Chapter 9
The Gala
The blackout lasted eleven seconds.
Long enough for everyone in Luca's room to reach a different conclusion.
Michael drew his weapon.
My father moved in front of me.
Vanessa dropped to the floor.
And Luca attempted to get out of bed despite having undergone surgery less than eight hours earlier.
I shoved him back down.
“You're not going anywhere.”
“Emma.”
“No.”
The emergency lights activated.
Michael checked the hallway.
False alarm.
A transformer had failed two blocks away.
It didn't matter.
Antonio's plan had changed everything.
By morning, Luca had decided not to cancel the Moretti Foundation gala.
I thought the pain medication had damaged his brain.
“You want everyone to attend?”
“Yes.”
“Where Antonio plans to kill them?”
“Yes.”
“That is the worst plan I've ever heard.”
“It's not the full plan.”
“Does the full plan become less stupid?”
“Slightly.”
Luca intended to use the gala as bait.
Police would be present undercover.
Michael's security team would control entrances.
The board members would be warned privately.
Vanessa would publicly appear at Luca's side again.
That part I disliked more than I wanted to admit.
“You're pretending the engagement is back on?”
“Yes.”
Vanessa stood across the room.
“I dislike this too.”
I looked at her.
“I wasn't asking.”
Something almost like amusement appeared on Luca's face.
He hid it badly.
The plan depended on Antonio believing Vanessa had betrayed nobody.
She would claim she'd gone to Luca after Victor threatened her.
She would convince Antonio the flash drive had been recovered.
Then she would tell him Luca planned to decode it during the gala.
The hope was simple.
Antonio would come for it.
“The ledger?” I asked.
“Michael's team will search the church during the gala.”
“Without Antonio knowing?”
“Yes.”
“And me?”
Luca didn't answer immediately.
“You'll stay with your family.”
“No.”
“Emma.”
“No.”
Vanessa looked between us.
“Oh.”
I turned.
“What?”
She smiled.
“Nothing.”
“Say it.”
“You're sleeping with him.”
Luca said, “Vanessa.”
“We kissed once,” I snapped.
Vanessa's smile grew.
“Even worse.”
I hated her for being right about that.
Luca rubbed his temple.
“Can we return to the attempted mass murder?”
“Gladly.”
I crossed my arms.
“I'm going.”
“No.”
“My father knows the ledger.”
“Your father is going.”
“Then so am I.”
“You are not trained for this.”
“Neither is Vanessa.”
Vanessa looked offended.
“I was raised by Victor Bellini.”
“That is not a qualification.”
“It practically is.”
Luca's mouth twitched again.
I pointed at him.
“Stop enjoying this.”
“I am hospitalized and being yelled at by three women. I assure you, I'm miserable.”
Eventually, we compromised.
Meaning Luca lost.
I would attend the gala as part of the staff.
No dramatic entrance.
No visible connection to him.
No leaving Michael's assigned security zone.
I agreed to all three.
I intended to obey at least two.
The gala began at seven.
The Moretti Foundation headquarters occupied a restored hotel on Michigan Avenue.
Four hundred guests arrived.
Politicians.
Doctors.
Business owners.
Celebrities.
People who had no idea an attempted murderer might be walking among them.
Luca arrived at seven thirty.
He looked impossible.
Black tuxedo.
Perfect hair.
Not the slightest indication he'd been shot the previous morning.
Only I knew how tightly the bandage was wrapped beneath his shirt.
Vanessa stepped from the car beside him.
Silver dress.
Diamonds.
Her hand through his arm.
Cameras exploded with light.
My stomach twisted.
Ridiculous.
I knew it was fake.
Still ridiculous.
“You're jealous.”
My father stood beside me wearing a catering jacket.
“I'm working.”
“You're aggressively polishing the same glass.”
I put it down.
“Mind your business.”
“I missed this.”
“What?”
“Annoying you.”
I looked at him.
He smiled.
It hurt and healed something at the same time.
“Fourteen years doesn't disappear because you make one joke.”
“I know.”
“But you can make another later.”
His eyes softened.
“I'd like that.”
At eight fifteen, Michael received confirmation.
Police had entered the church crypt.
They found boxes.
Documents.
Hard drives.
And the missing brass key.
But no ledger.
At eight forty, Vanessa approached Antonio.
I watched from across the ballroom.
Antonio wore a tuxedo and a pleasant smile.
Like he hadn't shot his nephew twenty-four hours earlier.
Vanessa whispered something.
Antonio's eyes moved toward Luca.
Then toward the second-floor office.
He took the bait.
Luca excused himself from a conversation.
Walked upstairs.
Antonio followed ten minutes later.
Michael followed Antonio.
So far, perfect.
Then Bruno barked.
I spun around.
Bruno wasn't supposed to be there.
But there he was.
Walking through the service entrance.
My mother behind him.
“Mom?”
“He escaped the car.”
“What?”
“He wouldn't stop scratching the door. Then he ran inside.”
Bruno sniffed the floor.
Then began moving through the crowd.
“Bruno!”
He ignored me.
My father saw him.
His face changed.
“Let him go.”
“What?”
“Emma, let him go.”
Bruno moved toward the elevator.
We followed.
He stopped at the closed doors and growled.
The elevator display showed level two.
Where Luca was.
I reached for my radio.
Static.
“Michael?”
Nothing.
Dad tried his.
Nothing.
Jammed.
Bruno barked.
Then the lights flickered.
Dad whispered, “Antonio knows.”
The elevator began descending.
Floor two.
Floor one.
The doors opened.
Michael fell out.
Blood covered his forehead.
“Luca,” he gasped.
I ran upstairs.
Dad followed.
Bruno somehow reached the stairs ahead of us.
We entered the second-floor office.
Empty.
A window stood open.
Luca was gone.
So was Antonio.
On the desk sat a phone.
It rang.
I answered.
“Hello?”
Antonio's voice.
“Emma.”
My blood froze.
“If you want Luca alive, bring Daniel and Vanessa to Pier Twenty-Seven.”
My father grabbed the phone.
“Antonio!”
Antonio laughed.
“You should have stayed dead, Danny.”
The line disconnected.
We went downstairs.
Vanessa heard the location.
Her face went white.
“No.”
“What?” I asked.
“Pier Twenty-Seven was my father's original shipping terminal.”
Dad looked at her.
“So?”
She swallowed.
“It was condemned ten years ago.”
“Why?”
“Structural damage.”
“How bad?”
Vanessa looked at me.
“The entire pier is scheduled for demolition tomorrow.”
I understood.
Antonio didn't intend to leave evidence.
My radio suddenly came back.
A police voice filled the channel.
“Possible explosive devices located beneath the gala ballroom.”
Everyone froze.
Then alarms erupted.
People screamed.
The room became chaos.
My father looked at me.
“He never planned to kill the board with guns.”
Vanessa whispered, “The bombs.”
Luca had been wrong.
The gala wasn't bait for Antonio.
May you like
We were.
Chapters 1–10
