Chapter 5 - THE SAFE HOUSE
Panic seized my throat.
Luca turned toward the headlights of the Mercedes, his posture instantly shifting from a father seeking his son to a boss preparing for war. He didn’t reach for a weapon, but the sheer menace radiating from him made the air feel heavier.
“Lock the doors,” I whispered to Daniel, my hand already hovering over the locks.
“Who is that?” Daniel asked, his voice tight.
“The woman who wants to erase you.”
The driver’s door of the Mercedes opened. It wasn’t Vanessa who stepped out.
It was the man with the jagged scar on his neck. Vanessa’s brother, Marcus.
He didn’t pull a gun, but he rested his hand casually inside his tailored wool coat. He walked toward Luca with a smirk that made my stomach churn.
“Late night for a drive, Luca,” Marcus called out over the wind. “Vanessa was worried. She woke up and you were gone.”
Luca didn’t move. He stood between my car and Marcus like a wall of solid granite.
“Tell my fiancée I needed some air,” Luca said coldly.
“In this neighborhood?” Marcus laughed, stopping ten feet away. He peered around Luca, his eyes locking onto my beat-up Honda. He couldn’t see Daniel in the dark backseat, but he could see me in the driver’s seat. “And you brought the help. Kinky, Luca. Very off-brand for you.”
“Walk away, Marcus.”
“I’m just here to protect the family interests.” Marcus took another step. “Word on the street is, a ghost from your past has been causing trouble. Vanessa just wants to make sure you’re not… distracted before the wedding.”
“My past is my business.”
“Not when it affects the syndicate,” Marcus sneered. “Vanessa’s father won’t tolerate a scandal. If there’s a mess, we clean it up. Hand over the girl in the car, Luca. And whatever she’s hiding in the back.”
My heart hammered against my ribs. I threw the car into reverse. If I had to ram the Mercedes to get Daniel out of here, I would.
But Luca finally moved.
In one blindingly fast motion, Luca closed the distance between them. He didn’t draw a gun. He just grabbed Marcus by the throat and slammed him backward against the hood of the SUV. The heavy thud echoed across the empty lot.
“Listen to me very carefully,” Luca hissed, his face inches from Marcus’s. “If you, your sister, or your father ever follow me again, there won’t be a wedding. There will be a funeral. Do you understand?”
Marcus choked, clawing at Luca’s hand, his arrogant smirk entirely gone.
Luca held him for two more seconds, then threw him to the pavement.
“Get in your car,” Luca ordered. “And drive.”
Marcus scrambled up, coughing, his eyes wide with a mixture of rage and genuine fear. He stumbled back to the Mercedes, threw it into gear, and sped out of the lot.
Luca watched the taillights disappear before turning back to my car.
He tapped on the glass.
My hands shook as I unlocked the doors. Luca opened the back door.
The interior light clicked on, illuminating the backseat.
For the first time in eleven years, Luca Moretti looked at his son.
Daniel sat pressed against the farthest window, his knees pulled to his chest. He looked so small, but his dark eyes—Luca’s eyes—were fierce and unbroken.
Luca stopped breathing. He gripped the edge of the car door so hard the metal creaked.
“Elena,” Luca whispered, the name tearing out of his throat like a jagged piece of glass. He saw his dead wife in the boy’s face. The resemblance was undeniable.
“She’s dead,” Daniel spat back, not giving an inch. “Because of you.”
Luca flinched. The absolute certainty in the boy’s voice gutted him. “No. I didn’t know—”
“You told her to leave!” Daniel yelled, his small voice cracking with grief. “You gave her your necklace and told her you’d kill us!”
He threw the silver rosary at Luca.
It hit Luca in the chest and clattered onto the floorboards.
Luca froze. He stared at the silver beads gleaming against the dirty floor mat. Slowly, he reached down and picked it up. His hands, which had just effortlessly strangled a mob enforcer, were trembling.
“This…” Luca’s voice was hollow. “This was my mother’s.”
“I know,” Daniel said bitterly. “You gave it to her the day you kicked her out.”
Luca looked up, his eyes meeting mine in the rearview mirror. The devastation in his gaze was absolute.
“Emily,” Luca said, his voice terrifyingly quiet. “I didn’t give this to Elena.”
A chill ran down my spine. “Then who did?”
“The only other person who had access to my private safe.” Luca’s jaw locked. “My right-hand man. Daniel.”
My breath caught. Luca’s most trusted bodyguard. The man who had been standing beside him at dinner. The man who managed all his private affairs.
“He named you after him,” Luca whispered to the boy, the betrayal sinking in. “Elena named you after the man she thought spared her life.”
Before anyone could say another word, my phone lit up on the dashboard.
An unknown number.
May you like
I hesitated, then answered it on speaker.
“Emily,” a smooth, cultured voice echoed through the car. It was Mr. Hale. The crisis manager. “I hear you’re driving around with some very precious cargo. I highly suggest you bring the boy to the warehouse on 9th Street. Unless you want your father’s oxygen tanks turned off at the clinic.”
