Chapter 8 - THE CLICK IN THE RAIN
Click.
The gun didn't fire.
The sound of the hammer striking an empty chamber echoed across the muddy baseball field like a thunderclap.
Dominic Bellini froze, his cruel smile instantly vanishing. He pulled the trigger again. Click. Click.
My mother sobbed, collapsing onto her knees in the wet grass.
"Looking for bullets, Dominic?" Luca asked, his voice returning to that terrifying, calm baritone.
Dominic threw the useless pistol to the ground and turned to the two massive men standing behind him. "Shoot them! Both of them!"
The two men didn't move. They didn't reach for their weapons. They just stood there, completely still in the rain.
Slowly, one of the men reached into his pocket, pulled out a handful of brass bullets, and let them drop into the mud.
Dominic stepped backward, panic finally breaking across his face. "What are you doing? I pay you!"
"You pay them with my money," Luca corrected smoothly, taking a slow step toward Dominic. "You really thought you could use my own men against me? You thought I would walk out to a muddy field without making a few phone calls first?"
From the shadows of the first base dugout, six more men emerged, all wearing dark suits, all holding suppressed weapons aimed directly at Dominic.
The trap hadn't been set for Luca. It had been set for the Bellinis.
Dominic frantically looked around, realizing he was entirely surrounded. He clutched the leather-bound ledger to his chest like a shield. "If you kill me, this ledger disappears! The FBI will raid your entire organization!"
"I don't care about the ledger, Dominic," Luca said. He walked over to my mother, pulled a knife from his pocket, and gently cut the zip-ties binding her wrists. He helped her to her feet, shielding her from the rain with his own body.
"Mom!" I cried, running forward and throwing my arms around her. She was shaking violently, her clothes soaked through, but she was unharmed.
"I'm so sorry, Rachel," my mother wept into my shoulder. "I'm so sorry I lied to you."
I held her tight, but my eyes were locked on Luca.
Dominic’s words were still ringing in my ears. Your father built the bomb that killed Luca's father.
Luca turned his attention back to Dominic. "You made three mistakes tonight, Dominic. First, you threatened my son. Second, you touched Rachel's mother. And third... you brought a fake ledger to a gunfight."
Dominic looked down at the leather-bound book in his hands. He opened it frantically.
The pages weren't filled with financial records.
They were filled with Caleb’s crayon drawings of baseball fields and airplanes.
"Where is it?!" Dominic screamed, tossing the sketchbook into the mud. "Where is the real ledger?!"
"Safe," Luca said coldly. "Just like my family."
He nodded to his men. Two of them stepped forward, grabbed Dominic by the arms, and forced him to his knees in the mud.
"Wait! Wait, Luca, please!" Dominic begged, all his bravado evaporating into pathetic tears. "It was Vanessa! It was all her idea! She orchestrated Isabella’s crash! She forged the adoption papers! She wanted Caleb out so her own son could inherit your empire!"
Luca stopped. "Her own son?"
"Daniel!" Dominic cried out. "Daniel isn't my son! He’s Vanessa’s! She had him in secret years ago and forced me to raise him to protect her reputation! She only got engaged to you so she could eventually replace Caleb with Daniel!"
The final piece of the puzzle clicked into place.
Vanessa’s absolute desperation to give Daniel the starting spot on the team. Her need to retire Caleb’s jersey. She wasn't just being a cruel stepmother. She was systematically erasing Luca’s true heir to make room for her own secret child.
Luca stared at Dominic with absolute disgust.
"Take him away," Luca ordered. "Put him on a plane to Italy. If he ever steps foot in Chicago again, bury him under the runway."
The men dragged a screaming Dominic toward the shadows, disappearing into the fog.
The field fell silent, save for the sound of the rain.
Luca stood in the mud, breathing heavily. He slowly turned to face me. The formidable mafia boss looked exhausted, completely stripped of his armor.
"Rachel," he started, taking a step toward me.
I took a step back, pulling my mother with me.
"Is it true?" I asked, my voice cracking. "Did my father kill your father? Did you hire me to punish me?"
Luca closed his eyes. The rain ran down his face, masking whatever emotion he was trying to hide.
"Your father was a mechanic, Rachel," Luca said quietly. "He was forced to build a car bomb by a rival family. They held a gun to your mother's head, just like Vanessa did tonight. He didn't want to do it. But he had no choice."
"So he killed your dad," I choked out.
"Yes." Luca opened his eyes, looking directly into mine. "But before the bomb went off, your father ran toward the car to try and stop my father from starting the engine. He died trying to save him."
I stared at him, stunned.
"I didn't bring you into my home to punish you, Rachel," Luca whispered, closing the distance between us. "I brought you into my home because your father tried to save my family. And I promised myself I would spend the rest of my life protecting his."
Tears spilled over my eyelashes.
Before I could say anything, a small voice echoed from the edge of the field.
"Daddy?"
We both turned. Caleb was standing by the chain-link fence, holding his baseball glove. He had disobeyed my order to stay in the car.
"Buddy, what are you doing out here?" Luca asked, rushing over to his son.
May you like
Caleb looked up, pointing toward the first base dugout.
"Daddy," Caleb said nervously. "There's a man sitting on the bench in the dark. And he's holding Vanessa’s red purse."
