Chapter 8 - THE SILVER ROSARY
The warmth of the library vanished instantly.
"What did she take?" Luca demanded, his voice cracking like a whip.
Arthur swallowed hard. "She took a weapon from one of the downed security guards in the hallway. And Boss... she took the pearls."
A wave of pure, unfiltered exhaustion washed over me. Vanessa was completely cornered. Her reputation was ruined, her lover was in custody, and she was facing decades in prison for forgery and kidnapping. She had absolutely nothing left to lose.
"Lock the gates," Luca commanded, striding past Arthur toward the hallway. "Sweep the grounds. She’s desperate. She won't make it past the perimeter wall."
"We're already looking, Boss," Arthur said, falling into step beside him.
I didn't stay behind. I followed them out into the hallway. My ear throbbed, and my legs felt like lead, but the adrenaline spiking through my veins refused to let me sit down.
We didn't have to search long.
As we rounded the corner toward the grand foyer, the massive front doors of the mansion were standing wide open, letting the bitter Chicago night air sweep inside.
Standing on the front steps, illuminated by the harsh glare of the police cruisers pulling up to the main gate fifty yards away, was Vanessa.
She was a terrifying sight. The elegant socialite was gone. Her hair was completely undone, blowing wildly in the wind. In her left hand, she clutched the massive diamond clasp of the Moretti pearl necklace. In her right hand, she held a heavy, black Glock pistol, the barrel shaking as she aimed it generally toward the open doorway.
"Stay back!" Vanessa screamed into the wind as Luca, Arthur, and I stepped into the foyer.
Luca didn't flinch. He walked out onto the portico, stopping ten feet away from her. The flashing red and blue lights from the police cars at the gate painted his face in harsh, demonic shadows.
"Put the gun down, Vanessa," Luca said. It wasn't a request. It was an absolute command.
"I'm not going to prison!" she shrieked, taking a step backward toward the edge of the stone steps. "I'll shoot! I swear to God, Luca, I'll shoot!"
"You shoot me, my men kill you before your casing hits the ground," Luca replied coldly, gesturing to Arthur and the three other guards who had fanned out with their weapons drawn. "You shoot one of my men, the police at the gate shoot you. You have no move left."
Answer one: Vanessa hadn't run to the front door to escape; she had run there to force a standoff, knowing the police presence would complicate Luca's ability to handle it quietly.
"I have the pearls!" Vanessa screamed, holding up the necklace. "I'll destroy them! I'll throw them into the ravine!"
Luca let out a dry, humorless laugh. "Do you think I care about a piece of jewelry? Throw it. The only thing I care about is watching the police put you in the back of a squad car."
Vanessa’s chest heaved. She looked at the police cars slowly driving up the long driveway, then back at Luca. She realized the necklace was useless as a hostage. She realized she was entirely out of leverage.
Then, her manic eyes shifted past Luca. They landed on me, standing in the doorway in my stained maid's uniform.
The pure, concentrated hatred in her gaze was physical.
"This is your fault," Vanessa hissed, pointing the gun directly at my chest. "If you had just minded your own business, you stupid, poor trash. I could have had everything!"
The reversal in the standoff was instantaneous.
Luca, who had been perfectly calm facing a loaded weapon, suddenly snapped.
"Don't look at her," Luca roared, stepping directly into her line of sight, shielding me with his own body.
"Get out of the way, Luca!" Vanessa screamed, her finger tightening on the trigger. "She ruined my life! I'm going to kill her!"
"You pull that trigger, and I will make sure the police never find enough of you to bury," Luca snarled, his voice echoing off the stone walls.
The standoff hung on a knife's edge. Vanessa’s hands were shaking so violently I thought the gun might simply go off by accident.
Then, Luca did something incredibly strange.
He didn't draw a weapon. He didn't signal his men to fire.
He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small, ornate object. It caught the flashing police lights, glinting silver in the darkness.
It was a rosary.
"Vanessa," Luca said softly, holding the silver beads up.
Vanessa’s eyes locked onto the object, and her face went completely, shockingly white. The gun in her hand wavered.
"Do you know what this is?" Luca asked, his voice dropping into a deadly calm. "This belonged to your grandfather. The man who built the Bellini fortune. The man whose debts your father inherited."
Vanessa shook her head rapidly, backing away. "No. No, how do you have that?"
"Because your father gave it to me as collateral," Luca explained, stepping closer. "Your family isn't just broke, Vanessa. They owe my family ten million dollars. I bought your father’s debt a year ago. That's why he practically begged me to marry you. You weren't a prize. You were a payment."
The revelation shattered Vanessa entirely. The arrogant delusion she had operated under—that she was an aristocratic queen gracing a mafia boss with her presence—crumbled to dust. She was nothing but a pawn in a financial transaction.
"If you fire that weapon," Luca said, his voice cold as ice, "I will call the markers. I will bankrupt your father by morning. I will seize your family home. Your parents will die on the street. And all of it will be because you couldn't stand losing."
Vanessa stared at the rosary, her chest heaving, tears streaming down her face, entirely ruining her makeup. She looked at the police officers exiting their vehicles at the bottom of the steps with their weapons drawn.
She let out a broken, agonizing sob.
The heavy Glock slipped from her fingers, clattering loudly onto the stone steps.
A second later, the diamond clasp of the pearl necklace fell from her left hand, shattering against the concrete.
She collapsed onto her knees in the cold wind, burying her face in her hands.
Arthur moved immediately, kicking the gun away and pinning Vanessa to the ground for the approaching officers.
Luca didn't watch her get arrested. He didn't look at the scattered pearls on the steps.
He turned around, walked back into the foyer, and stopped in front of me.
"It's over," Luca said quietly, his chest rising and falling heavily.
I looked up at him, the adrenaline finally leaving my system, replaced by a wave of pure, overwhelming exhaustion. My knees buckled.
May you like
I didn't hit the floor.
Luca caught me, sweeping me up into his massive arms as easily as if I weighed nothing at all, carrying me away from the cold wind and into the warmth of the house.
