Chapter 8 - The Traitor’s True Colors
Vanessa screamed and shoved Leo behind her.
Carlo raised his cane, stepping in front of his daughter.
“Wait!” Carlo shouted. “This wasn't the deal! Lorenzo promised they would be spared!”
The scarred hitman chuckled, pulling back the hammer of his gun.
“Lorenzo Valenti died three hours ago. Heart attack. I run the family now. And I don't leave loose ends, especially little bastards who might claim the throne.”
Down in the dining room, Luca slammed his fists against the steel grate locking him inside.
“Let them go, Rossi!” Luca roared. “This is between me and you!”
Rossi, the hitman, didn't even look at him.
“You’re irrelevant, Moretti. You’re dying in a cage.”
He aimed down the sights at Carlo’s chest.
“Any last words, old man?”
I couldn't watch this happen.
I was standing behind the kitchen doors, separated from the dining room by the steel grate, but there was an old dumbwaiter shaft that led straight up to the second-floor balcony.
I turned and ran toward it.
I grabbed the heavy ropes and pulled myself inside the small wooden box, hauling myself upward with everything I had.
Below me, I heard Carlo speak.
“Yes,” the old man said softly. “I have one last word.”
Click.
It wasn't a gun.
It was a sharp, mechanical snap.
I reached the second floor, kicked open the dumbwaiter door, and crawled out onto the plush carpet of the upstairs hallway, just in time to see it happen.
Carlo hadn't brought his cane for support.
He twisted the silver handle, pulling a three-foot, razor-sharp sword from the wooden sheath.
Before Rossi could pull the trigger, Carlo threw the blade like a javelin.
It flew over the balcony railing and buried itself deep into Rossi’s shoulder.
The hitman screamed, dropping his gun.
Chaos erupted.
The other men raised their weapons and fired at the balcony.
“Run!” Carlo screamed, pushing Vanessa and Leo toward the hallway.
Bullets shattered the chandelier.
Glass rained down into the dining room.
Vanessa grabbed Leo and sprinted toward me.
Her eyes went wide when she saw me standing by the dumbwaiter.
“Emma? What are you doing here?”
“Saving your miserable life!” I grabbed her arm. “Come on!”
I pulled them down the hallway, toward the master suite.
We ducked inside, and I slammed the heavy oak door, locking the deadbolt.
Leo was crying silently, his small hands covering his ears.
Vanessa collapsed against the door, sobbing uncontrollably.
“My father,” she gasped. “They’re going to kill him.”
“He knew what he was doing,” I snapped.
I marched over to the fireplace, grabbed the heavy iron poker, and walked back to her.
“You set Luca up. You used him.”
Vanessa looked up at me, mascara running down her cheeks.
“I had to! They threatened Leo!”
“And now they’re going to kill all of us anyway!” I yelled. “Where is the override switch for the dining room cage?”
“There isn't one!”
“Bullshit!” I slammed the iron poker against the wall. “Antonio Moretti didn't build a panic room without a way out. Tell me!”
Vanessa flinched.
She looked at Leo, then at me.
“The suit,” she whispered.
“What?”
“The old suit Carlo brought. The charcoal one.”
I stared at her.
“It’s inside the dining room with Luca. What about it?”
Vanessa swallowed hard.
“When my father told me to search the jacket yesterday, he wasn't just looking for the button.”
She wiped her face.
“Antonio hid the emergency release code embroidered inside the lining of the right sleeve.”
I felt a surge of hope.
“Does Luca know that?”
“No,” Vanessa said. “No one knows but me and Carlo.”
Heavy footsteps thundered in the hallway outside.
Someone grabbed the doorknob and twisted it violently.
BANG.
They started kicking the door.
“Open up!” a man shouted.
I looked at Vanessa.
“Keep the boy behind the bed.”
I gripped the iron poker tightly, standing beside the doorframe, waiting for the wood to splinter.
But suddenly, the kicking stopped.
A heavy, sickening thud echoed in the hallway.
Then, total silence.
“Emma?” a voice called out softly from the other side of the door.
My heart hammered against my ribs.
It was Marco.
I slowly unlocked the deadbolt and pulled the door open.
Marco was leaning against the wall, a bloody fire extinguisher in his good hand.
The Valenti hitman was unconscious on the floor.
Marco was pale, sweating profusely, but he managed a crooked grin.
“Told you I wasn't just dead weight.”
I pulled him inside.
“We need to get to the dining room,” I said. “Luca is trapped, and he has the code to get out.”
Marco shook his head.
“We can't go downstairs. The rest of the crew is waiting.”
He looked at Vanessa.
“Where’s the old man?”
Vanessa burst into tears.
“He stayed on the balcony.”
Marco’s face fell.
He knew what that meant.
Suddenly, my phone buzzed again.
I pulled it out.
It was a text from Luca.
Emma. If you're still in the house. The blue room. Go now.
I showed the screen to Marco.
“Why does he want us to go back to the blue room?”
Marco’s eyes widened.
May you like
“Because the blue room sits directly above the dining room.”
TITLE: The Code In The Sleeve
