Chapter 6 - THE DROPPED ROSARY
The old Chicago railyard was a graveyard of rusted metal and broken glass.
The rain was pouring heavily now, washing away the last remnants of the night. It was 4:00 AM.
Luca Moretti stood alone in the center of the tracks, holding a black leather duffel bag containing five million dollars in bearer bonds.
He wore no coat. His white dress shirt was soaked, clinging to his broad shoulders.
I was hiding fifty yards away, crouched inside an abandoned train car with Michael, Leo, and my mother. Luca had strictly ordered us to stay in the armored SUV with his loyal guards, but Michael had refused. He wasn't going to let his brother face Marcus alone.
And I wasn't going to leave Michael and the boy.
Through the broken window of the train car, I watched the headlights of two black SUVs cut through the darkness.
They stopped twenty feet from Luca.
Marcus stepped out of the first vehicle. He was a heavily built man with a scarred jaw and a cruel smile.
From the second vehicle, two armed men dragged Antonio Moretti into the rain.
The old man was still wearing his tailored suit from the engagement dinner, but his face was bruised, and his hands were zip-tied behind his back.
And stepping out of the passenger side, holding an umbrella, was Vanessa.
She wasn't wearing her red silk gown anymore. She wore a sleek black trench coat. The engagement ring Luca had given her was gone, replaced by a pair of black leather gloves.
"You brought the money," Marcus yelled over the sound of the rain, pointing his gun at Antonio's head. "Throw the bag."
Luca didn't move.
"Let my father go first."
Vanessa laughed. The sound carried sharply through the cold air.
"You're not in a position to negotiate, darling," she said. "Your empire is over. By tomorrow morning, Marcus will control the streets, and the Moretti name will be nothing but a tragic memory."
Luca looked at her. "You threw your entire life away just to avenge a father who never loved you?"
"My father was a king!" Vanessa screamed, her composure cracking. "Your father slaughtered him like an animal! He took everything from me! And tonight, I take everything from him!"
She walked toward Antonio, pulling a silver rosary from her pocket.
I recognized it immediately. It was the rosary Antonio had been holding at the dinner table. She had stolen it from him.
Vanessa wrapped the rosary tightly around her leather-gloved fist.
"I'm going to make you watch him die, Luca," she whispered viciously. "Just like I had to watch my father."
Marcus frowned, stepping forward. "Hey. That wasn't the deal. We take the money, we shoot them both, and we leave. No dramatic speeches."
"Shut up, Marcus," Vanessa snapped. "He dies my way."
She raised her hand to strike the eighty-two-year-old man.
"Drop the money, Luca!" Marcus yelled.
Luca finally moved.
But he didn't throw the bag forward.
He threw it sideways, directly into a deep puddle of muddy water.
Marcus instinctively looked at the bag.
That was his first mistake.
In a fraction of a second, Luca drew his weapon from his holster.
He didn't aim at Marcus. He aimed at the floodlight mounted on Marcus's SUV.
BANG.
The light shattered, plunging half the railyard into darkness.
"Kill him!" Marcus roared, firing blindly into the rain.
Gunfire erupted.
"Stay down!" Michael shoved me and Leo onto the rusted floor of the train car, covering his son with his own body.
Through the cracks in the metal, I saw Luca dive behind a rusted steel beam. He fired twice. Two of Marcus's men dropped to the gravel.
But there were too many of them. Marcus's remaining guards pinned Luca down with heavy suppressive fire.
Marcus grabbed Antonio by the collar, dragging him backward toward the cars.
"Forget the money! Grab the girl and let's go!" Marcus yelled.
But Vanessa wasn't retreating.
In the chaos, she had dropped the rosary. She was frantically searching the mud for it, obsessed with her symbolic revenge.
"Vanessa, move!" Marcus screamed.
He reached out to grab her shoulder.
Suddenly, a massive, deafening horn blasted through the railyard.
The ground began to shake.
A freight train was barreling down the active track, directly beside where Marcus's SUVs were parked. The blinding headlight cut through the rain, illuminating the entire yard.
Marcus panicked. He shoved Antonio to the ground and ran toward his car.
"Dad!" Luca shouted, breaking from cover and sprinting toward his father.
But Vanessa looked up.
She saw the train coming. She saw Antonio helpless on the ground.
And she saw Michael break cover from our hiding spot, running to help his brother.
A twisted, desperate look crossed Vanessa's face. If she couldn't kill the father, she would kill the legacy.
She turned her eyes toward the train car where I was hiding.
She saw Leo.
Vanessa pulled a small silver pistol from her coat.
She didn't aim at Luca. She didn't aim at Antonio.
She aimed directly through the broken window of the train car. Directly at her own eight-year-old son.
"No!" I screamed.
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I threw myself forward, wrapping my arms around Leo just as Vanessa pulled the trigger.
TITLE: THE BLOOD ON THE APRON
