THE LIES BURIED BENEATH THE FAMILY TABLE

“Where is he?” I screamed, dropping the box. The velvet hit the stone floor, the silver airplane clattering into the darkness.

“Where is Leo?!”

Bellini didn’t flinch. “He’s safe. Sitting in the back of a black Mercedes just outside your gates. My driver is entertaining him. But if I don't walk out of this cellar with the gold in exactly ten minutes, the car drives off. And you will never see the boy again.”

Panic threatened to choke me. I pictured Leo’s bright smile, his flour-covered hands. I couldn't lose him. I couldn't let my family be shattered again.

“Okay,” I gasped, raising my hands. “Okay. Just… don’t hurt him.”

I walked toward the heavy steel vault door at the back of the cellar. Vincenzo had installed a state-of-the-art retinal and palm scanner behind a loose stone.

I pressed my hand against the cold glass of the scanner. A green light swept over my palm, then my eye.

Click.

The massive bolts disengaged with a heavy groan.

I pulled the heavy door open.

The chamber inside was relatively small, but the glow was unmistakable. Stacks of unmarked gold bullion rested on reinforced steel shelves. Millions of dollars in untraceable wealth.

Bellini’s eyes widened with greedy hunger. He stepped past me, completely mesmerized by the sight.

“Beautiful,” he breathed, reaching out to touch the closest bar. “Vincenzo was a paranoid old fool, but he knew how to hoard.”

“Take it,” I said, my voice trembling. “Take whatever you can carry and give me my nephew.”

Bellini laughed. “Carry? Oh, Claire. I’m not carrying this. I brought a truck. You and I are going to load it together.”

He turned back to look at me.

But I wasn't standing by the door anymore.

I was standing beside the master climate control panel Vincenzo had installed to regulate the cellar’s humidity. And my hand was resting on the emergency lockdown switch.

“What are you doing?” Bellini demanded, raising his cane.

“Vincenzo wasn’t a paranoid fool,” I said, my voice dropping the panic, replaced by cold, absolute resolve. “He was a protector. He told me this vault was designed to keep thieves out.”

I flipped the heavy red switch.

“But he also showed me how to turn it into a cage.”

Sirens blared instantly. Thick, reinforced titanium shutters slammed down over the air vents.

And the heavy vault door began to swing shut.

Bellini lunged for the exit, screaming in rage.

But he was an old man with a bad leg.

I stepped backward, watching his face contort in terror as the massive steel door slammed shut, sealing him inside the airtight chamber.

The locking bolts engaged with a deafening BOOM.

Silence fell over the cellar.

I leaned against the stone wall, gasping for breath. The vault was soundproof. He was trapped in a room full of gold, with only enough oxygen for an hour.

But my relief was short-lived.

The vault was secure. But Bellini’s driver still had Leo.

I turned and sprinted for the stairs. I burst out of the cellar doors, running blindly through the vineyard toward the front gates.

“Leo!” I screamed, my lungs burning.

I reached the top of the driveway.

A black Mercedes was idling by the iron gates.