Chapter 12 - THE FAMILY HEIRLOOM
The crack of the sniper rifle was deafening.
Vanessa’s eyes went blank.
She dropped the gun and collapsed onto the Persian rug.
I screamed, throwing my body over Leo as the glass showered across the office floor.
Luca lunged forward, not toward Vanessa, but toward us.
He covered us with his own body, shielding us from the debris.
"Hold your fire!" Luca yelled into his earpiece. "Target down!"
"Copy that, boss," Daniel's voice echoed through the room. "Sniper team holding position on the opposite roof."
Luca waited three agonizing seconds before carefully sitting up.
He helped me off the floor, his hands checking frantically to make sure Leo and I weren’t cut by the glass.
"Are you okay?" Luca asked, his chest heaving. "Sophie, are you okay?"
I looked at Vanessa’s body. Then I looked at Luca.
My heart was beating so fast I felt dizzy.
"You lied to me," I whispered, tears welling in my eyes. "For ten months. You watched me struggle. You watched me grieve."
"I kept you alive," Luca said fiercely, grabbing my shoulders. "If the Commission knew you existed, you would have been dead four years ago! I had to make it look like David’s widow was a nobody."
"You're in the picture," I cried, pointing at the photograph on the desk. "If they had the picture, they already knew!"
"They didn't have the picture," Luca said softly.
He walked to the desk and picked up the polaroid.
He flipped it over.
There was writing on the back.
Property of Daniel Carter.
I froze.
"Daniel took the picture," Luca explained. "He was the only other person in that hospital room. He kept it in his personal files to remind him of David."
"Then how did Vanessa get it?"
Luca looked toward the shattered window.
"Because Daniel gave it to her."
The penthouse doors opened.
Daniel walked in.
He didn't have a gun drawn. He wasn't smiling. He just looked tired.
"You figured it out," Daniel said quietly.
Luca’s expression was a mix of heartbreak and fury.
"You’re the mole," Luca said. "You’ve been working for the Commission."
"I’ve been protecting the organization, Luca," Daniel replied. "You were going to burn it all down for a woman and a kid. I gave Vanessa the photo to force your hand. To make you surrender the syndicate to the board."
"And when she tried to kill my son?" Luca asked, his voice shaking.
"I told the sniper to take the shot," Daniel said. "Vanessa was greedy. She wanted the empire for herself. The Commission doesn't like greedy people."
Daniel looked at me, then back at Luca.
"They want you out, Luca. But they don't want a war. They sent me to make a deal."
Daniel reached into his pocket.
He pulled out the black wax seal.
The one with the two wolves and the sword. The crest of the Commission.
He set it on the desk.
"The Attorney General gets Eleanor," Daniel said. "The FBI gets their arrests. You walk away clean. But the syndicate stays intact under new leadership. The Commission leadership."
He looked at Leo.
"You take the girl and the boy. You disappear. And the shadow board pretends you died today."
Luca looked at the wax seal.
Then he looked at me.
He didn't care about the empire. He never did.
He walked over to the desk, picked up the wax seal, and crushed it in his fist.
"Tell them the Moretti name is dead," Luca said.
Daniel nodded slowly. "Good luck, Luca."
He turned and walked out of the office.
The room was finally quiet.
The wind howled through the broken window, scattering the papers across the desk.
I looked down at my son.
Leo was clinging to my leg, terrified but unharmed.
Luca walked over to us.
He knelt down until he was eye-level with Leo.
"Are you ready to go on an adventure, little man?" Luca asked softly.
Leo looked at him, then up at me.
"Is the nice man coming with us?" Leo asked.
I looked at Luca.
The man who had hidden my husband's legacy. The man who had orchestrated my life from the shadows. The man who had just burned his entire world to the ground to keep us safe.
"Yes," I said, my voice finally steady. "He's coming with us."
Luca closed his eyes in relief.
He stood up and gently wrapped his coat around my shoulders, careful of my bruised arm.
We walked to the private elevator.
The doors closed, leaving the shattered glass, the blood, and the Moretti empire behind forever.
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For the first time in my life, I didn't know where we were going.
But as Luca's hand found mine in the dark elevator car, I knew we were finally going home.
