Chapter 2 - IN THE CROSSHAIRS

Luca’s gun remained pointed at my chest.

In the pitch-black dining room, the silence was heavier than the gunfire that had just stopped. Grace’s small hands gripped my waist, her trembling body the only thing tethering me to reality.

“He says you’re the one who created the archive,” Luca whispered.

I stared into the darkness, barely able to make out the outline of his weapon. “Luca, I clean your floors. I make your coffee. I don’t even know how to use a computer beyond paying my utility bills.”

“Daniel says otherwise.” Luca’s voice was devoid of emotion.

Suddenly, the dining room doors blew open. Flashlights sliced through the darkness. The other eleven families had regrouped in the hallway, and they weren’t leaving without the memory card.

“Kill Bellandi!” someone screamed. “Get the girl!”

Luca didn’t hesitate. He grabbed my arm, shoving his gun back into his holster. “Move!”

He dragged me and Grace toward the servant’s entrance, a hidden door disguised as a mahogany bookshelf. I had dusted it a hundred times and never knew it opened. We spilled into a narrow, stone-lined corridor just as a spray of bullets tore through the dining room wall.

Luca locked the heavy iron door behind us. The sound of fists pounding against the metal echoed instantly.

“Mommy, my rabbit,” Grace cried, reaching back toward the dining room.

“I have it, baby. I have it.” I clutched the torn blue rabbit to my chest, the plastic memory card still safely lodged deep in my pocket.

We ran down the corridor, descending into a wine cellar I had never seen before. The air turned freezing.

“Why did he say that?” I demanded, gasping for air. “Why would Daniel say I built that thing?”

Luca stopped by a steel emergency door. He pulled a flashlight from his jacket and shone it directly into my face. “Because he’s a liar. But he’s a liar who knows how to manipulate the Commission. By blaming you, he just put a multi-million dollar bounty on your head.”

“But he’s dead! The police said he drowned five years ago!”

“The police belong to him,” Luca said coldly. He pushed the steel door open, revealing an underground garage housing a single, armored black SUV. “Daniel didn’t drown, Elena. He orchestrated a hostile takeover. He used this archive to blackmail the families, and when they found out, he faked his death to avoid their wrath.”

I felt sick. The man I had grieved. The man I had cried over for years.

“Get in the car,” Luca ordered.

I strapped Grace into the back seat, my hands shaking uncontrollably. As I turned to climb in the front, my sweater snagged on the door latch. The fabric tore, exposing my collarbone.

Luca froze. His flashlight beam hit my chest.

“Where did you get that necklace?” he demanded, his voice suddenly thick with a new, terrifying tension.

I looked down at the silver locket resting against my skin. “It was my grandmother’s. I’ve worn it since I was a teenager.”

Luca stepped closer, his eyes wild. “Take it off.”

“What? No, it’s—”

He reached out and snapped the chain. I gasped, pulling Grace closer.

Luca held the locket beneath the flashlight. He pressed a hidden latch on the side—a latch I had never noticed. The silver heart popped open.

Inside wasn't a picture of my grandparents.

It was a tiny, intricately engraved microchip.

“You didn’t just create the archive, Elena,” Luca whispered, staring at me as if I were a ghost. “You carry the decryption key.”

Before I could process his words, a pair of headlights flared in the dark corner of the garage.

An engine revved.