Chapter 12 - THE SHADOW
The hallway outside the guest room felt suddenly, suffocatingly cold.
Luca stared at the heavy wooden door, listening to the soft, rhythmic sound of Lucy humming a lullaby to her sleeping son inside.
"Targeting Lucy?" Luca repeated into his earpiece, his voice dropping to a lethal whisper. "Ten years ago? She was a teenager, Daniel."
"I know, Boss," Daniel replied, the frantic clicking of a keyboard echoing in the background. "But the photograph doesn't lie. It’s got a red circle drawn around her face. Vanessa is standing right next to her in the picture, but she’s crossed out. Vanessa was just collateral damage. Or practice."
Luca’s jaw clenched so hard his teeth ached.
"Who hates a high school girl enough to orchestrate an eight-year conspiracy?" Luca demanded.
"We’re trying to crack the encrypted accounts now," Daniel said. "But there’s something else. The transport van carrying Clara to lockup... it never arrived at the precinct."
Luca froze. "What do you mean?"
"It was intercepted," Daniel reported grimly. "Two black SUVs hit the transport vehicle on the interstate. They killed the guards and took Clara."
"The Moranos?"
"No. Our inside guy at the precinct said the SUVs had no plates, and the hitters used military-grade thermite to blow the doors. That’s not Morano style. That’s a professional extraction."
Reversal.
Clara hadn't been abandoned by her mysterious partner. She had been rescued.
And that meant the threat against Lucy wasn't over. It had just escalated to an entirely new, terrifying level.
"Double the perimeter guards," Luca ordered coldly. "Nobody enters this estate without my explicit authorization. If a squirrel touches the gate, I want to know about it."
"Copy that, Boss."
Luca ended the call. He took a deep breath, smoothing his features into a calm mask before pushing the bedroom door open.
Lucy was sitting in a plush armchair next to the bed, watching Leo sleep. The vintage diamond ring on her finger caught the soft light of the bedside lamp. She looked up and smiled when Luca walked in.
"He’s out cold," she whispered.
Luca walked over and knelt beside her chair, taking her hands in his. He kissed her knuckles, his mind racing with how to tell her that the nightmare wasn't quite finished.
"What's wrong?" Lucy asked, her smile fading. She had spent a lifetime reading danger in the subtle shifts of men’s faces. She immediately recognized the tension tightening Luca’s jaw.
"Clara escaped," Luca said quietly, choosing honesty over false comfort.
Lucy’s breath hitched. Her fingers tightened around his.
"How?" she asked, fear bleeding back into her voice.
"Someone hit the police transport," Luca explained gently. "She had a partner, Lucy. Someone who helped her eight years ago. Someone who has been targeting you for a very long time."
Lucy stared at him, absolute confusion warring with terror. "Targeting me? But... I was nobody. I was just a teenager living in a duplex with my mom."
"I know," Luca said, squeezing her hands reassuringly. "And we are going to find out exactly who it is, and we are going to end them. I promise you."
He stood up, pulling her gently from the chair and wrapping her in his arms. She buried her face in his chest, trembling slightly.
"I'm so tired, Luca," she whispered brokenly. "I just want it to be over."
"It will be," he vowed, kissing the top of her head. "Sleep. You’re safe here."
He guided her to the adjoining master suite. He didn't leave her side. He sat on the edge of the bed while she finally, exhaustedly, fell asleep, her hand still holding his.
Luca watched her breathe, the fierce protective instinct inside him roaring like an inferno.
He didn't care who the shadow partner was. He didn't care if it was a rival cartel, a corrupt politician, or a ghost from the past. He would burn Chicago to the ground before he let anyone touch her again.
Morning broke, casting a pale gray light across the estate.
Luca was already awake, standing on the balcony with a cup of black coffee, watching his security teams patrol the grounds.
His phone buzzed. Daniel.
"Tell me you have a name," Luca demanded, answering the call.
"We cracked the encryption on Clara’s offshore accounts, Boss," Daniel said, his voice tight. "The money wasn't coming from Chicago."
"Where was it coming from?"
"Milwaukee."
Luca frowned. "Milwaukee? Clara’s hometown?"
"Yes. But it wasn't her parents funding her," Daniel explained. "The account belongs to a trust fund. A very old, very wealthy trust fund."
"Give me the name, Daniel."
Daniel hesitated. "Boss... the trust fund is registered to the Bennett family."
Luca stopped breathing.
The Bennett family.
Lucy’s last name.
"Lucy said she grew up poor," Luca said slowly, the gears in his head violently shifting. "She said her mother struggled to pay rent."
"She did," Daniel confirmed. "But her father didn't. Her biological father, Arthur Bennett, is one of the wealthiest real estate tycoons in Wisconsin. He abandoned Lucy and her mother before Lucy was born."
Reversal.
Lucy wasn't a nobody. She was the unacknowledged heir to a billion-dollar fortune.
"Arthur Bennett died ten years ago," Daniel continued, dropping the final, devastating piece of the puzzle. "He left everything to his only legitimate son. Lucy’s half-brother. Richard Bennett."
Luca stared out at the freezing Chicago skyline.
Richard Bennett.
The half-brother who had inherited a billion-dollar empire, only to discover a teenage girl living in a duplex who had a legal claim to half of it.
"Richard hired Clara," Luca deduced, his voice dead cold. "He hired her to eliminate the only threat to his fortune. He told Clara to kill Vanessa as a test run. And he’s the one who broke Clara out last night."
"Yes, Boss. And Richard Bennett is currently boarding a private jet in Milwaukee. Headed for Chicago."
Luca crushed the paper coffee cup in his hand, the hot liquid spilling over his knuckles. He didn't even feel it.
He turned back toward the bedroom.
Lucy was sitting up, rubbing her eyes, the diamond ring sparkling in the morning light. She smiled sleepily at him.
"Good morning," she murmured.
Luca walked back inside, shedding his suit jacket. He pulled his shoulder holster from the closet and strapped it on.
"Get dressed, sweetheart," Luca said, his voice calm, steady, and utterly lethal.
Lucy’s smile faded, sensing the shift in the air. "What is it? Did you find them?"
"We found him," Luca corrected.
May you like
He walked over to the bed, leaning down to press a deep, lingering kiss to her lips.
"Your brother is coming to town," Luca whispered against her mouth. "And we are going to give him a very warm Chicago welcome."
