Chapter 4 - The Niece’s Gambit
The dial tone hummed in my ear, a mocking, hollow sound.
I slammed the receiver down, my heart hammering a frantic rhythm against my ribs.
The real one is still inside the mansion.
If Arthur was telling the truth, Leo had shot him and driven into an FBI ambush holding a fake necklace. Luca was currently speeding toward a trap, completely blind, because his cell signal was jammed.
I looked frantically around the study. I had to warn Luca. I had to find a way to reach the strike team before they breached the hangar in Gary.
I limped over to Luca's computer. The screen was still glowing, showing the security camera feeds of the estate.
My eyes darted across the monitors. The driveway. The perimeter walls. The basement.
My breath caught in my throat.
The basement feed showed Vanessa Bellini tied to a metal chair. But she wasn't alone.
Standing in front of her, holding a suppressed pistol, was Camilla Bellini. Vanessa’s nineteen-year-old niece.
Camilla had been at the dinner tonight. She was supposed to be a quiet, innocent college student. But right now, she was pointing a gun at the two security guards tasked with watching Vanessa.
I watched in horror as Camilla pulled the trigger twice. The two guards crumpled to the concrete floor without a sound.
Camilla calmly walked over to Vanessa and cut the zip ties binding her wrists.
Vanessa stood up, rubbing her wrists, and hugged her niece fiercely.
I couldn't hear what they were saying, but Camilla reached into her small, elegant clutch purse and pulled something out.
It was the necklace.
The real one. The heavy, antique emerald glittering under the harsh basement lights.
Arthur’s final words echoed in my mind. I know exactly who has it.
Vanessa hadn't given the real necklace to Arthur. She had given it to her niece. Camilla had been holding two hundred million dollars in her purse during the entire dinner party, while Vanessa let Arthur take the fall.
They weren't trying to frame Luca anymore. They were trying to steal the money and disappear while the Morettis and the FBI slaughtered each other at the airfield.
I had to stop them.
I grabbed a heavy brass letter opener from Luca's desk—my only weapon—and unlocked the study door.
I limped as fast as my injured ankle would allow, moving through the silent, opulent hallways of the mansion. The majority of the security staff had left with Luca. The house was terrifyingly empty.
I reached the top of the basement stairs just as Vanessa and Camilla were coming up.
I ducked behind a massive marble pillar in the foyer, holding my breath.
"We have to hurry," Vanessa whispered urgently, adjusting her white trench coat. "If Arthur calls Luca and tells him Leo took the fake..."
"Arthur is dead, Aunt Vanessa," Camilla said coldly, slipping the necklace back into her clutch. "Leo shot him. Just like we paid him to do."
I froze.
Camilla and Vanessa had paid Leo to betray Arthur. They had orchestrated the entire coup. They had set up the FBI ambush to eliminate Luca, leaving the Moretti empire completely leaderless.
"Is the car ready?" Vanessa asked, nervously checking the front door.
"It's waiting at the service gate," Camilla nodded. "Once we cross the border, we sell the access codes to the Russian syndicate. Two hundred million, untraceable."
They moved toward the service hallway, the same hallway that led to the gift room where I had fallen.
I couldn't let them leave. If they escaped with the codes, Luca would go to federal prison for crimes he didn't commit, and the Moretti family would be destroyed.
I stepped out from behind the pillar.
"You aren't going anywhere," I said, my voice shaking but loud enough to echo in the grand foyer.
Vanessa spun around, her eyes widening in shock.
Camilla didn't hesitate. She raised the suppressed pistol, aiming it directly at my chest.
"Hannah," Vanessa sneered, recovering quickly. "You really are a persistent little pest. First you ruin my alibi in the gift room, and now you want to play hero."
"Luca knows everything," I bluffed, gripping the brass letter opener behind my back. "He knows Leo set a trap. He knows you have the real necklace. His men are surrounding the house right now."
Camilla laughed—a chilling, hollow sound from a nineteen-year-old. "You're lying. The cell signals are jammed in Gary. Luca is currently being arrested by federal agents."
"I wouldn't be so sure," a deep voice rumbled from the shadows of the grand staircase.
Vanessa screamed. Camilla whipped the gun around.
Stepping out of the darkness, holding a massive, terrifyingly large assault rifle, was Daniel. Luca's head of security.
He hadn't gone to Gary.
"Drop it, little girl," Daniel ordered, aiming directly at Camilla’s head.
Camilla’s hand trembled, but she didn't lower the gun. "You shoot me, I shoot the maid."
"Shoot the maid," Daniel shrugged coldly. "I don't work for her."
I swallowed hard, terrified, but I knew Daniel was calling her bluff.
Vanessa panicked. She grabbed Camilla’s arm. "Put it down! He’ll kill us both!"
"If I put it down, Luca will kill us anyway!" Camilla screamed, her facade cracking.
"Luca isn't here," Daniel said smoothly. "But I am. And I don't care about the money. Drop the gun, and you walk out the front door. Keep it, and you die on the floor."
Camilla hesitated. She looked at Vanessa, who was nodding frantically, tears streaming down her face.
Slowly, Camilla lowered the pistol. She dropped it onto the marble floor.
Daniel stepped forward, kicking the gun away. He grabbed Camilla roughly by the shoulder, pinning her against the wall.
"Get the necklace, Hannah," Daniel commanded.
I limped forward, my heart pounding, and snatched the clutch purse from Camilla’s hands. I opened it and pulled out the heavy, glittering emerald necklace.
Vanessa collapsed to her knees, sobbing uncontrollably. The coup was over. They had lost.
"What about Luca?" I asked, looking at Daniel. "Arthur said he was driving into an FBI ambush."
Daniel’s face was grim. "I couldn't reach him. The signal is jammed. He drove into Gary blind ten minutes ago."
"We have to help him," I pleaded.
"We can't," Daniel said softly. "It's a federal trap. If I send my men in, it's a bloodbath. Luca is on his own."
I stared at the necklace in my hands. Two hundred million dollars. The legacy of the Moretti family.
I looked at the heavy emerald center stone.
"There has to be a way," I whispered, turning the necklace over.
As the light caught the back of the emerald, I noticed something strange. A small, almost invisible seam in the gold setting.
I pressed my thumbnail into the seam and twisted.
With a soft click, the back of the setting popped open.
But there was no micro-engraved data drive inside.
There were no offshore account codes.
Daniel leaned closer, his eyes wide in disbelief.
"What is that?" Daniel asked, his voice hushed.
May you like
I pulled out a small, tightly folded piece of paper from inside the emerald setting. I unfolded it, my hands shaking violently.
It wasn't a bank code. It was a photograph of a woman, holding a baby. And written on the back, in Luca's father's handwriting, were the words: "The true heir. Keep her hidden."
