Chapter 2 - THE UNCLE’S CONFESSION

The tactical team descended from the train cars like shadows.

Within thirty seconds, Vincent Bellini’s men were disarmed and bound. Vincent himself was dragged upward by his collar, bleeding from a broken nose, groaning as a zip-tie was wrenched around his wrists.

I stayed on my knees, my arms wrapped tightly around Leo. The little boy was shaking violently, his face buried in my shoulder. I held him close, rocking him just like my mother must have done when she visited him in hiding.

“It’s okay, sweetheart,” I whispered into his hair. “It’s over. You’re safe.”

Luca stood over Vincent and Carlo. His chest was heaving, the rain washing the mud from his face.

“Marco,” Luca said, not taking his eyes off the two men who had destroyed our families.

“Sir,” Marco replied, wiping the rain from his eyes.

“Put Carlo in the trunk of the lead car. Deliver him to the Five Families commission. Tell them he murdered Arthur Bennett and attempted a coup. They’ll know what to do with him.”

Carlo began to scream, thrashing against his restraints. “Luca! Luca, please! I’m your blood! You can’t do this!”

“You lost the right to call yourself blood the day you touched Elizabeth,” Luca said coldly.

Marco dragged a kicking and screaming Carlo away into the darkness.

Luca turned to Vincent, who was struggling to stand on shaking legs.

“As for you,” Luca said, his voice deadly quiet. “You’re going to federal prison. The blue ledger you wanted so badly? I’m handing it over to the FBI tomorrow morning. Along with the offshore routing numbers proving you’ve been laundering money for the Sinaloa cartel. Let’s see how long you survive in a cell when the cartel finds out you lost their money.”

Vincent’s eyes widened in sheer terror. “No. Luca, wait. We can negotiate—”

“Gag him and throw him in the van,” Luca ordered the tactical team.

As they dragged Vincent away, Vanessa slowly stood up from the mud. She looked completely broken. Her red dress was ruined, her makeup streaked down her face. She hugged herself, shivering in the freezing rain.

She looked at Luca, expecting to be arrested or killed.

“What about me?” Vanessa whispered, her voice completely hollow.

Luca looked at his former fiancée. The woman who had humiliated his mother, belittled me, and planned to drain his family’s wealth. But she was also the woman who had just pulled a gun on her own uncle to stop a child from being shot.

“You saved my son’s life today,” Luca said evenly.

Vanessa closed her eyes, a fresh wave of tears falling.

“You have one hour to pack your things at the estate,” Luca told her. “There is a private jet waiting at the airstrip. It will take you to Switzerland. You will never set foot in this country, or near my family, ever again. Do you understand?”

Vanessa nodded rapidly, a sob escaping her throat. “Thank you. Thank you, Luca.”

She turned and stumbled toward one of the waiting SUVs, leaving our lives forever.

Luca finally turned his attention back to us.

He rushed over and dropped to his knees in the mud beside me. He reached out, gently touching his mother’s pale face.

“Mom, we need to get you to the hospital,” Luca said, his voice thick with emotion.

Teresa smiled weakly, clutching her bandaged shoulder. “I’ll be fine, my strong boy. Just take us home.”

Luca nodded. He looked at me, then down at the little boy I was holding.

Leo pulled his face away from my shoulder. He looked at Luca with wide, uncertain eyes. He had the same dark, piercing gaze as his father.

Luca reached out, his hand trembling, and gently cupped his son’s cheek.

“Hi, Leo,” Luca whispered, tears finally breaking and sliding down his face.

“Are you my dad?” Leo asked, his little voice barely audible over the rain.

Luca let out a choked sob. He nodded, leaning his forehead against the boy’s.

“I am. I’m your dad. And I am never, ever letting you out of my sight again.”

Leo threw his arms around Luca’s neck, hugging him tight.

I watched them, my heart swelling with a bittersweet joy. My mother had died to make this moment happen. She had sacrificed everything so this little boy could survive.

Luca pulled back slightly and looked at me.

He didn’t look at me like a maid. He didn’t look at me like an employee.

He looked at me with profound, unspoken gratitude.

He reached down and picked up the gold bearer bond coin with my name on it. He wiped the mud off the surface with his thumb, then gently placed it into my palm, folding my fingers over it.

“Let’s go home, Rachel,” Luca said.