Chapter 9 - The Federal Deal
The rhythmic beeping of the heart monitor seemed to fill the entire room, loud and steady against the crushing silence.
Luca stared at his wife. His hands, still stained with dried blood and mud, gripped the metal railing at the foot of her hospital bed.
“What do you mean, he had something on me?” Luca asked, his voice a low, dangerous rasp. “The feds have been trying to build a RICO case against me for a decade. If Vance had something solid, he would have raided the mansion, not taken my wife for a walk in the park.”
Isabella turned her head, looking away from him. Tears continued to spill over the bridge of her nose, soaking into the pristine white pillowcase.
“It wasn’t a RICO case, Luca,” she whispered, her voice weak from the blood loss. “It was a murder charge.”
I stood near the door, my breath catching in my throat.
Luca frowned, genuine confusion crossing his face. “I’ve never killed anyone the feds care about. My hands are clean on paper.”
“Not ten years ago,” Isabella choked out. “Not the night your father died.”
Luca froze. His entire body went rigid.
Answer one. Open two.
The night Luca’s father died. It was mafia legend. The old don had been gunned down in a restaurant by a rival family. Luca, who was twenty-six at the time, had supposedly found the body and called the police, walking away with clean hands while his father’s capos handled the retaliation.
But Isabella was shaking her head.
“Julian found the security footage from the alley behind the restaurant,” Isabella said, forcing herself to look at Luca. “He found it eighteen months ago while auditing the old safe house. It showed the rival gunmen fleeing… and it showed you chasing them down.”
Luca’s face turned the color of ash.
“The footage showed you executing the two men who shot your father, Luca. Point-blank. In the alley. It’s on tape.”
I felt a cold sweat break out on the back of my neck.
Luca had killed the assassins himself. And Julian had the proof.
“Julian didn’t take it to the family,” Isabella continued, sobbing quietly. “He took it to Richard Vance. He made a deal. Julian would hand over the tape to put you in federal prison for double homicide, securing a life sentence. In exchange, Vance would look the other way while Julian seized control of the legitimate businesses.”
Luca gripped the bedrail so hard the metal groaned.
“If Julian gave Vance the tape,” Luca breathed, “why am I not in prison?”
Isabella reached out, her trembling fingers brushing the glossy photograph resting on her chest. The picture of her holding hands with the prosecutor.
“Because I found out,” she whispered.
Isabella swallowed hard, fighting through the pain of her stitches.
“I heard Julian bragging about it on the phone. I confronted him. He laughed in my face. He told me the feds were coming for you the next morning. So… I went to Richard Vance that night.”
She looked up at Luca, her eyes filled with a fierce, unwavering love that made my chest ache.
“I offered Vance a better deal,” she said.
Luca stared at her, horrified realization slowly dawning in his eyes. “Izzy… what did you do?”
“Vance didn’t want you for a ten-year-old double homicide,” Isabella said simply. “He wanted the entire syndicate. He wanted the offshore accounts. The bribes. The politicians on your payroll.”
She took a shaky breath.
“I told Vance that if he buried the tape of you in the alley, I would become his confidential informant. I promised to infiltrate the offshore accounts and hand him the ledger that would dismantle the entire Chicago underworld.”
The room was dead silent.
Isabella hadn’t been extorted by Julian. She hadn’t abandoned her family for money.
She had sold her own soul to the federal government to keep her husband out of a cage.
“But Vance wouldn’t just take my word for it,” Isabella cried. “He needed me completely dependent on him. He told me I had to leave you. I had to file for divorce and act like a scorned wife so you wouldn’t suspect I was stealing your financial data. If I didn’t… he would release the tape.”
Luca dropped to his knees beside her bed.
The powerful mafia boss, the untouchable don of Chicago, buried his face in the blankets next to his wife’s hand and began to weep.
Great, shuddering sobs tore through his chest.
He reached out and grabbed her hand, kissing her knuckles, burying his wet face in her palm.
“Izzy,” Luca choked out. “My god, Izzy. You threw your life away for me.”
“I saved your life,” Isabella whispered, stroking his dark hair with her free hand. “But Julian found out I was working with the feds. He cornered me. He told me if I didn’t take the two million and disappear forever, he would kill Daniel. So I ran. I’ve been running for eighteen months, trying to find a way to get Vance the ledger without getting our son killed.”
I wiped tears from my own face, leaning against the hospital door.
She was the bravest woman I had ever seen.
Luca slowly lifted his head. His eyes were red, but the absolute, crushing guilt was slowly being replaced by a terrifying, focused resolve.
“Where is the ledger, Izzy?” Luca asked softly.
“I hid it,” she said. “Before I left. Vance has been threatening to release the tape if I don’t deliver it soon. That’s why I came back tonight. I needed to see Daniel one last time before I handed it over and went into witness protection.”
“You are not going anywhere,” Luca said, his voice ringing with absolute certainty. “You are my wife. You are coming home. And Richard Vance is never touching you again.”
Luca stood up. He looked at me.
“Hannah. Stay with her. Call the guards in. Nobody gets within ten feet of this bed.”
I nodded quickly, stepping further into the room.
Luca leaned down and kissed Isabella, a deep, desperate kiss that held eighteen months of apologies and promises.
“I love you,” Luca whispered against her lips. “I’m going to fix this.”
He turned and marched toward the door.
“Luca, wait!” Isabella called out, panic returning to her voice. “Where are you going? You can’t fight the federal government!”
Luca stopped in the doorway, the harsh hospital light casting long shadows across his ruined clothes.
“I’m not going to fight them, Izzy,” Luca said, a dark, dangerous smile pulling at the corner of his mouth.
He reached into his jacket and pulled out his phone.
“I’m going back to the mansion. I’m going to have a long talk with Julian. Because if Julian had the original security tape to give to the feds…”
Luca’s smile widened, cold and lethal.
May you like
“I bet my treacherous cousin kept a copy for himself. And it’s time we made a new deal with the Devil.”
TITLE: The Blackmail Vault
