Chapter 8
The Betrayal
Luca hit the ground.
“Luca!”
I dropped beside him.
Blood covered my hands immediately.
“Stay with me.”
He blinked.
“I'm fine.”
“You've been shot!”
“I noticed.”
Michael's men opened fire toward the roof.
Antonio disappeared.
My father dragged me behind the ambulance.
“Pressure!”
I pressed both hands against Luca's side.
He grunted.
“Sorry.”
“Don't apologize.”
“That's easy for you to say.”
“Luca.”
His face was pale.
But he was conscious.
That was something.
Paramedics lifted him onto a stretcher.
I tried to follow.
One blocked me.
“Family?”
I froze.
“No.”
Luca's hand reached from the stretcher.
“She comes.”
The paramedic looked at him.
“Sir—”
“She comes.”
Apparently being shot did not make Luca less authoritative.
I climbed into the ambulance.
His hand found mine.
“Bruno?”
I almost laughed.
“You're bleeding and you're asking about the dog?”
“Yes.”
“He's safe.”
“Your family?”
“Safe.”
He closed his eyes.
“Good.”
I squeezed his hand.
“Don't sleep.”
“I'm not dying.”
“You don't know that.”
“I've been shot before.”
I stared.
“What?”
He opened one eye.
“Bad timing?”
“Very.”
“Sorry.”
At the hospital, surgeons removed a bullet from Luca's side.
It had missed his kidney by less than an inch.
Michael stood in the waiting room covered in someone else's blood.
My father sat across from him.
Mom and Ethan had been moved to a secure location.
Bruno was taken there too.
I paced.
Michael finally said, “You're making me dizzy.”
“I don't care.”
“He'll live.”
“You don't know that.”
“I know Luca.”
“Knowing someone does not make them bulletproof.”
“No.”
Michael looked toward the operating doors.
“But he's irritatingly difficult to kill.”
Four hours later, the surgeon confirmed it.
Luca would recover.
I sat down and cried from relief.
Then I got angry.
Antonio had escaped.
Police found the rifle.
No fingerprints.
No vehicle.
No trace.
Vanessa had been released on bail.
Victor remained in custody, but his attorneys were already fighting every charge.
The conspiracy was bigger than we knew.
And somewhere in Chicago was a ledger that could destroy all of them.
My father sat beside me.
“You care about him.”
I wiped my face.
“He's my employer.”
Dad stared.
“Do you usually kiss employers?”
I looked at him.
“You were unconscious?”
“Not entirely.”
I groaned.
“Wonderful.”
“Emma.”
“Don't.”
“I spent fourteen years wishing I could give you fatherly advice.”
“And now you think you're qualified?”
He accepted that.
“No.”
I immediately regretted it.
Dad looked down.
I sighed.
“You don't get to come back and start making choices for me.”
“I know.”
“But you can have an opinion.”
He looked at me.
“My opinion is Luca Moretti is dangerous.”
“So is Victor.”
“Different kind of dangerous.”
“You worked with his father.”
“Which is why I know.”
“What exactly are you afraid he'll do?”
Dad was quiet.
“Become his father.”
“That doesn't sound terrible based on everything you've told me.”
“You don't know everything Salvatore did.”
There it was.
Another secret.
“What?”
Dad looked toward Michael.
Then back at me.
“Salvatore wasn't innocent.”
“I assumed the head of a crime family wasn't nominated for sainthood.”
“He killed people.”
“So has Luca?”
Dad didn't answer.
I stared.
“You know?”
“Not specifically.”
“Then don't.”
“I know the world he grew up in.”
“So do I now.”
“No. You know the polished house. The expensive suits. The loyal employees.”
Dad leaned closer.
“You don't know what men like that do when they think they're protecting something they love.”
His words stayed with me.
Because I'd seen Luca on the platform with Victor.
And he'd saved him.
A few hours later, Luca woke.
I entered his room.
He looked terrible.
Which somehow made him more human.
“You're staring,” he said.
“You got shot.”
“Yes.”
“You said you'd been shot before.”
“Twice.”
“That wasn't in the employee handbook.”
“I'll ask HR to update it.”
I pulled a chair closer.
“Antonio escaped.”
“I know.”
“Vanessa is out.”
“I know.”
“Your uncle tried to kill you.”
“I know.”
“You are annoyingly calm.”
“Pain medication.”
I smiled.
Then he reached for my hand.
The smile disappeared.
His thumb brushed my knuckles.
“About what happened outside.”
“The shooting?”
“Before.”
My heart raced.
“The kiss.”
“Yes.”
“Was that the medication too?”
His eyes darkened.
“No.”
Neither of us spoke.
Then he said, “It can't happen again.”
It felt like he'd poured cold water over me.
“Oh.”
“Emma—”
“You don't owe me an explanation.”
“I think I do.”
“No.”
I stood.
He tightened his fingers around mine.
“Sit down.”
“That's an order?”
“A request.”
I sat.
He looked frustrated.
“At the warehouse, Victor used your family to control you.”
“I remember.”
“If people believe you matter to me, they will use you.”
I swallowed.
“Do I?”
“What?”
“Do I matter to you?”
His silence was answer enough.
I looked down.
“That seems inconvenient.”
“You have no idea.”
My heart hurt in a way I didn't want to examine.
“So your solution is pretending you don't care?”
“My solution is distance.”
“That's cowardly.”
“Probably.”
“At least you're self-aware.”
He smiled faintly.
Then the hospital door opened.
Vanessa walked in.
I stood so quickly the chair scraped.
“What are you doing here?”
She wore a cream suit and sunglasses.
Like she was arriving for brunch.
Two police officers stood outside.
“My attorney arranged permission.”
Luca's face became cold.
“Get out.”
“I came to help.”
“You drugged my dog.”
“I didn't.”
“You arranged Emma's kidnapping.”
“I arranged to scare her.”
“That's not better.”
Vanessa removed her sunglasses.
She had been crying.
“My father used me.”
Luca laughed once.
“You expect sympathy?”
“No.”
She looked at me.
“I expect you to want Antonio.”
I didn't trust her.
Neither did Luca.
“What do you know?” he asked.
Vanessa placed a key on the table.
“Antonio has the ledger.”
My father, standing near the door, stiffened.
“No.”
Vanessa looked at him.
“Hello, Daniel.”
Dad's face hardened.
“Where?”
“St. Catherine's Church.”
Luca frowned.
“The Bellini family church?”
“There's a private crypt beneath it.”
She looked at me.
“Antonio moved everything there after the warehouse attack.”
“Why tell us?”
“Because my father is going to blame me for all of it.”
“You deserve part of it,” I said.
She nodded.
That surprised me.
“Yes.”
Then she looked at Luca.
“But Antonio is planning something worse.”
“What?”
“Tomorrow night is the Moretti Foundation gala.”
“Canceled.”
“No.”
Vanessa shook her head.
“He doesn't know you're canceling it.”
Luca's expression changed.
“What does that mean?”
“It means he's expecting every Moretti board member in one room.”
Michael stepped forward.
“For what?”
Vanessa looked at him.
“To kill them.”
Silence.
“Then he'll make it look like Bellini retaliation.”
Luca sat upright despite the pain.
“Why?”
“Because with the board gone and Luca incapacitated, Antonio controls the trust.”
My father whispered, “The succession clause.”
Luca looked at him.
Dad nodded.
“If Luca dies without an heir, control passes to Salvatore's surviving brother.”
Antonio.
Vanessa's eyes filled with tears.
“He wasn't trying to steal Luca's company.”
She looked directly at me.
“He was planning to inherit it.”
May you like
Then the hospital lights went out.
Chapters 1–10
