Chapter 4 - The Bullet and The Blood
The gunshot was deafening.
I didn't think. I moved with the pure, blind instinct of a mother who had already lost her child once.
I threw myself in front of Rebecca.
The impact hit my left shoulder like a sledgehammer. The force spun me around, and I collapsed onto the hardwood floor, the world erupting into white-hot agony.
"Mom!" Rebecca screamed, dropping to her knees beside me.
The sound of her calling me Mom was the most beautiful thing I had ever heard, even as the pain threatened to black me out.
Before Vanessa could fire a second shot, Luca moved with terrifying speed.
He didn't shoot her. He crossed the room in three massive strides, grabbing Vanessa by the wrist and twisting it violently. The pistol clattered to the floor. Luca slammed her against the mahogany table, pinning her face down into the spilled water and broken champagne glasses.
"Marco! Get the medic!" Luca roared, keeping Vanessa pinned beneath his knee.
Marco was already on the floor beside me, pressing a thick linen napkin hard against my shoulder.
"I've got you, Catherine. Breathe," Marco commanded, his massive hands applying crushing pressure.
Rebecca was crying hysterically, holding my good hand. "Please, don't die! I just found you!"
"I'm not going anywhere, baby," I gasped, forcing a weak smile. "I promise."
The estate's private doctor rushed into the dining room a moment later, flanked by heavily armed guards. They quickly loaded me onto a stretcher. The pain was unbearable, but I refused to let go of Rebecca's hand until they wheeled me out of the room.
I woke up in a luxurious, dimly lit bedroom.
My left arm was numb, bound tightly in a sling. The sharp smell of antiseptic hung in the air.
I blinked, trying to clear the haze of painkillers.
Sitting in a chair next to the bed, holding a damp cloth, was Rebecca. She looked exhausted, her dark green dress wrinkled, her makeup completely washed away by tears.
"Anna?" I whispered, my throat dry.
She leaned forward instantly, taking my hand. "I'm here. It's Rebecca, but... you can call me Anna if you want to."
Tears pricked my eyes. "Are you okay?"
"Am I okay?" she laughed, a wet, broken sound. "You took a bullet for me. The doctor said it went clean through your shoulder. You're going to be fine, but you need to rest."
I squeezed her hand. I couldn't believe she was really here.
The bedroom door clicked open.
Luca walked in. He had taken off his suit jacket, his white shirt stained with blood—my blood. He looked exhausted, but his dark eyes were burning with a cold, focused intensity.
"How are you feeling, Catherine?" Luca asked gently, standing at the foot of the bed.
"Like I got shot," I muttered, trying to sit up.
Luca offered a small, grim smile. "The doctor says you're lucky. A few inches lower, and it would have hit your heart."
He looked at Rebecca. "Your mother is a very brave woman."
Rebecca nodded, wiping her eyes. "Where is Vanessa?"
Luca's expression hardened into a mask of pure ice.
"Vanessa is currently in the basement, having a very unpleasant conversation with Marco," Luca said quietly.
"She killed her own father," I whispered, the horror of the night rushing back. "Why?"
Luca pulled a chair to the edge of the bed and sat down. He looked incredibly tired, the weight of his empire pressing heavily on his shoulders.
"Arthur Bellini wasn't just a facilitator for your illegal adoption, Catherine," Luca explained, his voice tight. "He was the man who betrayed Matteo twenty-eight years ago. Arthur sold my brother out to the Russians."
I gasped. "The Russians?"
Luca nodded. "The Volkov family. They were our biggest rivals back then. Matteo was secretly meeting with them, trying to negotiate a peace treaty without my father's knowledge. He wanted to end the bloodshed so he could leave the life and marry you."
Tears spilled down my cheeks. Matteo really had planned a future for us.
"Arthur Bellini found out about the meeting," Luca continued. "He told the Volkovs that Matteo was coming alone. They ambushed him. They ran his car off the cliff and burned the evidence."
"And Vanessa knew this?" Rebecca asked, horrified.
"Vanessa discovered her father’s secret ledger a month ago," Luca said. "She knew that if I found out her father orchestrated my brother’s murder, I would wipe the Bellini family off the map. So, she made a deal with the Volkovs."
Luca leaned forward, his hands clasped together.
"The Volkovs are still out there. They want to take back the territory my father took from them. Vanessa promised that if they helped her stage a coup, she would deliver the Moretti empire to them on a silver platter."
"By killing you," I realized, the pieces finally falling into place.
"By killing me, and by erasing the only other Moretti heir," Luca said, looking at Rebecca. "If both of us are dead, the Bellinis take over the syndicate. And they surrender the city to the Russians."
The room fell silent.
"What happens now?" Rebecca asked, her voice trembling.
Luca stood up, his eyes hardening into the ruthless Don of Chicago.
"Now," Luca said softly, "we go to war."
He turned to the door, but stopped when a guard rushed in, looking panicked.
"Boss," the guard panted. "It’s Marco. He needs you in the basement right now."
"Did Vanessa talk?" Luca demanded.
"Yes, sir," the guard said, swallowing hard. "But it’s not what you think. She didn't kill her father to silence him."
Luca frowned. "Then why did she kill him?"
The guard looked at me, then back at Luca.
"Arthur told her the truth about the adoption before he died," the guard whispered. "Arthur didn't just sell the baby to the Bennetts, Boss."
My heart stopped.
"What did he do?" I asked, panic rising in my throat.
The guard took a shaky breath.
"Arthur Bellini knew Matteo had twins, Catherine," the guard said, the words echoing like a death sentence.
The world stopped spinning.
"Twins?" I breathed, staring at him.
"Arthur only sold the girl," the guard confirmed.
Luca grabbed the guard by the collar. "Where is the boy? Where is my nephew?"
"Vanessa said Arthur gave the boy to the Volkovs," the guard choked out. "Twenty-eight years ago. The Russians raised him, Boss."
I couldn't breathe. I couldn't think.
I had given birth to twins?
I looked at Rebecca. She looked just as horrified as I felt.
"How could I not know?" I sobbed hysterically. "I was awake! I only saw one baby!"
Luca let go of the guard, his face pale with a terrifying realization.
"The doctor," Luca whispered. "Arthur paid the delivery doctor to drug you immediately after the girl was born. You never saw the second child."
Luca turned to the door, breaking into a run.
"Where are you going?!" I screamed after him.
Luca stopped in the doorway, looking back with a fear I had never seen in him before.
"If the Volkovs raised Matteo's son," Luca said, his voice shaking, "they didn't raise him to be a captive."
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He looked down at his blood-stained shirt.
"They raised him to be a weapon. They raised him to kill me."
