Chapter 8 - The Shootout In The Rain
The skies opened up, unleashing a torrential downpour that washed over the standoff outside the bank.
Lightning flashed, illuminating the dozen armed men aiming their rifles at the shattered glass doors.
Luca stood behind the marble pillar, perfectly calm. He tapped his earpiece.
“Daniel. We have a situation at the front,” Luca said quietly.
“We’re in position, Boss. Say the word,” Daniel’s voice replied crisply.
Answer one: Luca hadn't brought just a few men to a bank robbery.
Open two: He had anticipated the ambush.
“Execute,” Luca commanded.
Before Don Bellini could utter another threat over his megaphone, the deafening roar of a heavy diesel engine shattered the street.
A massive, reinforced armored transport truck—the kind used for moving millions in untraceable cash—smashed through the barricade of black SUVs like a battering ram.
Steel crumpled. Cars were thrown aside like toys.
“Fire!” Don Bellini screamed, diving for cover behind a ruined SUV.
Gunfire erupted.
The sound was apocalyptic, echoing off the towering skyscrapers. Bullets shattered the remaining glass of the bank lobby, showering us with crystal shards.
Luca threw his body over mine, shielding me from the flying debris.
Daniel and a heavily armed tactical team poured out of the back of the armored truck, laying down a wall of suppressing fire that forced Bellini’s men to the ground.
“Move!” Luca shouted over the gunfire.
He grabbed my hand, and we sprinted out of the bank, keeping our heads down as we bolted toward the armored truck.
Rain lashed against my face.
Suddenly, I saw her.
Vanessa was crouched behind the hood of a crushed sedan, her white trench coat soaked with rain and mud.
She saw me running with the tote bag. She saw the ledger.
Her face contorted with pure, unadulterated hatred.
She raised her pistol, aiming directly at my back.
“Rachel!” Luca roared.
He yanked me violently to the side, throwing us both onto the wet asphalt just as Vanessa pulled the trigger.
Crack.
A sharp, burning pain sliced across my upper shoulder.
I gasped, hitting the ground hard, the wind knocked completely out of my lungs.
“Rachel!” Luca yelled, his voice cracking with absolute terror.
He didn't check his own body. He rolled over me, his hands frantically searching my shoulder.
“I’m okay,” I hissed, clutching my arm. “It just grazed me.”
Luca saw the blood seeping through the fabric of the Chanel suit. His eyes went entirely black.
He didn't say a word.
He stood up in the middle of the torrential rain, in the middle of the crossfire.
He raised his handgun, his aim completely steady despite the chaos around him.
He didn't aim at Vanessa.
He aimed at Don Bellini, who was raising a rifle to shoot Daniel.
Luca fired twice.
Don Bellini dropped the rifle, clutching his chest, and collapsed onto the wet pavement.
“Dad!” Vanessa screamed, dropping her pistol and running toward her father.
Seeing their boss fall, the remaining Bellini men immediately dropped their weapons and surrendered, dropping to their knees in the puddles.
The shootout stopped abruptly, leaving only the sound of the pouring rain and the wailing sirens approaching in the distance.
Luca holstered his weapon and immediately dropped back to his knees beside me.
He ripped the sleeve of his own expensive sweater and pressed the fabric tightly against my bleeding shoulder.
“I’ve got you,” he whispered fiercely, his hands trembling as he pressed against the wound. “You’re safe. It’s over.”
I looked up at him through the rain.
“The ledger,” I gasped, clutching the tote bag.
“I don't care about the damn ledger,” Luca said, his voice thick with emotion. He pulled me gently into his arms, lifting me off the wet asphalt. “I care about you.”
Daniel ran over, flanked by two security guards.
“Boss, the police are two minutes out. The perimeter is secure. Bellini is dead.”
Luca nodded sharply.
“Gather the men. Let the police clean up the mess. We’re going to the Commission.”
Luca carried me to an idling secondary SUV. He didn't put me in the backseat; he climbed in with me, holding me tightly against his chest while Daniel drove us away from the flashing red and blue lights.
“Are we going to a hospital?” I asked, wincing as the car hit a bump.
“We have a private doctor waiting at the estate,” Luca said, kissing my forehead. “But first, we have to finish this. Forever.”
We drove to an ancient, heavily guarded palazzo on the edge of the city.
The headquarters of the Commission.
Luca carried me inside. I was bleeding, soaked to the bone, and shivering, but I refused to let go of the tote bag.
We entered a massive, dimly lit boardroom.
Five older men, the heads of the Five Families, sat around a long oak table. They looked at Luca, and then at me, with absolute silence.
Luca didn't ask for permission to speak.
He set me gently in a plush leather chair near the door, then walked to the head of the table.
He unzipped the tote bag and pulled out the black ledger.
He threw it onto the polished oak table. It landed with a heavy, echoing thud.
“Don Bellini is dead,” Luca announced, his voice ringing with absolute authority. “He attempted to orchestrate a hostile takeover of the Moretti territory using this blackmail ledger. His daughter, Vanessa, attempted to murder my fiancée.”
I gasped softly. Fiancée.
The heads of the Commission leaned forward, looking at the book.
“The Bellini family has broken the sacred peace,” Luca continued. “I demand their assets be stripped, their territory absorbed, and Vanessa Bellini permanently exiled from this city under threat of death.”
The oldest man at the table, Don Falcone, opened the ledger. He read a few pages, his expression turning to stone.
He looked up at Luca.
“The proof is undeniable, Luca,” Falcone said gravely. “The Bellini family is no more. Your territory is secure. The Commission sanctions your actions.”
Luca nodded respectfully.
He didn't gloat. He didn't ask for a seat at the table.
May you like
He simply turned around, walked back to me, and carefully scooped me back into his arms.
“Let’s go home,” Luca whispered.
