Chapter 7 - THE SERVANT'S PASSAGEWAY
The sudden, suffocating darkness was accompanied by the loud, heavy clunk of the mansion’s main breaker tripping in the cellar.
Panic erupted instantly in the grand foyer.
“Don't shoot!” Don Bellini shrieked in the pitch black, terrified his own jumpy men would gun him down by mistake. “Nobody fire!”
Vanessa screamed as a heavy hand grabbed her wrist, twisting it violently. The small pistol dropped from her grip, clattering down the marble stairs.
“Mia, run!” Luca roared in the darkness, shoving his sister toward the front doors.
Before the Bellini guards could pull out their tactical flashlights, the sound of breaking glass shattered the chaos. Daniel and his men had breached the dining room windows, wearing night-vision goggles, completely invisible in the dark.
The low thwip-thwip of suppressed gunfire echoed through the mansion. Bellini’s men began dropping to the marble floor, completely blind and outmaneuvered.
I didn't see any of this.
I was creeping through the pitch-black servant’s passageway behind the kitchen walls. The narrow corridor smelled of old dust and lavender polish. I knew every inch of this house by touch.
I felt my way along the wooden panels until I reached the hidden door that led directly into my small bedroom on the ground floor.
I pressed the concealed latch and pushed the door open.
“Lily?” I whispered into the dark room.
I heard a muffled whimper from under the bed.
“Lily, it’s me. It’s Sophie,” I said, dropping to my knees.
My younger sister scrambled out from under the cot, throwing her arms around my neck, sobbing quietly.
“Sophie! There are men with guns everywhere!” she cried into my shoulder.
“I know, I know, but we’re going to get out,” I promised, pulling her to her feet. “Come on, follow me.”
I pulled her through the hidden door into the servant’s passageway just as heavy boots pounded into my bedroom from the main hallway. Flashlight beams swept the small room we had just vacated.
I held my breath, pulling Lily deep into the narrow corridor until the guards moved on.
“We have to get to the delivery entrance,” I whispered, holding her hand tightly.
We moved silently through the walls, the sounds of shouting and distant gunfire echoing strangely through the air vents.
We reached the end of the passage. I pushed the panel open, stepping out into the small mudroom near the delivery bay doors.
But as I reached for the handle of the heavy metal exit door, a flashlight beam hit me square in the face, blinding me.
“Well, look what we have here,” a cruel voice sneered.
I squinted against the light. Two Bellini guards were standing by the delivery vans, their assault rifles raised, blocking our only exit.
“Two little mice trying to sneak out,” the guard laughed, stepping closer. “Don Bellini said no one leaves the property.”
He grabbed my arm roughly, yanking me away from the door. Lily screamed, trying to pull me back.
“Let her go!” I shouted, struggling against the massive man.
“Shut up,” the guard snarled, raising the butt of his rifle to strike me.
Suddenly, a massive, dark figure stepped out of the pouring rain behind the guards.
The guard didn't even have time to turn around.
A heavy, calloused hand clamped over the guard’s mouth, violently jerking him backward into the darkness. A sickening crunch echoed in the rain, and the guard collapsed, instantly unconscious.
The second guard spun around, raising his flashlight.
Standing in the doorway, soaked in rain, blood dripping from a cut on his forehead, was Luca Moretti.
His eyes were completely black, devoid of anything resembling mercy.
The second guard raised his rifle, but Luca moved with terrifying, lethal speed. He grabbed the barrel of the gun, shoving it upward as it fired harmlessly into the ceiling, and drove his knee into the man’s stomach with bone-crushing force.
The guard doubled over, gasping for air. Luca delivered a swift, brutal strike to the back of the man’s neck, dropping him to the concrete floor.
Luca stood breathing heavily, his white shirt ruined, looking at me and my terrified sister.
“Are you hurt?” Luca demanded, stepping forward, his eyes scanning my face for injuries.
“No,” I breathed, completely overwhelmed by his sudden appearance. “We’re okay. Is Mia safe?”
“Daniel got her out,” Luca nodded, grabbing my hand. His grip was warm and grounding. “We need to go. Now.”
He pulled us out into the pouring rain, leading us toward the black SUV I had driven to the back of the property.
“Get in the back with your sister,” Luca ordered, sliding into the driver’s seat.
He didn't turn on the headlights. He threw the heavy vehicle into gear and tore across the manicured back lawns, avoiding the main driveway where the gunfight was still raging.
We crashed through the wooden service gates and sped out onto the dark Chicago streets.
I looked back through the rear window. The massive Moretti estate was completely dark, surrounded by flashing police lights in the distance.
“Where are we going?” I asked, holding Lily tightly as she cried quietly into my shoulder.
Luca gripped the steering wheel, his jaw clenched tight.
“We are going to end this,” Luca said quietly.
He pulled the SUV into a deserted underground parking garage beneath an abandoned commercial building downtown. It was a secondary safe house, unknown even to most of his men.
He parked the car and turned to look at me in the backseat.
“Stay here,” Luca commanded softly. “Lock the doors. Do not open them for anyone but me.”
“Where are you going?” I asked, panic rising in my chest again. “Luca, you can’t go back there. The police will arrest you.”
“I’m not going back to the estate,” Luca said, checking the magazine of his pistol.
He reached into his pocket and pulled out the forged eviction notices and the bank transfer documents he had taken from Vanessa’s study earlier that afternoon.
“I’m going to Don Bellini’s house,” Luca said, a terrifying, absolute resolve settling over his features. “He thinks he’s won. He thinks he chased me out of my own home. I’m going to show him what happens when you threaten my family.”
He opened the car door, but I scrambled forward, grabbing his sleeve.
“Luca, please,” I pleaded, tears finally spilling over my eyelashes. “Don't do this. You’re playing right into his hands. If you kill him, the Commission will hunt you down. You’ll never be free.”
Luca stopped. He looked at my hand gripping his sleeve, then up at my tear-stained face.
“I have to protect my sister, Sophie,” Luca whispered, the agonizing weight of his responsibility cracking his armor for just a second. “I have to protect you.”
“Then protect us by surviving,” I begged. “Use the documents. Use the law. Don't become the monster he wants you to be.”
Luca stared at me in the dim light of the parking garage.
For a long moment, the ruthless mob boss and the desperate man fought a silent war behind his dark eyes.
Then, he looked down at the documents in his hand.
“There is one man on the Commission who hated my father,” Luca murmured, his mind working rapidly. “Sal Marcano. He’s the head of the neutral families. If I bring him this proof that Bellini allied with the Romanos to take Chicago... Marcano won't just sanction Bellini. He’ll order a hit on him legally within the syndicate.”
A small spark of hope ignited in my chest. “Then go to Marcano.”
Luca nodded slowly. He leaned back into the car, pressing his forehead against mine for a fleeting, desperate second.
May you like
“Lock the doors,” Luca whispered fiercely.
He closed the door, disappearing into the shadows of the garage, leaving me alone in the dark with my sister, praying that the man I had somehow fallen in love with would make it back alive.
