Chapter 6 - THE COAT IN THE CORNER
I closed my eyes and buried Leo’s face into my shoulder.
“Don’t look, baby,” I whispered into his hair. “Just hold on to me.”
Leo whimpered, his small hands clutching the fabric of my dress so tightly his knuckles were white.
“Let her go, Luca,” Carlo Morello repeated.
Luca slowly released Vanessa’s throat.
She coughed, rubbing her neck, and scurried behind her father’s armed guards.
“Daddy,” she breathed.
Carlo didn’t look at her. He kept his eyes, and his gun, fixed on me. Or rather, on the leverage I represented.
“I see you found a new weakness, Luciano,” Carlo sneered. “You always were too sentimental. It’s what got your mother killed. It’s what’s going to get you killed tonight.”
Luca stepped slowly away from the wall, placing himself deliberately between Carlo’s gun and the corner where I sat with Leo.
“This is between you and me, Carlo,” Luca said, his voice terrifyingly flat. “Let the staff and the guests leave.”
Carlo laughed. A dry, rasping sound.
“Leave? I don’t think so. I need witnesses. I want the whole city to see the great Luca Moretti hand over his territory, his assets, and his life.”
Carlo pulled a folded legal document from his breast pocket and tossed it onto the floor amidst the ruined dinner.
“Sign the transfer, Luca. Give me back my city. And maybe I’ll let the old people live.” He gestured with his gun toward Uncle Michael and Teresa.
Michael stood up, his legs shaking.
“Don’t do it, Luca,” Michael said. “He’s going to kill us anyway. I’m an old man. Let him shoot me.”
“Shut up, Michael, you pathetic coward,” Vanessa spat from behind her guards. “You already sold them out. Don’t pretend to have a spine now.”
Luca looked at the document on the floor.
Then he looked at his head of security.
Daniel was standing frozen, his gun still drawn, but outnumbered six to one.
“Daniel,” Luca said quietly.
“Boss?”
“Put your gun down.”
Daniel hesitated. “Sir—”
“Do it.”
Slowly, Daniel lowered his weapon and placed it on the floor.
Carlo smiled. “Smart boy. Now, sign the paper.”
Luca knelt down and picked up the document.
He pulled a gold fountain pen from his jacket.
“Mr. Moretti, no!” Teresa cried out.
Luca didn’t look at her. He uncapped the pen.
But as he hovered the pen over the signature line, he paused.
He looked at the bottom of the document.
“This requires a secondary witness signature from my financial proxy,” Luca said smoothly.
Carlo frowned. “Who is your proxy?”
Luca pointed a finger across the room.
“Him.”
Everyone turned to look.
He was pointing at Mr. Caruso.
The frail, eighty-year-old man standing near the overturned table.
Mr. Caruso looked terrified.
“Bring the old man here,” Carlo barked at one of his guards.
The guard grabbed Mr. Caruso by the arm and shoved him forward. Mr. Caruso stumbled, his heavy winter coat slipping off his shoulders.
“Sign it,” Carlo demanded, pointing the gun at Caruso’s head.
Mr. Caruso’s hands were shaking violently. He fumbled in his pockets.
“I... I need my reading glasses,” he stammered.
“Hurry up!” Vanessa snapped.
Mr. Caruso reached into the deep pocket of his coat.
But he didn’t pull out glasses.
He pulled out a small, black remote detonator.
Carlo’s eyes widened.
“What is that?” Carlo demanded.
Mr. Caruso didn’t look terrified anymore.
He looked incredibly sad, but his hand was steady.
“Thirty years ago,” Mr. Caruso said softly, “Elena Moretti saved my daughter from the streets. She gave me a job. She gave me dignity.”
He looked directly into Carlo Morello’s eyes.
“You took her from me.”
Mr. Caruso pressed his thumb against the detonator.
“I didn’t just bring a watch tonight, Carlo.”
From the front driveway of the mansion, a massive explosion shook the foundation of the house.
The crystal chandeliers swayed violently. Glass rained down from the ceiling.
Carlo’s men ducked instinctively, their guns wavering.
“What did you do?!” Vanessa screamed.
Mr. Caruso smiled a grim, broken smile.
“I wired your getaway cars, you stupid girl.”
In the fraction of a second that Carlo Morello looked toward the windows in shock, Luca moved.
He didn’t lunge for Carlo.
He lunged for the coat Mr. Caruso had dropped on the floor.
May you like
He kicked it up into his hand, reached inside the hidden lining, and pulled out a sawed-off shotgun Mr. Caruso had smuggled past security.
Before Carlo could turn his gun back around, Luca pulled the trigger.
