Chapter 8 - THE MATRIARCH IN THE RAIN
The sound of my mother’s voice echoing through the rain paralyzed me.
She sounded nothing like the woman who used to sing me to sleep. The warmth was gone, replaced by a metallic, ruthless authority.
“Nora, step away from the window,” Luca ordered, his voice tight.
He grabbed my arm and pulled me back into the shadows of the bedroom.
“We have to fight them,” Daniel said, drawing his own weapon. “I can rally the men in the west wing. We can hold the house.”
“No,” Luca said immediately. “They have us outnumbered three to one, and they have heavy armor. If we start a shootout, my father and Nora will be caught in the crossfire.”
“You have to give me to her,” I whispered, panic rising in my throat. “She won't hurt me. She’s my mother.”
“She’s the head of the Bellini syndicate,” Luca corrected sharply. “And you’re carrying a child. I’m not handing you over to a woman who faked her own death and left you to mourn her.”
Arthur grabbed Luca’s sleeve again, his grip surprisingly strong.
“The… ledger,” Arthur gasped, pointing to the journal still lying on the floor.
Luca frowned. He picked it up. “Michael’s journal? What about it?”
“The… final page,” Arthur breathed.
Luca quickly flipped to the very back of the leather-bound book. He scanned the last entry, his eyes widening.
“Michael didn't just want to take over the family,” Luca muttered, disbelief coloring his voice. “He was planning a coup against her. Against Eleanor.”
He looked up at me.
“Michael found out she was his biological mother. He hated her for abandoning him. He planned to use Vanessa to secure the Moretti assets, and then he was going to use those assets to wipe out Eleanor’s faction of the Bellinis.”
“He wanted a war,” Daniel realized.
“And Eleanor is here because she knows Michael failed,” Luca said. “She’s here to clean up the mess.”
The megaphone crackled again from the lawn.
“You have three minutes, Luca,” my mother’s voice boomed. “If Nora doesn't walk out that front door, we breach.”
Luca looked at me. His dark eyes were filled with a fierce, protective resolve.
“I’m not giving you up, Nora,” he said quietly. “But we need leverage.”
“We have Michael,” I said. “He’s her son. She won't let him die in a vault.”
Luca shook his head slowly.
“You don't understand these people, Nora. She gave Michael up thirty years ago. She knows he plotted against her. She won't care if he rots.”
Luca turned to Daniel.
“Bring Mrs. Gable up from the basement. Now.”
Daniel didn't ask questions. He bolted out the door.
“What are you going to do?” I asked, terrified.
“Eleanor won't care about Michael,” Luca said, checking the magazine in his pistol. “But Mrs. Gable is the only sister she has left. The only blood relative from her old life.”
Two minutes later, Daniel returned, dragging a terrified Mrs. Gable by her uninjured arm. She looked pale, clutching her broken wrist against her chest.
“Move,” Daniel barked, shoving her toward Luca.
Luca grabbed the housekeeper by the collar of her uniform and dragged her toward the large window.
He didn't open it. He just held her up so the men on the lawn could see her clearly in the light.
I peeked around the edge of the curtains.
My mother, standing in the rain, immediately lowered the megaphone. Even from this distance, I could see her posture stiffen.
Luca pushed the window open just an inch.
“Eleanor!” Luca yelled out into the storm. “I have your sister! And I have your son locked in a timed vault downstairs!”
Silence hung heavy over the lawn, broken only by the sound of the rain.
“Give me my daughter, Luca,” my mother yelled back, her voice lacking the bravado it held moments ago. “You can keep Michael. You can keep the traitor.”
“No deals,” Luca shouted. “You walk away, and you leave my family alone. Or Daniel throws your sister out this third-story window.”
Mrs. Gable whimpered, terrified.
My mother stood perfectly still in the rain. She looked at the twenty armed men surrounding her. She looked at the house.
Then, slowly, she raised her hand.
The men lowered their weapons.
“I want to talk to her,” my mother yelled. “Face to face. Just the two of us. At the front gates.”
Luca immediately shook his head. “Absolutely not.”
“I have to go,” I said softly, stepping out from the shadows.
“Nora, it’s a trap,” Luca warned.
“She’s my mother,” I said, tears filling my eyes again. “She lied to me. She faked her death. I deserve to know why.”
I looked at Luca, placing a hand on my swollen stomach.
“I’m not a hostage, Luca. And I’m not a coward. I have to face her.”
Luca stared at me for a long moment. He saw the determination in my eyes, the fierce instinct of a mother protecting her unborn child.
He finally nodded.
“I’ll be right behind you,” Luca said quietly.
He handed his gun to Daniel.
“Watch my father.”
Luca and I walked slowly down the grand staircase, the silence of the house pressing heavily against us.
When we reached the massive oak front doors, Luca placed his hand on the brass handle.
“Are you ready?” he asked.
I took a deep breath.
“Yes.”
Luca pulled the door open.
The cold rain immediately hit my face.
I stepped out onto the porch, leaving the safety of the house behind.
My mother was standing exactly twenty feet away, the rain soaking her black trench coat.
She looked at me, and for a split second, the ruthless mafia boss vanished. I saw the waitress who used to braid my hair. I saw the woman who loved me.
“Nora,” she whispered, her voice cracking.
I walked slowly down the steps, stopping ten feet away from her.
“Why?” I asked, my voice trembling. “Why did you pretend to die?”
My mother swallowed hard.
“Because Carlo died,” she said. “And the syndicate was going to collapse. Michael was moving to take it over, and he would have slaughtered anyone who stood in his way. Including you.”
“So you became a monster to stop him?” I cried.
“I became what I had to be to protect you!” she yelled back, tears finally mixing with the rain on her face. “I left you so you could be safe! So you could have a normal life!”
“There is nothing normal about this!” I screamed, gesturing to the armed men surrounding us. “You left me completely alone!”
“I didn't want to!” she sobbed, stepping forward.
Before she could reach me, the loud, unmistakable crack of a gunshot echoed through the storm.
It didn't come from my mother’s men.
It came from the roof of the mansion.
My mother gasped.
She stumbled backward, clutching her chest as a dark stain quickly spread across her black coat.
She fell to the wet pavement.
I screamed, dropping to my knees beside her.
Luca lunged forward, grabbing me by the shoulders and pulling me down against the concrete to shield me from further fire.
May you like
He looked up toward the roof, his eyes wide with horror.
Standing on the edge of the mansion, holding a sniper rifle, was Vanessa Bellini.
