Chapter 6 - THE VAULT
Downtown Chicago was slick with midnight rain.
Luca drove the stolen truck like a madman, tires screeching as we pulled up to the imposing marble columns of the First City Bank.
A man in an expensive suit was waiting by the side entrance, trembling beneath an umbrella. It was the bank president. Luca had made one phone call, and the man had rushed out of bed in terror.
He unlocked the heavy steel doors without a word, his hands shaking as he swiped his master keycard.
“The vault is open, Mr. Moretti,” the president stammered. “But please, I have a family—”
“Go home, David,” Luca said, not even looking at him.
We walked down the spiral marble staircase into the subterranean vault. The heavy circular door was already swung wide open.
Row after row of metal lockboxes lined the walls.
Box 408.
I slid the brass key in. It turned with a heavy click.
I pulled the long metal drawer out and set it on the viewing table.
Inside lay a thick, leather-bound ledger.
I opened it. Pages and pages of my father’s neat handwriting detailed decades of Moretti family assets, untampered and original.
“This is it,” Luca said, trailing his fingers over the ink. “This proves the trust Vanessa is trying to force me to sign is a fraudulent forgery.”
He closed the ledger.
But as he reached to pick it up, the sound of a gun cocking echoed through the cavernous vault.
We spun around.
Standing in the doorway of the vault, soaking wet from the rain, was Marcus Vance. The lawyer.
He was holding a suppressed pistol, aimed directly at Luca’s chest.
“Step away from the box, Luca,” Marcus said. His voice was exhausted, devoid of the smug confidence he usually carried.
“Marcus,” Luca growled, stepping in front of me to shield my body. “You sold my family out to the Bellinis. You hid my sister’s child.”
“I didn’t hide him to hurt you!” Marcus shouted, his composure breaking. “I hid him to protect him from your father! Your father ordered the hit on Sofia’s car because she was trying to leave the family!”
The reversal hit the room like a bomb.
Luca froze. “You’re lying.”
“I loved your mother, Luca,” Marcus wept, the gun shaking in his hand. “I swore to her I would protect her grandson. But Vanessa found out. She found the boy. She’s holding him hostage to force me to help her steal your assets.”
Marcus slowly lowered the gun.
He reached into his pocket and pulled out a delicate, braided silver bracelet.
Luca’s breath hitched. It was Sofia’s bracelet.
“Save the boy, Luca,” Marcus pleaded, tossing the bracelet onto the table. “She’s at Pier 4. I came here to warn you. It’s a tra—”
A deafening crack shattered the silence.
Marcus jerked forward. A blossoming red stain appeared on his chest.
He collapsed to the marble floor.
May you like
Standing behind him, stepping over his bleeding body, was Vanessa’s head of security, flanked by three armed men.
“Vanessa sends her regards,” the man smiled. “Take the ledger. And kill them both.”
