Chapter 10 - THE GOLD BRACELET
The dial tone echoed through the penthouse office.
Luca stared at the phone.
I stared at Luca.
The warmth of the morning sun suddenly felt freezing cold.
"What does that mean?" I whispered. "Eleanor’s bracelet?"
Luca didn't answer right away. He hit a button on his console.
"Daniel. I need the evidence manifest from the FBI intake at O'Hare. Specifically, my mother’s personal effects."
"On it, boss," Daniel's voice crackled back.
Luca turned to me, his eyes dark with the familiar, dangerous intensity I thought he had just left behind.
"Sophie, think," he urged. "When Eleanor was holding Leo at the station, you noticed her bracelet."
"Yes. It was heavy gold. Intricately carved. It looked antique."
"The caller said you’ve seen that pattern before. Have you?"
I closed my eyes.
I forced my mind back to the terrifying moments in Union Station.
Eleanor gripping Leo's wrist.
The heavy gold cuff catching the station lights.
It wasn't a standard floral or geometric design.
It was a crest.
Two wolves standing back-to-back, divided by a sword.
My eyes snapped open.
"The wolves," I gasped.
Luca went rigid. "What wolves?"
"There was a crest carved into the gold. Two wolves and a sword. But that’s not where I’ve seen it before."
"Where?" Luca demanded, grabbing my good arm.
"My apartment," I said, my voice shaking. "When David died, the police gave me a box of his personal effects from his desk at your company. I kept everything in the cedar box. Under the rosary."
"There was something else in the box?"
"A wax seal," I said. "A broken piece of black wax with that exact crest stamped into it. David kept it in a tiny velvet pouch. I always thought it was just a novelty item he bought."
Luca let go of my arm and ran his hands over his face.
He looked horrified.
"Luca, what is it? Whose crest is that?"
"It doesn’t belong to a family, Sophie," Luca said, his voice completely drained of hope. "It belongs to the Commissione."
I frowned. "The Commission?"
"The shadow board," Luca explained, pacing the floor. "The five families that control the global syndicate. They operate above everyone. Above me, above the government."
He stopped and looked at me.
"If Eleanor was wearing their crest... she wasn't acting on her own. She didn't steal my ledger to protect our family."
"She stole it to hand your empire over to them," I finished, the realization hitting me like a physical blow.
The intercom buzzed.
"Boss," Daniel said. His voice sounded tight. "I got the FBI intake report."
"And?"
"The bracelet isn't on the manifest. The arresting agents logged her watch, her necklace, and her rings. No bracelet."
"It was confiscated before intake," Luca deduced. "Someone inside the raid team scrubbed it."
"Worse," Daniel said. "Agent Harris just made bail. Paid in full. Untraceable offshore account."
Luca swore in Italian.
"They're scrubbing the trail," Luca said. "The Commission knows we have the USB drive. They know Eleanor failed. They’re tying up loose ends."
He looked at Leo, still sleeping on the couch.
"We aren't safe," Luca said. "Not even close."
He walked to the wall safe, opened it, and pulled out the two passports he had offered me hours ago.
"Wake him up," Luca ordered. "We leave in ten minutes."
"Leave? To where?"
"A safe house in Sicily," Luca said, grabbing a duffel bag. "A fortress my father built. No one knows about it except me."
I rushed to the couch and gently shook my son.
"Leo, baby, wake up."
He rubbed his eyes, groggy and confused. "Are we going home, Mommy?"
"We're going on a trip, sweetheart," I said, trying to keep the panic out of my voice.
As I helped Leo put his shoes on, the penthouse doors swung open.
Vanessa walked in.
She wasn't in handcuffs.
She was wearing a pristine white suit, her hair perfectly styled, the cut on her cheek covered by expensive makeup.
May you like
She held a silenced pistol aimed directly at Luca's chest.
"No one is going to Sicily, Luca," Vanessa smiled.
