Chapter 8 - THE TRADE
The heavy silver braided bracelet caught the harsh vanity lights, gleaming against my pale skin.
Vanessa’s eyes locked onto it. The shock on her face was instantly replaced by a ravenous, desperate hunger.
“Take it off,” Vanessa ordered, her voice vibrating with tension. She stood up, reaching toward her silk robe.
I knew what she was reaching for. The silver pistol she had shown on the video feed.
“If you pull that gun, I scream,” I said, keeping my voice terrifyingly steady. “The Falcone bosses are upstairs. They expect a quiet, elegant wedding. They don’t know you hired incompetent hitmen who failed to kill a maid. They don’t know you lost control.”
Vanessa’s hand froze inside her pocket.
I had hit the nerve. She was playing a dangerous game with the Falcones, pretending she was a master manipulator. If they knew she was sloppy, they would kill her before she ever reached the altar.
“What do you want?” Vanessa sneered, stepping slowly toward me.
“Let them go,” I pointed to Mia and Leo huddled by the radiator.
Vanessa laughed. A cold, brittle sound.
“You think you can negotiate with me? You scrub my toilets.”
“I have the cipher to the Moretti accounts,” I countered, stepping backward toward the service door at the rear of the suite. “Without this bracelet, the Falcones get nothing. And they will put a bullet in your head the moment you walk down that aisle.”
Vanessa stopped.
She looked at the terrified children. Then at the heavy silver bracelet on my wrist.
She did the math.
“You give me the bracelet first,” Vanessa demanded.
“No.” I reached behind me, turning the deadbolt on the service door. I pushed it open an inch. “They walk through this door. Once they are safe, I take it off.”
Vanessa glared at me, pure hatred burning in her eyes.
She walked over to the radiator, pulled a small knife from the vanity drawer, and sliced the zip ties binding Mia and Leo.
“Get out,” Vanessa hissed at them.
Mia grabbed Leo’s hand, pulling the sobbing boy to his feet. They stumbled across the room, terrified, keeping their eyes on Vanessa.
They reached the service door.
I pushed it open wider.
Through the crack, I saw the flash of Daniel’s frantic face in the dark corridor.
Mia and Leo slipped through.
The door clicked shut behind them.
They were safe.
I let out a breath I felt like I had been holding for my entire life.
“Now,” Vanessa said, pulling the silver pistol from her robe and pointing it directly at my chest. “Take it off.”
I looked at the barrel of the gun.
I had promised Luca I would hit the floor. I had promised him I wouldn't die.
I slowly unclasped the silver braided bracelet.
It fell away from my wrist, heavy and cold.
I tossed it onto the plush white carpet halfway between us.
Vanessa’s eyes dropped to the jewelry.
That was her mistake.
In that split second, the heavy oak double doors of the bridal suite exploded inward.
Splinters of wood rained across the room.
Luca Moretti stepped through the ruined doorway, a suppressed weapon in his hands, looking like the wrath of God himself.
Vanessa shrieked, swinging her pistol toward him.
But she was too slow.
Luca didn’t shoot her. He crossed the room in two terrifyingly fast strides, grabbed her wrist, and twisted it violently.
The silver pistol clattered to the floor.
Vanessa screamed in pain as Luca shoved her hard against the mirrored vanity, pinning her with his forearm across her throat.
The glass cracked behind her.
“Did you really think I was going to let you wear a white dress today?” Luca whispered, his voice practically freezing the air in the room.
“The Falcones are upstairs!” Vanessa choked out, struggling against his grip. “If you kill me, they’ll slaughter you!”
Luca smiled. A dark, terrifying smile.
“The Falcones aren’t upstairs anymore, Vanessa.”
Vanessa’s eyes widened in panic. “What?”
“While you were busy arguing with my housekeeper,” Luca said smoothly, “my men secured the sanctuary. The Falcone bosses are currently sitting in the pews, surrounded by my soldiers, reading a very interesting file Peter Doran provided me.”
Vanessa went completely pale.
“The file containing your original marriage certificate to Christopher,” Luca continued. “And the medical records proving you institutionalized him to steal his grandfather’s money.”
“They don’t care about that!” Vanessa spat.
“They don’t,” Luca agreed. “But they do care about the antique pocket watch I found in your dress.”
Vanessa stopped struggling.
Total, absolute terror finally washed over her face.
“You kept a trophy from the man you murdered ten years ago,” Luca said softly. “The former head of the Falcone family. And now, the current bosses know exactly who pulled the trigger.”
Luca stepped back, releasing her.
Vanessa slumped against the broken vanity, her chest heaving.
“They’ll kill me,” she whispered.
“Yes, they will,” Luca said, holstering his weapon. “Unless you take the service elevator down to the garage. There’s a car waiting. It will take you to federal authorities. You will confess to the murder, and you will spend the rest of your life in a concrete box.”
He looked down at her with absolute disgust.
“Prison, or the Falcones. Choose.”
Vanessa looked at the silver bracelet lying abandoned on the carpet. The key to the empire she had almost stolen.
She sobbed, a pathetic, broken sound, and ran for the service door.
Luca watched her go.
Then he turned to me.
I was leaning against the wall, my legs trembling so violently I could barely stand.
Luca crossed the room.
He didn’t say a word. He just wrapped his arms around me, pulling me tight against his chest.
I buried my face in his shoulder, gripping his shirt, the adrenaline finally crashing out of my system.
May you like
“I’ve got you,” Luca murmured into my hair, his own hands shaking as he held me. “It’s over, Laura. I’ve got you.”
We stood there in the ruins of the bridal suite, while the mafia war ended without a single shot fired.
