Chapter 7 - THE RUNAWAY
“Let him go!” Luca bellowed, taking the stairs three at a time.
I was right behind him, with Vanessa trailing us, the duffel bag forgotten.
We burst through the front doors just as Angela was dragging Leo toward a sleek black town car idling near the fountain. The driver had the back door open.
“Aunt Angela, stop!” Luca yelled, running across the gravel.
Angela didn't even flinch. She shoved Leo toward the open car door.
But Leo wasn't just a scared little boy. He was a survivor. He twisted his body, sank his teeth into Angela’s forearm, and pulled away.
Angela shrieked, dropping the burgundy bag on the gravel.
Leo hit the ground, rolled, and sprinted toward me. I caught him, pulling him behind my back and shielding him from the town car.
Luca reached Angela, grabbing her by the shoulders and slamming her against the side of the car.
“You poisoned my mother!” Luca roared in her face.
Angela laughed. It was a bitter, ugly sound. “Your mother poisoned herself, Luca! She’s been weak for years. Giving away our family money to keep that whore Maria quiet. I simply... sped up the inevitable.”
“You killed Maria,” Vanessa breathed, stepping up behind Luca. “It wasn't Teresa. It was you.”
“Of course it was me!” Angela spat, her eyes wild with vindication. “Teresa was perfectly happy bleeding our accounts dry to pay Maria’s blackmail. I put a stop to it. I handled the mother, and I was going to handle the boy. Until your stupid wife intercepted the driver.”
Luca stared at the woman who had helped raise him, utterly disgusted.
“You did all this for the company,” Luca realized.
“I did this for the family name!” Angela yelled. “If Teresa dies, control of the trust defaults to me until you turn forty. I wasn't going to let you squander it on a bastard from the slums!”
Sirens wailed in the distance. The police were returning. The hospital must have called them the moment the tox screen came back.
Angela heard them too. She shoved Luca hard, breaking his grip, and dove into the back of the town car.
“Drive!” she screamed at the driver.
The car’s tires spun on the gravel, kicking up a shower of stones.
But as the car sped toward the open gates, another set of headlights cut through the dark. An ambulance.
The town car slammed on its brakes to avoid hitting the massive vehicle, skidding sideways and crashing violently into the stone pillar of the front gate.
Steam hissed from the crumpled hood.
Luca, Vanessa, and I ran toward the gate.
The back door of the town car groaned open. Aunt Angela stumbled out, clutching her head, blood trickling down her forehead.
She looked up, squinting into the blinding headlights of the ambulance.
The passenger door of the ambulance opened.
And out stepped Teresa Moretti.
She looked pale, leaning heavily on the arm of a paramedic, but she was very much alive.
Angela froze, her mouth dropping open in shock.
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Teresa looked at her sister with a gaze that could freeze water.
“Hello, Angela,” Teresa said quietly. “You always were terrible at measuring dosages.”
