Chapter 4 - THE GHOST PROTOCOL
The tide of the battle shifted with terrifying, immediate violence.
Daniel’s sniper rifle cracked, a deafening sound that reverberated across the tarmac. The mercenary operating the heavy machine gun in the back of the center van dropped instantly, slumped over his weapon.
"Flank them!" Daniel roared, waving his hand forward.
The twenty Moretti enforcers surged out of the shadows, moving with a disciplined, predatory silence. They didn't shout; they didn't waste ammunition. They swept around the edges of the tarmac, catching the ambushers in a devastating crossfire.
The Bellini mercenaries, expecting to annihilate a small, trapped convoy, suddenly found themselves surrounded by the most lethal syndicate army in Chicago.
Panic rippled through their ranks.
"Fall back! We’re flanked!" a mercenary screamed, abandoning his position behind a concrete barrier.
He didn't make it three steps before Daniel dropped him.
From my position in the wet grass, pressed flat beside Mrs. Carter, I watched the absolute destruction of Vanessa's private army. The gunfire was so intense the air smelled like ozone and burning metal.
Luca, realizing reinforcements had arrived, pushed his advantage. He moved out from behind his SUV, advancing methodically, his rifle a steady, pulsing rhythm of fire. He looked less like a man and more like a force of nature, driven by an unyielding fury.
Within four minutes, the firefight abruptly ended.
The remaining mercenaries threw down their weapons, raising their hands in surrender as Moretti enforcers swarmed them, kicking their guns away and zip-tying their wrists with brutal efficiency.
Silence descended on the airfield, heavy and ringing.
I slowly pushed myself up onto my knees, my breath catching in my throat. My shoulder was screaming in agony, the damp cold seeping into my bones, but I didn't care.
We had survived. Luca had survived.
Luca stood in the center of the tarmac, lowering his rifle. He surveyed the carnage, his face a mask of granite. He turned his head and saw Daniel jogging toward him.
"You cut it close, Daniel," Luca said, his voice carrying easily in the quiet night.
"Vanessa had half the estate guards on her payroll, Boss," Daniel grunted, wiping sweat from his forehead. "It took us twenty minutes to identify the rats and secure the perimeter. Once we realized she had vanished, we knew she’d tipped off her father’s men."
Luca’s eyes darkened. "Where is she now?"
"Dead," Mrs. Carter’s voice announced loudly as she stood up from the grass, dusting off her nightgown.
Luca spun around, his weapon instinctively rising before he realized who it was. His eyes widened in absolute shock as he saw his head housekeeper and me emerging from the darkness.
"Mrs. Carter? Julia?" Luca breathed, completely bewildered. "What are you doing here?"
"Saving your stubborn life, Mr. Moretti," Mrs. Carter said briskly, walking toward him with the heavy revolver still clutched in her hand. "Vanessa ambushed Julia in the service corridor. I handled it. Then we took your sedan and provided the distraction you so desperately needed."
Luca stared at the shredded, bullet-riddled wreck of the black sedan sitting in the middle of the kill box. He looked at me, taking in my pale, terrified face and the blood seeping through my sweater from my re-injured shoulder.
He closed the distance between us in three long strides.
He didn't speak. He reached out and gently grabbed my uninjured arm, pulling me into a crushing, desperate embrace.
I gasped, freezing for a second, before the sheer relief overwhelmed me. I buried my face in his chest, gripping the fabric of his shirt as a sob finally broke loose.
"You shouldn't have come," Luca whispered fiercely into my hair, his heart hammering against my ear. "You could have been killed."
"I couldn't let you walk into a trap," I cried softly, pulling back just enough to look into his eyes. "She told me they were waiting for you."
Luca’s eyes softened, a profound, undeniable gratitude washing away the hardened mafia exterior. He gently wiped a streak of dirt from my cheek with his thumb.
"Thank you, Julia," he said softly.
He turned back to Daniel, his demeanor shifting instantly back to the ruthless boss.
"The pilot," Luca demanded. "Is he still in the holding room?"
"Secured at the estate, Boss," Daniel confirmed. "He's not going anywhere."
"Good," Luca said. "Because we aren't going back to the estate."
Daniel frowned. "Boss?"
"Vanessa was working with her father," Luca explained rapidly, his tactical mind already ten steps ahead. "The Bellini family knew about the ambush. They expected me to die tonight. When they realize I didn't, they will strike the mansion with everything they have."
"We can hold the mansion," Daniel argued. "We have the numbers."
"I don't care about the mansion," Luca snarled. "I care about my aunt."
Luca turned and marched toward the waiting private jet, which had remained untouched during the firefight.
"Daniel, you stay here," Luca ordered, shouting over his shoulder. "Clean up this mess. If any of those mercenaries talk, find out exactly which shell company Vanessa used to pay for the flight. I need the name of that facility."
"Yes, Boss. Where are you going?"
Luca stopped at the bottom of the jet's mobile staircase. He looked back at Daniel.
"I'm executing Ghost Protocol," Luca said simply.
Daniel went perfectly still. The color drained slightly from his face.
"Boss, you can't just disappear. The Commission—"
"The Commission can burn," Luca interrupted coldly. "Until I have Teresa back, the Moretti family does not exist. Nobody knows where I am. Nobody contacts me."
He looked at me, standing shivering on the tarmac.
"Julia. Come with me."
I stared at him, my mind reeling. "Me? But I... I'm just a maid. I need to go back to my mother."
Luca walked back toward me. He didn't order me. He asked.
"Your mother is safe, Julia. I already had Marco send a detail to her apartment to move her to a secure location. The Bellinis won't find her."
He looked deeply into my eyes.
"I can't trust anyone in my inner circle right now," Luca admitted, a rare vulnerability flashing in his gaze. "Vanessa compromised my home, my guards, and my engagement. The only two people I know for absolute certainty I can trust are Mrs. Carter and you."
He reached out and took my hand again.
"I need you, Julia. I need someone who isn't afraid to tell me the truth. Please."
I looked at the massive, dark jet. I looked at the man who had just dismantled an army.
I took a deep breath.
"Okay," I whispered.
"Mrs. Carter," Luca said, turning to the older woman. "Go with Daniel. Coordinate the defense of the estate. If the Bellinis push, burn it to the ground."
"With pleasure, Mr. Moretti," Mrs. Carter smiled grimly, tucking her revolver into her bathrobe pocket.
I followed Luca up the stairs into the luxurious, mahogany-paneled cabin of the private jet. The door sealed shut behind us with a heavy hiss.
The pilot—a trusted, older man who had flown for Luca’s father—was already preparing for takeoff.
"Where to, sir?" the pilot asked over the intercom.
Luca collapsed into a leather captain's chair, running a weary hand over his face.
"New York," Luca said. "Upstate. And turn off the transponder. We fly blind."
As the jet roared down the runway, ascending into the stormy night sky, the reality of my situation finally settled in.
I wasn't a maid anymore. I was a fugitive, flying into the unknown with the most dangerous man in Chicago, hunting for an elderly woman locked in an insane asylum.
Luca leaned across the aisle, handing me a glass of amber liquid.
"Drink," he ordered softly. "It will help with the pain."
I took the glass, sipping the burning whiskey.
"Mr. Moretti," I began, my voice trembling slightly.
"Luca," he corrected gently. "It's just Luca now."
"Luca," I said, looking at him. "If the facility is owned by the Bellini family, they won't just let you walk in and take her. It will be heavily guarded."
Luca smiled, a dark, terrifying expression that sent a shiver down my spine.
"I don't intend to walk in, Julia," Luca said softly. "I intend to buy it."
I frowned, confused. "Buy a psychiatric hospital? How?"
Luca reached into his pocket and pulled out a small, encrypted USB drive.
"Because before Vanessa died," Luca whispered, his eyes gleaming with lethal intent, "I had my accountants quietly purchase the debt of every shell company her father owns."
May you like
He tossed the USB drive onto the table between us.
"By the time the sun rises, the Bellini family won't just be bankrupt," Luca promised. "They will belong to me."
