Chapter 8 - THE SECRETS BURIED IN THE GARDEN
Victor Romano looked exactly like the photograph, only older and infinitely more terrifying in person.
The scar on his neck stood out starkly in the flashing red emergency lights.
He racked the shotgun. The sound echoed like a thunderclap in the industrial kitchen.
“Hello, Nephew,” Victor said, his voice raspy and amused.
Luca didn’t flinch.
He shoved me completely behind his broad back, hiding me in the shadow of the prep island, and raised his handgun.
“Uncle Victor,” Luca replied, his voice deadly calm. “You’re trespassing.”
Victor chuckled, a dry, rattling sound.
“I’m reclaiming what’s mine. This empire belonged to my sister. Your father stole it when he married her. I’m just cleaning up the bloodline.”
“By murdering my brother? By trying to poison a pregnant woman?”
“Collateral damage,” Victor sneered. “Michael was too smart for his own good. He started digging into the shell corporations. He found Vanessa’s true allegiance. He had to go.”
Victor took a slow step forward, the barrel of the shotgun leveled at Luca’s chest.
“Put the gun down, Luca. You’re bleeding out. My men have the estate surrounded. It’s over.”
I squeezed my eyes shut, my hands resting protectively over my baby.
This was it. We were going to die on the kitchen floor.
“You’re right about one thing, Victor,” Luca said quietly.
“Oh?”
“You have the estate surrounded.”
Luca didn't lower his gun. Instead, a grim, blood-stained smile touched the corner of his mouth.
“But you forgot whose city you’re standing in.”
Suddenly, a deafening roar shattered the night outside.
It wasn’t gunfire.
It was the sound of heavy machinery. Helicopters. Dozens of them.
The windows of the kitchen rattled violently as the blinding white beams of police searchlights cut through the darkness, illuminating the room like daylight.
Victor’s smug smile vanished instantly.
“What is this?” Victor barked, looking toward the windows.
“You think I didn’t know Marcus was the leak?” Luca said, his voice rising over the noise outside. “I’ve known for three days, Victor. I let him disable the perimeter tonight. Because I needed you to step onto my property with illegal weapons and a private militia.”
Luca slowly stood up, despite his bleeding shoulder, keeping his gun aimed directly at Victor’s head.
“I called the FBI an hour before dinner started,” Luca said coldly. “I gave them the ledger from the safe. I gave them the bank transfers. And I gave them your location.”
Victor’s face twisted in rage.
He swung the shotgun up, aiming directly at Luca’s face.
“If I go down, you die with me!”
BANG.
The gunshot was deafening, but it didn't come from Victor.
Victor dropped the shotgun, screaming in agony as his right kneecap shattered in a spray of blood. He collapsed to the marble floor, writhing in pain.
I gasped, looking toward the swinging kitchen doors.
A sniper laser was painted directly on Victor’s chest.
Through the shattered bay windows of the dining room, FBI tactical teams were swarming the house.
“FBI! Drop your weapons! Get on the ground!” voices shouted from every direction.
Luca slowly lowered his gun, placing it carefully on the stainless-steel counter. He raised his hands, completely unfazed by the dozens of heavily armed federal agents flooding the room.
He looked down at his uncle, who was groaning in a pool of his own blood.
“This is my city,” Luca whispered to Victor. “And you are finished.”
Agents rushed in, kicking Victor’s shotgun away and hauling the screaming mafia boss to his feet, slapping cuffs on his wrists.
A female agent ran over to us, her weapon lowered.
“Mr. Moretti? Are you and the woman alright?”
Luca didn't answer her. He turned immediately to me, dropping back down to his knees.
“Anna.” He framed my face with his large, bloody hands. “Are you hurt? Did the baby move?”
“I’m okay,” I sobbed, throwing my arms around his neck. “I’m okay.”
Luca held me tight, burying his face in my hair, his massive shoulders trembling for the first time since the nightmare began.
Hours later, the sun began to rise over the Moretti estate.
The courtyard looked like a war zone, but the fighting was over.
Victor Romano was in federal custody.
Marcus had been caught trying to flee through the garden gates and was currently sitting in the back of an armored transport.
And Vanessa Bellini...
I sat wrapped in a heavy wool blanket on the front steps of the mansion, watching as two female agents escorted Vanessa out the front door in handcuffs.
Her red silk gown was ruined. Her hair was a tangled mess. The arrogant, cruel woman who had tormented me for months was completely broken.
She stopped when she saw me sitting there.
She looked at my swollen stomach, then up at my face.
She opened her mouth to speak, a final venomous insult resting on her tongue.
But Luca stepped between us.
He had changed his shirt and his arm was heavily bandaged by the paramedics. He stood tall, blocking Vanessa’s view of me entirely.
“Take her away,” Luca ordered the agents. “And make sure she’s placed in solitary. She doesn't do well with others.”
Vanessa was dragged to a police cruiser, screaming obscenities until the doors slammed shut.
Luca turned around and sat down on the cold stone steps beside me.
He didn't say anything for a long time. He just watched the police cars drive out of the massive iron gates.
Then, he reached into his pocket.
He pulled out the gold wedding ring. Michael’s ring.
He gently took my hand and pressed the ring into my palm.
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“The monster is gone, Anna,” Luca said softly. “You never have to hide this again.”
TITLE: THE HEIR TO THE MORETTI EMPIRE
