Chapter 8 - THE FALL OF THE EMPIRE
The realization hit us like a physical blow.
Salvatore hadn't come to the safe house to kill Eleanor.
He had come to drop off the message.
He was at the Moretti estate. He had cut the power. And Luca was walking straight into a death trap.
I grabbed my phone and dialed Luca's number frantically.
It went straight to voicemail.
"The cell towers around the estate," Mrs. Carter said, her voice shaking. "If he cut the main breaker, the estate's signal jammers automatically engage. Luca has no communication with the outside world."
"He's blind in his own home," Eleanor whispered.
I looked at my mother, who was exhausted but safe, resting on the sofa.
Then I looked at the two older women.
"I have to go back," I said.
"Olivia, no!" Mrs. Carter cried. "You're a civilian! You'll be killed!"
"I know the estate better than anyone," I said, grabbing the car keys. "I know the servants' tunnels. I know where the breaker box is. If I can restore the power, the security systems will reboot, and Luca's men can coordinate."
Eleanor stepped forward.
She didn't try to stop me.
She reached up and unclasped a small silver chain from her neck, handing it to me.
"Give this to my son," she said, her eyes burning with fierce pride. "Tell him it's time to end it."
I took the chain, ran out to the sedan, and sped back toward the city.
The Moretti estate loomed in the distance, completely dark against the stormy sky.
The massive iron gates were open, unguarded.
I parked a block away and approached on foot, slipping through the rain-soaked hedge maze.
The silence was unnatural.
I found the hidden servants' entrance near the greenhouse and slipped inside.
The mansion was pitch black.
I crept through the familiar hallways, using the walls to guide me.
Suddenly, a massive crash echoed from the main foyer, followed by the sound of shattering glass and heavy footsteps.
I pressed myself into the alcove beneath the grand staircase.
In the dim moonlight pouring through the skylight, I saw them.
Salvatore Bellini stood in the center of the foyer, surrounded by six heavily armed men.
And kneeling on the marble floor, bleeding from a cut above his eye, was Luca.
"It's over, son," Salvatore sneered, raising his cane and pointing it at Luca's chest. "Your capos are dead or bought. Your security is neutralized. You die tonight, and I take everything."
Luca spat blood onto the pristine marble.
"You can take the houses, Bellini," Luca growled. "But you'll never hold the city. My men will hunt you until the day you die."
Salvatore laughed.
"Your men will bow to whoever writes the checks."
He turned to his lead gunman.
"Finish him."
The gunman raised his weapon.
I didn't think. I couldn't.
I grabbed a heavy bronze vase from the alcove pedestal and hurled it across the foyer.
It smashed into the antique mirror behind Salvatore's men, shattering with an explosive crash.
The gunmen spun around, firing blindly into the darkness.
The distraction lasted exactly two seconds, but for a man like Luca Moretti, two seconds was an eternity.
Luca swept the lead gunman's legs, grabbed his dropped weapon mid-air, and fired three times in rapid succession.
Three of Salvatore's men dropped instantly.
The foyer erupted into total chaos.
I scrambled down the basement stairs, racing toward the utility room.
I found the massive metal breaker box.
My hands shook violently as I fumbled with the brass key my mother had given me.
It slid into the lock. I turned it. The heavy door popped open.
I gripped the main power lever and shoved it upward with all my strength.
Instantly, the mansion blazed to life.
The chandeliers ignited. The security alarms began screaming. The signal jammers died.
Within seconds, the sound of police sirens and Luca's reinforced security teams flooded the estate perimeter.
I ran back up the stairs to the foyer.
The remaining gunmen had surrendered, dropping their weapons as Luca's loyal men swarmed the room.
Salvatore Bellini was on his knees, his gold cane broken on the floor.
Luca stood over him, the gun pressed directly to Salvatore's forehead.
"Go ahead," Salvatore goaded, his face twisted in a hateful sneer. "Shoot me. Prove you're just like me."
Luca stared at the man who had tormented his mother, tortured Vanessa, and tried to destroy everything he loved.
His finger tightened on the trigger.
"Mr. Moretti!" I yelled, running forward.
Luca's eyes snapped to me.
I held up the silver chain Eleanor had given me.
"She said it's time to end it."
Luca looked at the chain.
He slowly lowered the gun.
He didn't pull the trigger.
He didn't have to.
The heavy doors burst open, and the FBI poured into the room, followed by Marcus carrying a briefcase full of ledgers.
Luca had surrendered the evidence.
Salvatore wasn't going to die a martyr in a mafia war. He was going to rot in a federal maximum-security cell for the rest of his miserable life.
As they dragged a screaming Salvatore away in handcuffs, Luca turned to me.
He looked at the silver chain in my hand.
Then he pulled me into his arms, burying his face in my neck, the ruthless mafia boss finally allowing himself to breathe.
"It's over," he whispered.
But as I hugged him back, my eyes fell on the broken pieces of Salvatore's gold cane on the floor.
Inside the hollow shaft, a rolled-up piece of parchment had spilled out.
It was a legal document.
A last will and testament.
May you like
And the name printed boldly at the top wasn't Salvatore Bellini.
It was my father's name.
