THE MAKEUP BENEATH THE LIES

“Vanessa, please!” I begged, tears springing to my eyes as I clutched the phone. “She’s just a little girl! She has nothing to do with this!”

“She has everything to do with this, Anna,” Vanessa said coldly over the line. “You wanted to play spy for Luca? This is the price. Bring the birth certificate and the music box to the old Bellini textile warehouse on the South Side. You have one hour. Come alone. If I see a single security car, I’ll make sure your sister never goes back to school.”

The line went dead.

I stood in the study, my whole body shaking violently.

Luca didn't say a word. He grabbed the phone from my trembling hand and tossed it onto the desk.

“Daniel,” Luca barked, his voice echoing with absolute authority. “Pull the cameras from Lily’s school. Find the license plate of the car Vanessa used.”

“Boss, the textile warehouse is a Bellini stronghold,” Daniel warned, his face tight with concern. “If Vanessa’s father, Don Bellini, is backing her play, he’ll have fifty armed men inside that building.”

“He doesn't know about the boy,” Luca said immediately.

Daniel frowned. “How can you be sure?”

“Because Don Bellini is a traditionalist,” Luca explained, pacing behind his desk. “If he knew his daughter had a bastard child with a Moretti, he would have used the boy as a bargaining chip years ago to force a merger. He wouldn't have waited eight years and arranged a fake engagement. Vanessa is playing her own family just as much as she’s playing mine.”

Luca stopped and looked at me. The terror on my face must have been absolute.

“I’m going to get her back, Anna,” Luca promised, his dark eyes fierce and unwavering. “I swear to you on my brother’s grave, your sister will not be harmed.”

“She said I have to come alone,” I cried softly. “If she sees you—”

“She’s not going to see me,” Luca said quietly. He walked over to a hidden wall panel behind a bookshelf, pressed a concealed button, and the wall popped open, revealing a heavy steel gun safe.

He pulled out two black automatic pistols, checking the magazines with lethal efficiency.

“You are going to walk through the front door with the documents, exactly as she asked,” Luca instructed, handing one of the heavy guns to Daniel. “Keep her talking. Keep her focused on you. While she’s gloating, Daniel and I will come in through the roof.”

“The roof?” I asked, wiping my eyes.

“The Bellini textile warehouse has old skylights,” Luca said grimly. “My father used them to raid the building twenty years ago. The architecture hasn't changed. We’ll have the drop on them.”

He walked over and placed his hands gently on my shoulders. His touch was warm and grounding against my panic.

“You have to be brave, Anna. For Lily,” Luca murmured. “Can you do this?”

I looked at the birth certificate on the desk. I thought about Vanessa’s cruel smile, the fake bruises, the cold way she threatened to break a child’s legs.

“I can do it,” I said.

Forty-five minutes later, an unmarked black sedan dropped me off two blocks away from the massive, decaying brick structure of the Bellini warehouse on the South Side.

The rain had started again, a freezing Chicago drizzle that soaked through my thin coat as I walked toward the building. I clutched the manila folder containing the birth certificate and the silver music box tightly against my chest.

The front doors of the warehouse were heavy corrugated steel, slightly ajar.

I took a deep breath, praying Luca was already in position, and slipped inside.

The warehouse was cavernous, smelling of old dust, damp brick, and rust. Weak sunlight filtered through the dirty skylights high above, casting long, eerie shadows across the abandoned textile looms on the floor.

In the center of the vast space, sitting on a wooden shipping crate, was Lily. Her hands were zip-tied in front of her, and she was crying quietly.

Standing behind her was Vanessa, holding a small, silver pistol.

She wasn't alone. Three large men in dark suits stood near the perimeter, holding assault rifles.

“Anna!” Lily cried out when she saw me, struggling against the zip-ties.

“I’m here, sweetie, it’s okay!” I yelled back, stepping further into the light.

“Stop right there,” Vanessa ordered, raising the pistol slightly. She looked around the empty warehouse, paranoid. “Are you alone?”

“Yes,” I lied, my heart hammering against my ribs. “I have the papers. Let her go.”

Vanessa smiled, a cold, empty expression. “Toss the folder and the music box on the floor and step back.”

“Not until you cut her ties,” I demanded.

Vanessa sighed dramatically. She gestured to one of the men. He walked over, pulled out a knife, and sliced the plastic zip-ties on Lily’s wrists.

Lily scrambled off the crate and ran toward me. I caught her, wrapping my good arm around her, shielding her body with mine.

“Now, the papers,” Vanessa said, extending her hand.

I tossed the folder and the music box onto the dusty concrete floor between us.

Vanessa walked forward and picked them up. She checked the birth certificate, ensuring it was the original.

“You really thought you could outsmart me, didn't you?” Vanessa mocked, tucking the folder under her arm. “You thought Luca would protect you? Luca is a fool. He’s so desperate for a perfect family to legitimize his violent little empire, he never even questioned why I agreed to marry him.”

I kept my eyes on her, trying to buy time. “You killed Alessandro.”

Vanessa laughed, a harsh, grating sound. “Alessandro was weak. He wanted to take the family legitimate. He was going to sell off the casinos and the ports. My father would have lost millions in the transition. So I made sure Alessandro didn't make it back from Sicily.”

“And you kept his son a secret so you could steal Luca’s empire, too,” I said.

Vanessa’s smile vanished. “Leo is a Moretti. He’s the rightful heir. Luca is just keeping the throne warm for him. Once we’re married, Luca will have a very tragic, very fatal accident. And I will rule Chicago as the mother of the Don.”

She raised her pistol, pointing it directly at my chest.

“It’s a shame you won't be around for the wedding, Anna,” Vanessa said coldly.

She pulled the trigger.

But the gunshot never came.

Instead, the massive glass skylight directly above Vanessa shattered into a million pieces.

Before the glass even hit the floor, a dark figure dropped through the opening, landing heavily on top of a shipping crate right behind Vanessa.

It was Luca.

He didn't hesitate. Before the three armed guards could even raise their rifles, Luca fired two silenced shots, dropping the men on the left and right flanks instantly.

Vanessa shrieked, spinning around and firing blindly toward the crates.

Daniel burst through the back loading dock doors at the exact same moment, returning fire. The third guard went down in a hail of bullets.

The warehouse fell dead silent, save for the echo of the gunfire and the sound of falling glass.

Vanessa stood in the center of the room, completely surrounded, her pistol empty.

Luca stepped off the shipping crate, his gun leveled directly at Vanessa’s head. His eyes were entirely black, devoid of any mercy. He had just heard the woman he was supposed to marry confess to murdering his brother.

“Luca, wait!” Vanessa screamed, dropping the empty gun, falling to her knees. “You can’t kill me! I’m the mother of your nephew! If I die, you’ll never see Leo again!”

Luca stopped walking. The mention of his brother’s child froze the blood in his veins.

“Where is he?” Luca demanded softly.

“He’s in a secure boarding school in Switzerland,” Vanessa cried, sensing his hesitation. “Under a false name. I’m the only one who knows where he is. If you kill me, he disappears into the foster system forever!”

Luca lowered his gun slightly, the agony of the choice tearing at his face.

But as he hesitated, a slow, dark chuckle echoed from the shadows near the front entrance of the warehouse.

“She’s lying, Luca.”

We all turned.