Chapter 7 - THE EMERALD BRACELET
"Maya!" I screamed, the sound tearing from my throat like shattered glass.
My sister sobbed, clawing at the thick rope biting into her neck. She was balancing on her toes against the edge of the metal grating. One slip, one push, and she would hang.
"Sarah!" Maya cried out, her voice raw with terror.
I tried to run forward, but Luca’s arm shot out like a steel bar, pinning me back against his chest.
"Don't move," he hissed in my ear.
Every Moretti enforcer raised their rifles, laser sights painting red dots across the catwalk.
"Ah, ah, ah!" Vanessa’s voice echoed through the megaphone, mocking and cruel. She was holding a large hunting knife directly against the taught rope holding Maya.
"Shoot me, and the rope snaps," Vanessa smiled brightly in the glare of the spotlight. "The girl falls, and her neck breaks before she hits the ground."
"Hold your fire!" Luca roared to his men.
The lasers vanished, but the tension in the warehouse was thick enough to choke on.
"That's a good boy, Luca," Vanessa cooed. She tossed the megaphone aside, her voice echoing naturally in the cavernous space. "Now. Did you bring me my money?"
Luca stepped forward, pulling the heavy leather-bound ledger from his jacket. He held it up.
"I have the ledger," Luca said, his voice carrying the authority of a king negotiating with a peasant. "Let the girl down, Vanessa. You have what you want."
Vanessa squinted at the book. "That doesn't look like Arthur Collins's ledger. His was red."
My heart hammered against my ribs. She knew what the original ledger looked like.
"Arthur's ledger is gone," Luca lied smoothly, not missing a beat. "He destroyed it before he died. But he transferred the offshore numbers into my personal accounts. This is my clean ledger, Vanessa. Every legitimate dime I own. It's worth triple what you were stealing."
Vanessa’s eyes widened with greed. The prospect of clean, untraceable corporate money was far more appealing than dirty mob cash.
"Bring it up here," Vanessa demanded, pointing the knife at the stairs. "Just you, Luca."
Luca didn't hesitate. He handed his assault rifle to Daniel.
"No," I panicked, grabbing his arm. "Luca, she'll kill you."
"I'll be right back," he whispered, pressing a quick, fierce kiss to my forehead.
He started walking toward the rusted metal staircase leading to the catwalk.
But Vanessa laughed.
"Stop right there, Luca."
Luca froze halfway up the stairs.
"I said I wanted the girl," Vanessa smiled, pointing the knife directly at me. "Send Sarah up with the book."
"No," Luca snarled, his hand dropping toward the pistol in his waistband. "That wasn't the deal."
"The deal is whatever I say it is!" Vanessa shrieked, pressing the knife harder against Maya's rope. "Send the maid up here, or I cut her sister loose right now!"
"Okay! Okay!" I yelled, stepping out from behind Daniel.
"Sarah, stop," Luca ordered, his voice laced with panic.
"I have to, Luca," I whispered, taking the heavy ledger from his hand. Our fingers brushed, and I felt the tremor in his grip. He was terrified. Not for himself, but for me.
I walked past him and slowly climbed the metal stairs.
My legs felt like lead. Every step echoed loudly in the silent warehouse.
I reached the catwalk. Vanessa was standing ten feet away, one hand on the knife, the other holding a small silver pistol aimed directly at my chest.
"Toss the book over," she commanded.
I slid the heavy ledger across the metal grating. It stopped at her feet.
Vanessa kept the gun on me as she knelt down, picking up the book. She opened it, her eyes scanning the columns of numbers and account routing codes.
"Beautiful," she whispered, her smile returning. "Untraceable corporate accounts. You really did give me everything, Luca."
"You have the money," I said, my voice shaking. "Let my sister go."
Vanessa looked up at me. The smile vanished, replaced by a cold, reptilian stare.
"You really are stupid, Sarah," she sighed. "Did you think I was going to leave witnesses? I killed your father. I shot Anthony. I'm taking the money, and I'm killing you both. And Luca gets to watch."
She raised the pistol, aiming it right between my eyes.
"Say goodbye to the boss."
I didn't freeze. I didn't close my eyes.
I looked at Vanessa's wrist.
Gleaming under the harsh spotlight, wrapped around her wrist, was a heavy, emerald charm bracelet.
The same bracelet she had worn to the engagement dinner. The one Luca had gifted her months ago.
I knew that bracelet. I had polished it twice a week. I knew every heavy, jagged edge of the platinum settings.
I didn't reach for her gun. I didn't try to tackle her.
I lunged forward and grabbed her wrist with both hands, twisting it violently outward.
The heavy, jagged emerald charms bit deeply into Vanessa's skin.
She shrieked in pain, her finger pulling the trigger out of reflex.
Bang!
The bullet sailed past my ear, deafening me, ricocheting off the metal roof.
Using my momentum, I slammed my shoulder into her chest, driving her backward into the railing.
Vanessa dropped the gun, screaming in fury. She slashed wildly with the hunting knife, slicing a deep gash across my forearm.
I cried out, pain flaring, but I didn't let go of her wrist. I shoved her again, harder.
She stumbled backward, her high heels slipping on the metal grating.
With a scream of sheer terror, Vanessa pitched backward over the railing.
She didn't fall to the floor.
Her heavy emerald bracelet caught on the jagged, rusted edge of the metal catwalk railing.
She dangled thirty feet in the air, hanging by one arm, shrieking as the metal bit into the jewelry.
I collapsed onto the catwalk, bleeding, grabbing the rope holding Maya and pulling with all my strength.
"I got you! I got you!" I sobbed, dragging my sister over the railing to safety.
Maya collapsed into my arms, coughing and crying.
From below, Luca came sprinting up the stairs, taking them three at a time.
He reached the top and dropped to his knees, wrapping his massive arms around both of us, burying his face in my neck.
"You're safe," he breathed, his voice breaking completely. "You're safe."
"Luca! Help me!"
Vanessa’s voice echoed from below us.
We looked over the railing.
Vanessa was dangling over the empty drop, the emerald bracelet slowly bending, groaning under her weight.
Luca stood up, looking down at the woman who had murdered his best friend, my father, and betrayed his entire family.
He didn't pull his gun. He didn't yell.
He just watched.
With a sharp snap, the platinum clasp of the emerald bracelet broke.
Vanessa screamed as she plummeted thirty feet, landing with a sickening crunch on a stack of wooden shipping pallets below.
She didn't move.
The warehouse was dead silent.
Daniel approached the body below, checking her pulse. He looked up at the catwalk and shook his head.
It was over.
But as Luca helped me to my feet, his phone rang in his pocket.
He pulled it out, checking the caller ID.
His face drained of color.
May you like
"It's Anthony," Luca whispered, answering the call. "Anthony, you're supposed to be in the hospital."
"Luca," Anthony's weak, strained voice echoed through the speaker. "Listen to me... Vanessa didn't act alone."
