Chapter 5 - THE BARGAIN
I stared at Vanessa through the windshield, my hands gripping the steering wheel so tightly my knuckles were white.
Leo whimpered beside me. “Is she a bad lady?”
“Yes,” I whispered, never taking my eyes off the barrel of the gun.
Answer one: Vanessa hadn’t stayed upstairs with Antonio. She had anticipated we would use the garage to escape.
Open one: How did she get my mother’s bracelet?
Open two: What was her actual endgame if Antonio was just using her?
I slowly unbuckled my seatbelt and pushed the car door open. The cool air of the underground garage hit my face. I stepped out, keeping my hands raised, placing my body between the open door and the terrified child inside.
“Where did you get that?” I asked, nodding toward the gold bracelet dangling from her fingers.
Vanessa’s smile didn’t reach her eyes. “From your small, pathetic bedroom in the servant’s quarters. I’ve known you were snooping around the east wing for weeks, Rachel. I took this as collateral. Just in case you decided to be a hero.”
She threw the bracelet onto the concrete floor. It landed with a hollow, metallic clink.
“I don’t want the boy,” Vanessa said, taking a step closer, the gun unwavering. “Antonio wants the boy dead. If Antonio gets what he wants, he retains total control of the syndicate, and I marry a man who will never have any real power.”
I frowned, my mind racing. “You want to double-cross Antonio.”
“I want the Moretti empire,” Vanessa corrected coldly. “And Antonio is an old dinosaur who refuses to die. But if I deliver the boy to my father, the Bellini family will have the true Moretti heir. We can use him to push Antonio out completely. Then I kill Antonio, marry Luca, and take it all.”
Reversal: Vanessa wasn’t Antonio’s pawn. She was actively plotting to overthrow him, and she saw Leo as the ultimate bargaining chip.
“You’re a monster,” I breathed. “He’s a six-year-old child!”
“He’s leverage,” she snapped. “Now step away from the car.”
I looked down at the concrete. My mother’s bracelet lay near the front tire.
I needed a distraction. I needed a weapon.
“Fine,” I said, my voice trembling perfectly to sell the performance. “Take him. Just let me go.”
I took a slow step away from the door.
Vanessa smirked. “Smart girl.”
She lowered the gun slightly, stepping forward to reach for the door handle.
As she moved, I dropped to my knees, grabbed the heavy metal tire iron resting on the lower rack of the mechanic’s cart next to the wall, and swung it with everything I had.
The iron cracked against Vanessa’s kneecap.
She screamed, the gun firing wildly into the concrete ceiling as her leg buckled. She collapsed to the floor, clutching her shattered knee, gasping in agony.
I didn’t hesitate. I kicked the gun away from her sliding it across the floor. I grabbed my mother’s bracelet, jumped back into the driver’s seat, and slammed the car into drive.
The heavy SUV surged forward. I swerved around Vanessa’s writhing body, the tires squealing as I hit the exit ramp, blasting through the wooden security gate of the estate and tearing out onto the wet Chicago streets.
Leo popped his head up from the passenger seat, his eyes wide. “You hit her really hard.”
“I did,” I breathed, my heart hammering a frantic rhythm in my chest. “Are you okay?”
He nodded, clutching his backpack.
“We have to go to the harbor,” I said, merging onto the expressway. “We have to find your Nonna.”
“And my dad?” Leo asked hopefully.
My chest tightened. I couldn’t tell him that his father was dead. Not yet. “We’re going to find Luca, buddy.”
We reached the industrial harbor twenty minutes later. The rain had picked up, slicking the dark pavement. Rows of massive shipping containers created a steel maze near the water’s edge.
I parked the SUV in the shadows of a defunct warehouse and turned off the engine.
“Leo, listen to me,” I said, turning to him. “I need you to lock the doors and stay on the floorboard. No matter what you hear, you don’t come out until I come back for you. Do you promise?”
He nodded bravely, his small hands gripping his silver chain.
I slipped out of the car, pulling my dark coat tight against the chilling wind. I moved silently between the towering shipping containers, searching for any sign of Rossi or Sofia.
Deep in the labyrinth of steel, a single yellow floodlight illuminated an open warehouse door.
I crept closer, pressing my back against the corrugated metal wall.
Inside the warehouse, tied to a wooden chair beneath the harsh light, was Sofia Moretti. She looked battered and exhausted, but her chin was held high.
Standing in front of her was Rossi.
But it was the man standing next to Rossi that made the breath completely vanish from my lungs.
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It was Luca.
He was holding a gun, and it was aimed directly at his aunt’s head.
