Chapter 8 - THE ROSARY ON THE SECURE DOOR
The red emergency lights of the vault seemed to pulse in time with my frantic heartbeat.
I stared at the glowing screen of Vanessa’s phone. The live feed was crisp and clear. The guard standing over my sleeping son was wearing a Moretti uniform. He was Thomas, the night watchman Vanessa had spoken to earlier that evening.
“Leo!” I screamed, lunging forward, my hands reaching desperately for the phone.
Luca caught me by the waist, pulling me back hard against his chest. His grip was an iron vise, holding me in place before I could throw myself into the line of fire.
“Stay still, Mara,” Luca commanded, his voice a low rumble vibrating against my back.
“She’s going to kill him!” I sobbed, thrashing wildly. “Luca, please, give her what she wants! Please!”
Vanessa’s smile widened into something grotesque and triumphant. She stepped forward, the silver gun still dangling loosely in one hand while she held the phone up with the other.
“Listen to the desperate mother, Luca,” Vanessa taunted, her eyes gleaming in the red light. “You have ten seconds. Throw the journal and the key on the floor, and order your men to stand down. If you try to shoot me, my thumb slips off the dead-man’s switch on this app, and Thomas pulls the trigger.”
The silence in the vault was agonizing. Marco and the dozen Moretti soldiers didn't lower their weapons, waiting for Luca’s command.
Luca stared at the phone screen. He looked at the sleeping child. He looked at the traitor standing over him.
Then, very slowly, Luca reached into his jacket pocket.
He pulled out the heavy gold pocket watch that David had hollowed out.
He tossed it onto the concrete floor. It landed with a heavy clatter, skidding right to the toe of Vanessa’s designer boots.
Then, he tossed the blood-stained journal next to it.
“Marco,” Luca ordered, his voice devoid of all emotion. “Stand down. Let her go.”
Marco’s jaw tightened, but he lowered his rifle. The laser sights vanished from Vanessa’s chest.
“Smart boy,” Vanessa sneered. She knelt down, keeping the phone raised, and scooped up the journal and the pocket watch. She shoved them into her deep trench coat pockets.
“Now, open the blast doors,” Vanessa ordered.
Luca nodded slightly. A heavy grinding noise echoed through the cavern as the massive steel doors slowly began to slide open, revealing the pouring rain outside.
Vanessa backed toward the exit, her silver gun raised again, keeping us pinned.
“I’ll keep the feed live until I’m off the property,” Vanessa said, backing into the rain. “If anyone follows me, the boy dies.”
She turned and sprinted into the darkness of the woods, leaving her three surrendered men behind.
The moment she was out of sight, I tore out of Luca’s grip.
“We have to get to the bunker!” I screamed, running toward the exit.
“Mara, wait!” Luca yelled, sprinting after me.
I didn't care about the rain, the mud, or the heavy Kevlar vest weighing me down. I ran through the woods like a wild animal, branches tearing at my face and uniform. The bunker was only half a mile away, but it felt like traversing an entire continent.
My lungs burned, my burned arm throbbed in agony, but the only image in my mind was the barrel of a gun pointed at my little boy’s head.
Luca caught up to me just as we reached the heavy steel doors of the secure wing.
“Let me go in first,” Luca ordered, pushing me behind him. He raised his pistol, scanning the biometric lock on the wall.
The light on the scanner was glowing green. The door was already unlocked.
Luca pushed the heavy steel door open.
The bunker was dead silent.
I pushed past Luca, sprinting down the short hallway toward the bedroom where I had left Leo.
“Leo!” I screamed, bursting through the door.
The room was dimly lit.
The bed was empty.
The cashmere blanket was thrown on the floor.
I dropped to my knees, a sound tearing from my throat that didn't even sound human. It was the primal, wretched scream of a mother who had lost her entire world.
“He’s gone,” I sobbed, clawing at the empty mattress. “She took him. She lied.”
Luca walked slowly into the room. He didn't look panicked. He looked incredibly, terrifyingly calm.
He walked over to the doorframe of the bedroom and reached up.
Hanging from the top hinge of the door was a heavy wooden rosary.
Luca took the rosary down, running his thumb over the smooth wooden beads.
“She didn't take him, Mara,” Luca said softly.
“What do you mean?” I cried, staring up at him through a blur of tears. “You saw the video! Thomas was here!”
“Yes, he was,” Luca said, turning to look at me. “But Thomas didn't betray me tonight. He betrayed Vanessa.”
I froze. My breath hitched in my throat. “What?”
“Vanessa has been paying Thomas for months to spy on me,” Luca explained quietly. “But I found out three weeks ago. I offered Thomas a choice: die a traitor, or work as a double agent for me.”
Luca walked over and knelt in front of me, taking my shaking hands in his.
“The live feed Vanessa showed us was pre-recorded, Mara. Thomas recorded that video an hour ago, holding an empty gun, right after I told him to move your son to a safer location.”
I stared at him, the realization slowly washing over my frantic brain.
“Leo is safe?” I whispered, terrified to believe it.
“He is perfectly safe,” Luca promised, his eyes fierce and unwavering. “He is in the main house, sitting in the kitchen with Mrs. Carter, eating chocolate cake.”
I collapsed against Luca’s chest, weeping uncontrollably with pure relief. He wrapped his arms around me, holding me tight as the adrenaline finally crashed out of my system.
But as I caught my breath, a new terrifying thought pierced through the relief.
“But you gave her the journal,” I gasped, pulling back to look at his face. “You gave Vanessa the master key! She’s going to give it to her father. They’re going to take over the syndicate.”
Luca smiled. It was a dark, brilliant, terrifying smile.
“I didn't give Vanessa my father’s journal,” Luca said softly.
“But I saw it! The blood-stained notebook!”
“It was a notebook from the kitchens, covered in pig’s blood,” Luca said calmly. “And the master key I threw on the floor was the hollowed-out casing of David’s watch. I took the titanium cylinder out of it twenty minutes before we went to the vault.”
I stared at him in awe. He had played her perfectly.
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“Then where is Vanessa going?” I asked.
“She’s running straight into the dining room of the main house to hand a fake ledger to her father,” Luca said, standing up and pulling me to my feet. “And the entire Commission of the Five Families is waiting at the table to see it.”
