Chapter 7 - THE PEARL ROSARY
Grace’s hands were shaking so badly the barrel of her gun bobbed up and down.
She wasn't pointing it at us.
She was pointing it at Daniel Mercer’s back.
Daniel didn't even turn around.
He just smirked.
“Put the gun down, Grace,” he said lazily. “You’ve been a housekeeper for eleven years. You don't know how to shoot a man.”
“I will shoot you if you touch them,” Grace’s voice cracked, but she didn't lower the weapon.
I held Leo tighter against my chest, shielding his small body with my own.
Matteo’s brother stood up slowly.
He stepped in front of me and Leo.
“Daniel,” he said.
Daniel’s smile widened.
“Antonio DeLuca. Back from the dead. Again.”
“Let them go, Daniel. You want me.”
“I want the accounts, Antonio. And since you're legally dead, your son is the only one who can sign for them.”
Daniel raised his gun and pointed it directly at Antonio’s chest.
“Give me the boy.”
“No,” I said, pressing my face into Leo’s hair.
Suddenly, footsteps echoed like thunder across the marble floor.
Matteo walked out from behind a marble pillar, ten feet to Daniel’s left.
He held his own weapon perfectly steady, aimed at Daniel’s head.
“Drop it, Daniel.”
Daniel glanced sideways at Matteo.
For a second, surprise flashed in his eyes.
He looked from Matteo to Antonio.
The two brothers, standing in the same room for the first time in twelve years.
Matteo’s face was unreadable, but I could see the slight tremor in the hand not holding the gun.
“Matteo,” Antonio said softly.
“Shut up, Tony,” Matteo said, his voice thick with emotion. “I'll yell at you for being dead later.”
Daniel laughed.
“A beautiful family reunion. But I still have the gun pointed at the heir.”
“And I have a gun pointed at you,” Grace said loudly.
Daniel sighed in annoyance.
“Grace, you pathetic old woman. Who do you think let me into the DeLuca estate twenty-four years ago?”
The room went dead silent.
Matteo didn't take his eyes off Daniel, but his jaw tightened.
“What?”
Daniel smiled.
“Ask her. Ask your beloved housekeeper how I knew where the security cameras were blindly placed. Ask her how I got past the gate guards tonight.”
I looked at Grace.
Her face was stained with tears.
“Grace?” I whispered.
Grace lowered the gun an inch.
She looked at Matteo with absolute agony in her eyes.
“I’m sorry, Mr. DeLuca. I’m so sorry.”
“You betrayed my father?” Matteo asked, his voice deadly flat.
“He threatened my daughter!” Grace sobbed.
Daniel laughed.
“Oh, yes. Grace’s lovely, ambitious daughter. A girl who wanted nice things. A girl who changed her name to Sloane Mercer and married your brother.”
The world stopped turning.
Sloane wasn't Daniel’s daughter.
Sloane was Grace’s daughter.
I stared at the woman I had worked beside for ten months.
The woman who had helped care for Rose DeLuca.
The woman who had let Sloane treat her like dirt in front of thirty guests.
“She’s your daughter?” I gasped.
Grace nodded, tears streaming down her face.
“She hated being poor. She hated me being a maid. When she met Daniel, he promised her money. He changed her name. He set her up to meet Antonio.”
“And when Antonio faked his death,” Daniel interrupted, “Sloane realized the money was locked in trust for the boy. So, she shifted targets. She went after the younger brother. Matteo.”
Matteo’s eyes were black with fury.
“You played the long game.”
“We did,” Daniel agreed. “Until this meddling maid,” he pointed the gun at me, “stole the boy from the clinic before we could secure him.”
“He wasn't secure!” I yelled. “He was neglected! She left him there to rot!”
“Collateral damage,” Daniel said smoothly. “Now, Antonio, the boy comes with me.”
“He’s not going anywhere,” Matteo said, stepping forward.
Daniel shifted his aim toward Matteo.
“Don't be a hero, kid.”
That’s when Grace stepped forward.
She didn't raise her gun.
She reached into the pocket of her plain navy dress again.
She pulled out a long, heavy pearl rosary.
It gleamed in the harsh station lights.
Daniel saw it.
His smirk instantly vanished.
His face drained of all color.
“Where did you get that?” Daniel whispered.
Grace held the rosary up.
“It belonged to my mother. She gave it to Sloane when she was a little girl.”
“Put it away,” Daniel ordered, his voice suddenly frantic.
Matteo frowned, keeping his gun raised.
“What does a rosary matter?”
Grace looked at Daniel.
Her eyes were no longer terrified.
They were empty.
“Because, Mr. DeLuca,” Grace said quietly. “Daniel isn't trying to steal your family’s money.”
She looked at Antonio.
“He’s trying to pay back the people he owes. Before they kill him.”
Daniel lunged toward Grace.
“Shut up!”
But as he moved, a red laser dot suddenly appeared in the center of Daniel’s forehead.
Daniel froze.
Matteo hadn't moved.
His guards hadn't moved.
The laser was coming from the upper balcony of the train station.
May you like
A voice echoed down from the shadows above.
“He owes us, DeLuca. And the debt is due tonight.”
