Chapter 5 - THE DEAD MAN'S TRUTH
The safe house was a fortress hidden behind the facade of a crumbling industrial warehouse on the South Side.
Inside, the air was warm and smelled of strong coffee and antiseptic.
I lay on a plush leather sofa in Luca's private office, my ribs tightly wrapped in fresh, white medical bandages. Dr. Harris, Luca's personal physician, had given me a heavy dose of painkillers. The sharp, agonizing fire in my chest had faded to a dull, manageable ache, leaving me feeling floaty and disconnected from the violent reality of the night.
Teresa Moretti was sitting in an armchair across the room, wrapped in a thick wool blanket, sipping hot tea. Despite surviving an assassination attempt and a plunge into the freezing river, the seventy-two-year-old matriarch looked remarkably composed. Her sharp, intelligent eyes missed nothing.
Luca stood by the large, reinforced window, staring out into the dark, rainy night. He had finally changed out of his wet suit, wearing a simple black t-shirt and dark jeans. The casual clothing made him look larger, more intimidating, stripping away the polished billionaire and leaving only the ruthless syndicate boss.
The heavy steel door of the office opened.
Daniel walked in, looking grim. He held a clear plastic evidence bag in his hand.
"Boss," Daniel said, his voice low. "We finished cleaning the cellar. We found this in Thomas's inner jacket pocket."
Luca turned away from the window. "What is it?"
Daniel handed him the plastic bag. Inside was a small, black encrypted cell phone.
"It's a burner," Daniel explained. "It’s heavily encrypted, but our tech guys managed to pull the call log before the remote wipe triggered. There was only one number saved in the contacts."
"Don Bellini," Luca assumed, his voice hard.
"No," Daniel replied, shaking his head. "That's the problem, Boss. The number doesn't trace back to the Bellini compound. It traces back to a private line inside this organization."
The temperature in the room plummeted.
Luca went completely still. "Inside my organization?"
Teresa lowered her teacup, her eyes narrowing. "Are you saying someone in our family hired the assassin?"
"It gets worse," Daniel swallowed hard, clearly terrified to deliver the news. "We ran the number through the internal network. The private line belongs to Marco."
My breath hitched in my throat.
Marco. Luca’s cousin. One of his top lieutenants. The man who sat at the head of the table alongside Luca, laughing and drinking wine while Vanessa belittled me.
"Marco?" Luca whispered, the betrayal hitting him like a physical blow. He stared at the burner phone in the plastic bag. "Marco hired Thomas?"
"It makes sense, Luca," Teresa said, her voice turning cold and analytical. "Marco has always been ambitious. Too ambitious. He knew if you married Vanessa, the Bellini family would merge with ours, and Marco’s position in the hierarchy would be marginalized by her father."
"So he hired an assassin to kill you, blame it on the Bellinis, and start a war?" Luca deduced, his mind racing to piece the puzzle together.
"If the Bellinis and the Morettis wipe each other out in a gang war," Daniel added grimly, "Marco is the only one left standing with enough authority to pick up the pieces and claim both empires."
Luca closed his eyes, a profound, agonizing pain washing over his features. The betrayal of a fiancée was one thing. The betrayal of blood was a wound that would never heal.
"Where is Marco right now?" Luca asked, opening his eyes, the sorrow instantly eclipsed by a lethal, apocalyptic rage.
"He's at his penthouse downtown," Daniel reported. "He thinks you're still at the mansion dealing with the aftermath of Vanessa's arrest."
Luca walked over to his desk. He reached into the top drawer and pulled out a heavy, suppressed tactical pistol. He checked the magazine, the metallic clack echoing loudly in the quiet office.
"Daniel, get the cars ready," Luca ordered softly. "We're paying my cousin a visit."
"Luca, wait," Teresa said firmly, standing up from her armchair.
Luca paused, looking at his mother.
"If you walk into Marco's penthouse and kill him, the Commission will demand answers," Teresa warned, her voice laced with decades of mafia politics. "Marco is a made man. A capo. You cannot execute him without undeniable proof, or the other families will use it as an excuse to turn on you."
"I have the burner phone," Luca argued, his grip tightening on the pistol.
"A burner phone is circumstantial," Teresa countered. "Marco will claim his phone was cloned. He’ll say Vanessa set him up. You need a confession, Luca. You need him to admit it."
Luca stared at his mother, knowing she was right. He needed Marco to hang himself with his own words.
"How do I get a confession from a man who knows he's caught?" Luca asked bitterly.
I lay on the sofa, listening to the terrifying reality of their world. I was just a maid. I shouldn't be hearing this. I shouldn't be involved. But as I looked at Luca, exhausted and betrayed by everyone he trusted, a sudden, crazy idea formed in my pain-addled brain.
"He doesn't know he's caught," I whispered.
Luca, Teresa, and Daniel all turned to look at me.
"What did you say, Emily?" Luca asked gently, walking over to the sofa.
I pushed myself up slightly, wincing as my ribs protested.
"Marco thinks the plan worked," I explained, my voice trembling slightly. "He thinks Thomas killed your mother. He thinks Vanessa is locked in the wine cellar. He doesn't know Thomas is dead, and he doesn't know you found the burner phone."
Luca frowned. "He'll know something is wrong when Thomas doesn't check in."
"So make Thomas check in," I suggested, my heart pounding at the sheer audacity of my own plan.
Luca looked at the burner phone in the plastic bag, then back at me, the brilliant, ruthless mind of the boss instantly grasping my intent.
"You want me to text him from Thomas's phone," Luca realized, a slow, dangerous smile spreading across his face.
"Tell him the job is done," I nodded. "Tell him you need your payment. Ask him to meet you somewhere quiet. Somewhere isolated."
"If Marco shows up to pay the assassin," Teresa nodded approvingly, looking at me with newfound respect, "that is all the proof the Commission will need."
Luca pulled the burner phone from the bag. He unlocked it, pulling up the text thread with Marco.
He typed rapidly.
The old woman is at the bottom of the river. The maid is dead. The fiancé is locked in the cellar. Job done. I need the rest of my money tonight, or I tell Luca everything.
He hit send.
We waited in agonizing silence. The seconds ticked by like hours.
Then, the burner phone buzzed in Luca’s hand.
Marco had replied.
Luca read the text, his dark eyes turning entirely black.
"What does it say?" Daniel asked, shifting nervously.
Luca looked up, his jaw set in stone.
"He took the bait," Luca stated coldly. "He wants to meet at the abandoned railyard on the West Side in thirty minutes."
Luca tossed the burner phone to Daniel.
"Get the men," Luca ordered. "We're going to a meeting."
Luca turned back to me. The lethal mafia boss vanished for a fraction of a second, replaced by a man looking at me with overwhelming, profound gratitude.
"Stay here, Emily," Luca whispered, reaching out and gently brushing a stray lock of hair behind my ear. His touch was warm, sending a jolt of electricity straight to my core. "I will be back."
I nodded, unable to speak, terrified for him but trusting him completely.
Luca walked out of the office, the heavy steel door closing behind him.
Teresa walked over to the sofa, sitting on the edge near my feet. She looked at me for a long time, her sharp eyes calculating.
"You are a very brave, very smart girl, Emily," Teresa said softly.
"I just wanted to help," I murmured, embarrassed by the praise.
"You did more than help," Teresa corrected, her voice turning serious. "You saved my life, and you just handed my son the key to saving his empire."
May you like
She leaned closer, her eyes locking onto mine.
"But you need to understand something," Teresa warned gently. "If Marco is willing to kill me to start a war... he won't come to that railyard alone. He's going to bring an army. And Luca is walking right into it."
