable.
“You orchestrated this entire engagement,” Luca said, his voice a low, terrifying rumble. “You infiltrated my home. You shared my bed. All to get to the vault my father left behind.”
“Your father was a monster who stole from my family!” Vanessa screamed, her composure finally cracking. “He ruined my father’s business! He forced us into bankruptcy! I spent ten years clawing my way back to the top just to take back what belongs to me!”
“By kidnapping an innocent nineteen-year-old girl?” Luca asked.
“I’ll do whatever it takes!” Vanessa shouted. She pointed a manicured finger at me. “Her sister dies in exactly nine minutes if you don’t open that vault.”
Luca didn’t look at the clock. He looked at me.
He saw me kneeling on the floor, completely broken, clutching the grainy photograph of my only family.
Luca walked over to me. He didn’t care about his expensive suit. He dropped to his knees, taking my trembling hands in his.
“Hannah,” Luca said softly, ignoring everyone else in the room. “Look at me.”
I forced my eyes up to meet his.
“I promise you, on my life, they will not hurt your sister,” Luca vowed. His dark eyes burned with a fierce, absolute certainty. “Do you believe me?”
I wanted to hate him. His family had murdered my mother. But looking into his eyes, I knew he was the only person in the world who could save Lily right now.
I nodded, a fresh tear spilling over my cheek.
Luca stood up. He turned to his head of security.
“Daniel,” Luca said.
“Yes, boss,” the massive guard responded instantly.
“Take Marcus to the basement holding cell. Break whatever you have to break to get the location of the car. He has three minutes to talk before you start removing fingers.”
Marcus’s eyes widened in sheer terror. “Luca, you can’t! The Russian syndicate is backing us! If you touch me, they’ll declare war on the Moretti family!”
“Let them come,” Luca snarled.
The guards dragged a screaming, struggling Marcus out of the dining room. His desperate pleas echoed down the marble hallway until the heavy basement door slammed shut.
Luca turned his attention back to Vanessa.
“Now, for you,” Luca said calmly.
Vanessa laughed nervously, taking a step toward the front doors. “You can’t touch me, Luca. My men have the girl. If I don’t text them the confirmation code, they’ll kill her.”
“Then text them,” Luca offered, gesturing to her purse on the table.
Vanessa frowned, confused. “What?”
“Text them,” Luca repeated. “Tell them you have the vault codes. Tell them to bring the girl to the abandoned warehouse on the South Side for the exchange.”
Vanessa crossed her arms. “Do you think I’m stupid? I’m not bringing her here to be rescued.”
“You’re not bringing her here,” Luca corrected. “You’re bringing her to the warehouse. If you want the bearer bonds, you’ll have to come with me to retrieve them. But I won’t unlock the vault until I see the girl alive with my own eyes.”
Vanessa stared at him, calculating the risk. Her greed was warring with her caution.
“You’ll open the vault?” she asked suspiciously.
“I will give you everything my father stole from yours,” Luca promised. “Ten million dollars in bearer bonds. In exchange for the girl.”
Vanessa smiled triumphantly. She reached into her crystal clutch, pulled out her phone, and typed a rapid message.
“Done,” Vanessa announced, dropping the phone back into her bag. “They’ll be at the warehouse in twenty minutes.”
“Good,” Luca said.
He turned to the remaining dinner guests, who were huddled in terrified silence near the back walls.
“Everyone out,” Luca ordered. “Go home. Forget what you saw tonight. If a single word of this leaks to the press or the police, I will personally visit each of your homes tomorrow.”
The wealthy socialites didn’t need to be told twice. They scrambled for the doors, abandoning their coats and expensive gifts, fleeing the mansion like rats from a sinking ship.
Within two minutes, the grand dining room was empty.
It was just me, Luca, Vanessa, and a handful of loyal, heavily armed security guards.
Luca reached inside his jacket and pulled out his firearm, checking the magazine with practiced, terrifying efficiency.
He looked at me.
“Hannah,” Luca said. “I’m leaving two guards here with you. Lock the doors. Stay inside until I come back with Lily.”
“No,” I said, my voice suddenly finding its strength.
I stood up from the floor, wiping the tears from my face. I walked over to the mahogany table and picked up a heavy, silver steak knife left behind by one of the guests.
Luca frowned. “Hannah, put that down. It’s too dangerous.”
“She’s my sister,” I said fiercely, my hands no longer shaking. “I’ve spent the last ten years protecting her. I’m not hiding in a mansion while she’s in danger. I’m coming with you.”
Vanessa rolled her eyes. “Oh, please. What is a maid going to do? Dust them to death?”
I didn’t look at Vanessa. I looked at Luca.
“Take me with you,” I demanded.
Luca stared at me. He saw the fire in my eyes—the absolute refusal to be a victim anymore.
A slow, deeply respectful smile touched the corner of his lips.
“Get in the car,” Luca ordered.
Ten minutes later, we were speeding through the rainy streets of Chicago in a heavily armored black SUV. Luca was driving, his jaw clenched tight. I sat in the passenger seat, gripping the silver knife in my lap. Vanessa sat in the back, handcuffed to the door handle, surrounded by two massive guards.
We pulled into the desolate, crumbling warehouse district on the South Side. The streetlights were completely blown out. The area felt like a graveyard.
Luca parked the SUV in the shadows of an abandoned factory building.
“We walk from here,” Luca commanded quietly.
We stepped out into the freezing rain.
Luca led the way, his gun drawn. I stayed right behind him, my heart hammering a frantic rhythm against my ribs. The guards hauled Vanessa out of the back, forcing her to walk ahead of us.
We reached the massive, rusted metal doors of the warehouse.
Luca gestured for the guards to stay back. He looked at me, giving me a silent nod.
He reached out and hauled the heavy metal door open.
We stepped inside.
The warehouse was dark, smelling of oil and old dust. A single, harsh floodlight illuminated the center of the concrete floor.
Standing under the light were three men wearing dark tactical gear, holding assault rifles.
And kneeling on the floor in front of them, crying silently with a zip-tie around her wrists, was Lily.
“Lily!” I screamed, stepping out from behind Luca.
Lily looked up, her tear-streaked face going pale. “Hannah! Run!”
The lead mercenary laughed, raising his rifle and aiming it directly at my sister’s head.
“Ah, the welcoming committee,” the mercenary sneered in a thick Russian accent. “Where is the money, Moretti?”
Luca stepped fully into the light, keeping his gun lowered but his posture absolutely lethal.
“The money is in the vault,” Luca said calmly. “Let the girl go, and Vanessa will text you the codes.”
“No,” the Russian smirked, pulling the hammer back on his rifle. “The deal has changed. We don’t just want the money anymore.”
Vanessa frowned, pulling against her handcuffs. “What are you doing, Yuri? We had an agreement!”
The Russian mercenary looked at Vanessa with cold, dead eyes.
“The boss sends his regards, Miss Bellini,” Yuri said smoothly. “He decided you’re a loose end. And he wants the Moretti heir dead.”
Before anyone could react, Yuri swung his rifle away from Lily and aimed it directly at Vanessa’s chest.
But as his finger squeezed the trigger, a loud, familiar voice echoed from the dark rafters above us.
“Drop the guns, Yuri. Or you won’t leave this building alive.”
I gasped, looking up into the shadows.
Standing on the metal catwalk thirty feet above the concrete floor, holding a sniper rifle aimed directly at the Russian’s head, was a man I never expected to see again.
May you like
It was the hotel manager who had fired me six months ago.
TITLE: The Sniper On The Catwalk
