Chapter 6 - THE HARBOR'S SECRET
I pressed my hand over my mouth, the cold metal of the warehouse wall biting into my spine.
Answer one: Luca wasn’t trapped at the estate. He had somehow escaped his father and beaten me to the harbor.
Open one: Why was he pointing a gun at the aunt he had just realized was alive?
Open two: Was Luca actually working with Antonio all along?
The rain drummed heavily against the tin roof, masking the sound of my ragged breathing. I peered around the edge of the door frame.
“Give me the ledger, Aunt Sofia,” Luca said, his voice entirely devoid of emotion. It sounded exactly like his father’s.
Sofia looked up at him, blood trickling from the corner of her mouth. She didn’t look afraid. She looked profoundly disappointed.
“You’ve become him, Luca,” she rasped. “I spent twenty-two years locked in a room, praying you wouldn’t inherit Antonio’s cruelty. But here you are. A good soldier for a dead man.”
“Where is the ledger?” Luca repeated, stepping closer, the barrel of the gun almost touching her forehead.
Rossi, standing nearby with his arms crossed, checked his watch. “Wrap it up, boss. The old man wants this finished before the Bellinis realize the engagement is off.”
I closed my eyes, my heart breaking. The man I had been defending, the man I had risked my life and a child’s life for, was just another ruthless mobster.
I turned, ready to run back to the car, grab Leo, and disappear forever.
But as I pivoted, my foot caught on a rusted pipe protruding from the concrete. I stumbled, kicking a loose bolt across the floor. It clattered loudly into the warehouse.
Rossi spun around, drawing his weapon. “Who’s there?”
I froze in the shadows, my heart stopping.
“Check outside,” Luca ordered sharply.
I heard Rossi’s heavy boots moving toward the door. I had seconds. I dropped to my hands and knees, scrambling behind a stack of wooden shipping pallets just as Rossi stepped out into the rain, his flashlight beam slicing through the darkness.
Inside, I heard Luca’s voice drop to a frantic, urgent whisper.
“Aunt Sofia, listen to me quickly. They have snipers in the rafters. If I didn’t take the gun from Rossi and pretend to interrogate you, they would have shot you from above.”
Reversal: Luca wasn’t betraying her. He was performing for the men watching them, trying to keep her alive.
My chest flooded with a dizzying rush of relief.
“Where is the boy?” Sofia whispered back, her voice shaking with sudden hope.
“Rachel got him out. They’re safe.” Luca’s voice was tight with stress. “But Antonio knows about the offshore accounts. He knows you hid Matteo’s money before you took Leo. If you don’t tell me where the ledger is, I can’t protect you.”
“The ledger isn’t a book, Luca,” Sofia breathed. “It’s a rosary. A carved wooden rosary. The account numbers are etched into the beads in Latin. I left it in the locked drawer of the desk in my room.”
Luca swore under his breath. “Antonio is tearing that room apart right now. If he finds it, he’ll freeze the assets and hunt Leo to the ends of the earth.”
Rossi stepped back into the warehouse, shaking off the rain. “Nothing out there. Just rats.”
“She’s not talking,” Luca said loudly, immediately slipping back into his cold persona. He lowered the gun. “Put her in the trunk. We’ll let my father deal with her at the estate.”
“Antonio said to finish it here,” Rossi argued.
Before Luca could respond, the wail of police sirens pierced the night air. Red and blue lights began flashing against the wet corrugated steel of the warehouse exterior.
Rossi cursed, grabbing Sofia roughly by the arm. “The cops! How did they know?”
I knew how. Vanessa. She had called them to intercept Antonio’s men and secure Sofia for herself.
“Leave her!” Luca shouted, pushing Rossi toward the back exit. “Move!”
As Rossi ran, Luca stayed behind just long enough to draw a pocket knife and slice through the thick ropes binding Sofia’s wrists. He pulled her to her feet.
“Go to the shipping containers,” Luca urged her.
As they ran toward the door, I stepped out from behind the pallets.
Luca saw me. The mask of the cold mob boss shattered, replaced by sheer panic. “Rachel! Where is Leo?”
“In the car,” I said quickly. “We have to go!”
Suddenly, the warehouse doors were kicked open. Tactical police officers flooded the room, assault rifles raised.
“Chicago PD! Drop your weapons!”
Luca didn’t hesitate. He grabbed my arm, shoved Sofia forward, and we bolted through the rear loading dock doors just as bullets shattered the wooden crates behind us.
We sprinted into the maze of shipping containers.
“My car is this way!” I yelled over the rain.
We rounded the corner to where I had parked the SUV.
I froze.
The driver’s side door was wide open. The window was smashed.
I ran to the car, my stomach dropping into my shoes. I looked in the passenger seat.
May you like
Leo was gone.
Lying on the seat in his place was a child’s drawing. It was a crude sketch of a house in flames.
