Chapter 3 - THE DARK HALLWAYS WHERE TRAITORS BLEED
The first shot shattered the crystal chandelier above the table.
Glass rained down like diamonds in the dark.
Screams filled the dining room as guests threw themselves to the floor.
Luca didn’t dive for cover.
He fired twice.
Two of Marcus’s hidden gunmen dropped before they could even aim.
But Marcus grabbed Vanessa, using the chaos to drag her toward the terrace doors.
“Don’t let them leave!” Luca roared to his men.
Gunfire tore through the heavy mahogany doors.
Mr. Donnelly, the old firefighter, stumbled backward, clutching his shoulder. Blood seeped through his white shirt.
“Patrick!” Luca shouted, rushing to him.
I grabbed Mr. Donnelly’s other arm.
“Mr. Moretti, the servant passageways!” I yelled over the deafening noise. “Through the pantry! They don’t know the layout!”
Luca nodded.
He grabbed Patrick by the belt, and together we hauled the heavy man through the swinging doors of the kitchen.
We kicked open the hidden panel behind the wine cellar.
The secret corridor was pitch black and smelled of old dust.
I locked the heavy iron door behind us just as bullets started hammering against the other side.
We were safe. For now.
Luca leaned Patrick against the brick wall.
He clicked on a small tactical flashlight.
“Are you hit bad, Patrick?”
The old man wheezed, holding his bleeding shoulder.
“Clean through the muscle, kid. I’ve survived worse.”
Luca took off his tuxedo jacket and pressed it against the wound.
His face was a mask of cold fury.
He looked at me.
“Give me the receipt.”
I handed him the crumpled yellow paper.
Luca read the address.
1400 Pine Ridge Road, Lake Geneva.
The Bellini summer compound.
“They’ve been keeping her heavily sedated so she couldn’t escape,” Luca whispered. “For thirty years.”
“Why?” I asked, my heart pounding. “If they wanted to hurt you, why not just kill her back then?”
Luca looked up.
His dark eyes were terrifying.
“Because my mother knew where the original syndicate ledgers were hidden. The only evidence that could put Marcus Bellini in federal prison for life. He needed her alive to find them.”
Luca stood up, chambering a fresh round in his gun.
“We need to get to the garage. If Marcus makes it to Wisconsin before I do, he’ll kill her and burn the estate to the ground.”
I led the way.
I knew every inch of these hidden tunnels. I cleaned them once a month.
We hurried down the narrow, damp stairs toward the underground garage.
But halfway down, my foot hit something soft.
I tripped, dropping the flashlight.
It rolled across the stone floor, the beam illuminating the darkness.
I screamed.
Lying in the center of the tunnel was a body.
It was Thomas, Luca’s head of security.
His throat had been cut.
Luca knelt beside the body. He checked for a pulse.
Nothing.
“He’s been dead for at least an hour,” Luca said grimly.
My blood ran cold.
“But… Thomas was guarding the front gate an hour ago. I saw him on the cameras.”
“No,” Luca said. “You saw someone wearing his coat.”
He looked up at the ceiling.
“Marcus Bellini didn’t just bring a few gunmen to dinner. He brought an army. And someone inside this house opened the doors for them.”
I thought back to earlier that afternoon.
Before the dinner started.
Before I found Mr. Donnelly in the billiard room.
I had seen Mrs. Gable, the head housekeeper, unlocking the side delivery doors. She said she was waiting for a floral arrangement.
But no flowers ever arrived.
“It was Mrs. Gable,” I whispered.
Luca’s jaw tightened.
“She’s been with my family for twenty years.”
“She lied about the delivery doors,” I insisted.
Before Luca could answer, Thomas’s radio, still clipped to his bloody shirt, crackled to life.
A voice came through the static.
“Marcus is away. The girl is secure. Burn the house with Moretti inside.”
The smell of gasoline suddenly flooded the tunnel.
We looked back up the stairs.
Liquid was pouring under the iron door we had just locked.
May you like
And a single lit match fell into the puddle.
TITLE: THE FLAMES WE THOUGHT WERE DEAD
