Chapter 11 - THE ELEVATOR BUTTON
“Lock the door,” Luca ordered Matteo, his voice a low, dangerous rumble.
Matteo immediately threw the heavy deadbolt on the VIP suite door.
Anna rushed to my father’s side, checking his monitors and IV lines, her nursing instincts in full control.
I stood by the bed, my heart hammering against my ribs.
Vanessa was coming. A desperate, cornered animal with nothing to lose.
“How long do we have?” I asked Luca.
“Not long,” Luca said, pulling a sleek black pistol from his shoulder holster. “My men are downstairs, but if she slipped past them, she’s already in the building.”
Suddenly, the lights in the hospital room flickered.
Then, they went completely dark.
The hum of the air conditioning stopped.
The only light came from the glow of my father’s battery-powered heart monitor.
“She cut the backup generator,” Anna whispered, terrified.
“Stay away from the door,” Luca commanded, moving silently into the shadows near the entrance.
We waited in agonizing silence.
Seconds stretched into minutes.
Then, we heard it.
The faint ding of the elevator down the hall.
Footsteps echoed on the linoleum floor. Slow. Methodical.
Click. Clack. Click. Clack.
The sound of expensive high heels.
Vanessa.
The footsteps stopped right outside our door.
A hand turned the handle.
It was locked.
“Luca, darling,” Vanessa’s voice slithered through the heavy wood. “I know you’re in there. Open the door.”
Luca didn’t make a sound.
“Don’t be stubborn,” Vanessa coaxed. “My men have the stairwells blocked. You can’t get the old man out. Give me the mechanic, and I’ll let you and the kids walk away.”
“You have no men, Vanessa,” Luca spoke, his voice cutting through the dark. “Victor is gone. You’re alone.”
A cruel laugh echoed from the hallway.
“I’m never alone, Luca. I brought a little insurance.”
Suddenly, a loud, heavy thud hit the door.
Then, a muffled cry.
“Help me!”
My blood ran cold.
It was my mother’s voice.
“Mom!” I screamed, rushing toward the door.
Matteo grabbed my arms, pulling me back. “Emma, stop! It’s a trick!”
“I have a gun to Clara’s head,” Vanessa yelled through the door. “Open it, or the maid’s mother dies right now!”
I looked at Luca, begging him with my eyes.
Luca’s jaw tightened.
He holstered his gun.
He reached out and unlocked the deadbolt.
The door swung open.
Vanessa stood in the doorway, her red silk gown torn and stained.
She held a silver pistol pressed tightly against my mother’s temple.
“Back away,” Vanessa ordered, stepping into the room and dragging my weeping mother with her.
Luca backed up slowly, his hands raised.
Vanessa scanned the room. She saw Anna. She saw Matteo.
And then she looked at my father in the bed.
Her eyes filled with absolute venom.
“You ruined everything,” Vanessa spat at him. “You were supposed to die in the boiler room!”
She raised her gun, pointing it directly at my helpless father.
“NO!” I screamed.
I didn’t have a weapon. I didn’t have a plan.
But I had my hand in my pocket.
My fingers closed around the only object I had.
The heavy brass key.
With all my strength, I threw the brass key directly at Vanessa’s face.
It struck her square in the forehead with a sharp crack.
Vanessa flinched, her finger jerking on the trigger.
The gun fired, but the bullet went wide, shattering the hospital window.
In that split second of distraction, my mother elbowed Vanessa in the ribs.
Vanessa stumbled backward.
Luca moved like a shadow.
He grabbed Vanessa’s wrist, twisting it violently until the gun dropped to the floor.
With one swift motion, he pinned her against the wall, his forearm pressed against her throat.
Vanessa gasped for air, her eyes wide with terror.
“You’re done, Vanessa,” Luca whispered.
He didn’t kill her.
He simply let her slide to the floor, defeated, broken, and pathetic.
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The police sirens wailed in the distance, growing louder.
The nightmare was finally, truly over.
