Chapter 6 - THE WOODEN ROSARY
I stood by the doorway, holding Leo’s hand, watching as Luca pulled the first photograph from the safe.
His broad shoulders tensed. He silently handed the picture to Mrs. Caruso.
"Teresa," Luca said, his voice hollow. "Why is Vanessa’s father standing with Vincenzo Romano?"
Mrs. Caruso took the photo, her eyes filling with tears. "Because Vanessa’s father was never a loyal partner to your family, Luca. He was a Romano spy."
The room spun. The Bellini family had been allied with the Morettis for decades. Vanessa was supposed to unite the two empires.
"Thirty years ago," Mrs. Caruso explained softly, "your father found out that Bellini was feeding information to the Romanos. But Bellini was too powerful to kill without starting a war. So, your father gathered evidence. Financial records, photographs, wiretaps. He locked it all in this safe. It was his insurance policy."
Luca reached into the safe and pulled out a thick ledger. He flipped through the pages, his eyes hardening with every line he read.
"Vanessa didn't just owe the Romanos money," Luca realized, the truth dawning on him. "The Romanos sent her to marry me. They wanted her to infiltrate my house, find out where this ledger was hidden, and destroy it before I ever found it."
"She was a Trojan horse," I whispered.
Luca looked at the heavy wooden rosary resting in the safe. He picked it up gently.
"This belonged to my mother," Luca said. "She was wearing it the night she was killed in the drive-by shooting twenty years ago. The police said it was a random gang attack."
Mrs. Caruso wept quietly. "It wasn't random, Luca. Your father found out later. Vanessa’s father ordered the hit. He was trying to assassinate your father, but they hit your mother instead."
A deadly, chilling silence fell over the concrete room.
The woman Luca had almost married was the daughter of the man who murdered his mother.
Luca wrapped the wooden rosary around his fist. The pain and betrayal in his eyes morphed into a cold, calculated fury.
"They thought they could play me," Luca said softly. "They thought they could put the murderer's daughter in my bed, steal my father's evidence, and evict the only woman who knew the truth."
Suddenly, Luca’s cell phone rang, breaking the heavy silence.
He answered it on speaker.
"Boss," a frantic voice crackled through the line. It was the guard he had left at the mansion. "We have a massive problem. The Romanos just breached the front gates. There are dozens of them. They came for Vanessa."
Luca’s jaw tightened. "Where is she?"
"She broke out of the wine cellar, boss," the guard yelled over the sound of distant gunfire. "She took one of the maids hostage! She’s demanding you bring the ledger to the docks, or she kills the girl!"
"Which maid?" Luca demanded.
"It’s Maria, boss. Emma’s younger sister."
My heart stopped beating. The world titled on its axis.
Maria was nineteen. She worked the evening shifts in the laundry room to help pay for our father’s medical bills.
"Emma," Luca said, turning to me, his eyes full of dangerous promise. "I am going to get your sister back."
May you like
He picked up the ledger, tucked the rosary into his pocket, and racked the slide of his pistol.
"And then," Luca added, "I am going to burn the Romano empire to the ground."
