Chapter 7 - THE BLOOD ON THE APRON
The gunshot was swallowed by the roar of the freight train passing inches away.
I hit the rusted floor of the train car, holding Leo so tightly I could feel his small heart hammering against my chest.
The window above us shattered, raining sharp glass down onto my back.
"Sarah!" Michael screamed.
I didn't feel pain immediately. I just felt a terrifying, burning heat tear through my left shoulder.
I gasped, my breath catching in my throat. I looked down. The white fabric of my maid's apron was rapidly turning dark red.
"I'm okay," I gasped, looking at Leo's terrified face. "Are you hit, baby? Are you okay?"
The boy was shaking, but there was no blood on him. "I'm okay, Miss Sarah."
Outside, the gunfire had stopped.
The train continued its deafening path, separating our side of the tracks from the road.
I dragged myself up to the window, clutching my bleeding shoulder.
Through the flashing gaps between the train cars, I saw what had happened.
Vanessa stood frozen in the rain, her silver pistol still raised.
But she wasn't looking at me.
She was looking down at her chest.
A single dark crimson stain was spreading rapidly across her black trench coat.
Fifty feet away, Luca Moretti stood perfectly still, his pistol raised and smoking.
He hadn't missed.
Vanessa’s knees buckled. The silver pistol slipped from her fingers, clattering onto the gravel. She collapsed backward into the mud, her eyes staring blankly up at the dark Chicago sky.
The woman who had tried to destroy the Moretti family was gone.
The train finally passed, the final car clacking away into the distance.
Silence crashed back over the railyard, heavy and absolute, save for the sound of the falling rain.
Marcus and his remaining men had fled in the SUVs, leaving the money, and Vanessa, behind.
Luca holstered his weapon and immediately dropped to his knees beside his father. He pulled a knife and cut the zip-ties binding Antonio's wrists.
"Dad. Are you hit?"
Antonio was coughing, trembling violently from the cold, but he shook his head. "No, son. I'm alright."
Michael sprinted to the train car, vaulting through the rusted door.
"Leo!" he cried, falling to his knees and pulling his son into a desperate embrace.
"I'm okay, Dad," Leo whimpered, burying his face in Michael's neck. "Miss Sarah protected me."
Michael looked up at me.
When he saw the blood pouring down my arm, his eyes widened in horror. "Sarah, you're shot."
My legs suddenly felt like lead. The adrenaline was fading, and the pain was ripping through my nerves like fire. I stumbled backward, hitting the metal wall, and slid down to the floor.
"Mom," I gasped, looking at my mother in her wheelchair.
She was weeping, trying to reach for me with her crippled hands. "Oh, God, my baby. Sarah, hold on."
Luca appeared in the doorway.
When he saw the blood soaking my apron, his stoic expression finally shattered.
He crossed the distance in a second, dropping to his knees beside me. He didn't say a word. He stripped off his soaked white shirt, bundled it into a thick pad, and pressed it fiercely against the bullet wound in my shoulder.
I screamed in agony, my back arching off the floor.
"Look at me, Sarah," Luca commanded, his voice trembling for the very first time. "Keep your eyes on me."
I looked up at his face. The untouchable mafia boss looked terrified.
"I kept him safe," I whispered, my vision starting to blur at the edges. "I kept your nephew safe."
"You did," Luca said, his hand pressing harder to stop the bleeding. "You saved him. Now I am going to save you. Do not close your eyes."
He looked over his shoulder. "Michael! Get the car! Now!"
Michael scooped Leo into his arms and ran.
Luca slid his arms under my knees and back, lifting me effortlessly against his bare chest. He carried me out of the train car and into the freezing rain.
As he carried me past Vanessa's lifeless body, I looked down at the mud.
Glinting in the harsh light of the remaining floodlight was the silver rosary Vanessa had dropped.
Antonio was standing over it.
The old man slowly bent down, his joints aching, and picked up the rosary. He wiped the mud from the silver beads with his thumb.
He didn't look at Vanessa. He looked at the sky.
"It's over, Elena," the old man whispered. "They are safe."
Luca placed me gently into the back seat of his armored SUV. He climbed in beside me, keeping the pressure on my wound.
"Drive," Luca ordered his security chief. "Call Dr. Evans at St. Catherine's. Tell him to prep an OR immediately."
The car tore out of the railyard, speeding toward the city.
I leaned my head against Luca's chest. It was warm. I could hear the steady, powerful rhythm of his heartbeat.
"Mr. Moretti," I mumbled, the edges of the world turning black.
"Luca," he corrected me softly, brushing a wet strand of hair from my forehead. "My name is Luca."
"Luca," I breathed. "Am I fired?"
A breathless, incredulous laugh escaped his lips.
May you like
"No, Sarah," he whispered, pressing a gentle kiss to the top of my head as I finally lost consciousness. "You are never scrubbing another floor as long as you live."
TITLE: THE GOLD BAND RETURNED
