Chapter 7 - THE BALLROOM WAS COMPLETELY DARK
The red ink seemed to glow under Luca’s flashlight.
Come to the ballroom if you want the girl to live.
“He’s in the house,” I whispered, the reality of it freezing the blood in my veins.
Luca crushed the note in his fist.
His jaw was locked so tight it looked carved from stone.
He didn’t look at me with pity. He looked at me with the cold, calculating eyes of a man preparing for war.
“He doesn’t want to kill you, Maria,” Luca said, his voice terrifyingly calm. “He wants to use you. He thinks if he forces a marriage, the syndicate will follow him instead of me.”
He reached into his waistband and pulled out a second, smaller handgun.
He held it out to me.
I stared at the black metal.
“I don’t know how to use that, Mr. Moretti.”
“Luca,” he corrected, his voice softening just a fraction. “You call me Luca now. You’re a Moretti.”
He took my hand and wrapped my fingers around the cold grip.
“Safety is off. Point and pull. Only if you have to.”
I nodded, swallowing the lump of terror in my throat.
We moved silently down the main staircase.
The mansion was eerily quiet. The gunfire outside had stopped.
That was worse. It meant Thorne’s men had breached the perimeter and Luca’s guards were either dead or captured.
We reached the second floor landing.
The grand double doors to the ballroom stood at the end of the hall.
They were slightly cracked open.
Luca gestured for me to stay behind him.
He kicked the doors open with his heel, his gun raised.
The massive room was pitch black.
The crystal chandeliers were dark.
The only light came from the moonlight spilling through the floor-to-ceiling windows.
Standing in the center of the room, illuminated by the pale light, was a man.
He was wearing a tailored suit, his silver hair perfectly combed.
Victor Thorne.
But he wasn't alone.
Kneeling on the polished wood floor next to him was Vanessa.
Her red engagement dress was torn, her makeup smeared with tears.
Thorne had a gun pressed to the back of her head.
“Luca,” Thorne called out, his voice smooth and cultured. “Punctual as always.”
Luca didn’t lower his weapon. He aimed it directly at Thorne’s chest.
“Let her go, Victor. This is between you and me.”
Thorne chuckled.
“Oh, but it isn’t. Is it?”
He looked past Luca, his eyes locking onto me in the shadows.
“Hello, Isabella.”
Hearing my true name sent a shiver down my spine.
“Vanessa was very helpful,” Thorne continued, pressing the barrel harder against her skull. Vanessa sobbed quietly.
“She found the tapes your aunt hid. The ones proving I orchestrated your mother’s death, Luca. But she got greedy. She tried to leverage them against me for more money before the wedding.”
Thorne smiled coldly.
“I don’t negotiate with pawns.”
“Then shoot her,” Luca said.
Vanessa gasped.
Thorne raised an eyebrow.
“She betrayed me, she betrayed my family, and she helped you destroy my mother’s legacy,” Luca said, his voice devoid of any mercy. “You think I care if she lives?”
Thorne’s smile faltered slightly.
He realized Luca wasn't bluffing.
The leverage was gone.
“Perhaps not,” Thorne said. “But you care about the girl behind you.”
He snapped his fingers.
Suddenly, the ballroom lights flooded on, blindingly bright.
I blinked against the harsh glare.
When my vision cleared, I realized we had walked into a trap.
Standing on the balcony above the ballroom were six of Thorne’s men.
All of them had laser sights pointed directly at Luca’s chest.
“Drop the gun, Luca,” Thorne ordered. “Or they cut you in half. And I take the girl anyway.”
Luca didn’t move.
He looked up at the balcony, doing the math in his head.
He couldn't shoot six men before they shot him.
Slowly, deliberately, Luca bent his knees and placed his gun on the floor.
He kicked it across the polished wood toward Thorne.
Thorne smiled triumphantly.
He released Vanessa, pushing her to the floor in disgust.
He walked toward us, his eyes fixed on me.
“You look just like your mother,” Thorne said to me. “Stubborn. But she made the mistake of running. You’re going to be much smarter. You’re going to come with me willingly.”
“I’ll die first,” I spat.
Thorne laughed. “No, you won’t. Because if you don’t come with me right now, I will tell my men to execute Luca where he stands.”
I froze.
I looked at Luca.
He was looking at me, his eyes pleading silently. Don't do it.
But I couldn't let him die.
He was the only family I had left.
I took a step forward, out from behind his protection.
“Maria, no,” Luca growled, grabbing my wrist.
I gently pulled my hand away.
I looked Thorne dead in the eyes.
“I’ll go with you,” I said quietly. “Let him live.”
Thorne smiled, reaching out his hand to take mine.
But as he reached forward, I noticed something dangling from his wrist.
A heavy gold chain.
I had seen that chain before.
Not in a photograph.
In my own pocket.
May you like
It matched the heavy gold crucifix I had found inside my father’s truck the day he died.
The crucifix that was missing its chain.
