Chapter 5 - THE SIGNATURE OF BETRAYAL
Victor stood in the ruined doorway of our apartment, flanked by Daniel and two heavily armed men.
The silver-haired boss didn't look angry. He looked profoundly bored, like a man waiting for a delayed train. He adjusted the cuffs of his expensive suit, his eyes sweeping over the four of us trapped in the small kitchen.
Luca immediately stepped in front of his mother, raising his weapon, but Daniel and the other men already had their automatic rifles trained on us. In a confined space, a shootout meant everyone died.
"Put the gun down, Nephew," Victor sighed. "You're outnumbered, outgunned, and out of time. Give me the drawing, Rose, and I'll make sure your granddaughter’s death is quick."
I clutched the edge of the kitchen counter, my heart hammering against my ribs like a trapped bird.
Luca didn't lower his gun. His eyes darted from Victor to the child's drawing still clutched in his left hand.
"Isabella drew this," Luca said, his voice eerily calm despite the rifles pointed at his chest. "When she was a child. But Isabella is twenty-two years old, Victor. Twenty-five years ago, when Rose raided your office, Isabella wasn't even born yet."
Victor’s smug expression faltered for a fraction of a second.
"Unless," Luca continued, his mind calculating with terrifying speed, "Isabella isn't twenty-two. Unless the woman I was about to marry is actually twenty-eight. Old enough to have drawn this picture before my mother was kidnapped."
The silence in the room became suffocating.
Elena gasped, stepping out from behind Luca's broad shoulders. She stared at Victor with absolute horror.
"You didn't just plan to take over the family, Victor," Elena whispered. "You replaced the heirs. Isabella isn't your illegitimate daughter. She's your legitimate child. You kept her hidden, lied about her age, and manipulated my son into marrying his own cousin just to secure your bloodline on the throne."
"And the drawing proves it," Rose added, her voice strong despite her frail frame. "Because on the back of that paper is the notary stamp from the private adoption agency. The agency that legally transferred Isabella into a fake foster system to hide her true identity until Victor was ready to use her."
Victor’s eyes darkened with pure malice. The elegant façade completely vanished, revealing the ruthless monster underneath.
"Kill the old women," Victor ordered Daniel. "Take the girl and Luca alive. I want them to watch me burn this paper."
Daniel raised his rifle.
"NO!" Elena screamed.
Without hesitation, Luca’s mother threw herself forward, directly into the line of fire, shielding my grandmother.
At the exact same moment, Luca fired.
He didn't shoot Victor. He shot the main fuse box on the wall behind Daniel.
Sparks exploded in a blinding flash of blue light, plunging the entire apartment building into pitch darkness.
The kitchen erupted into chaos. Gunfire deafened the tight space, bullets shattering the cabinets and tearing into the drywall. I dropped to the floor, pulling my grandmother down with me. Glass rained down on our heads as jars exploded above us.
"Emma, move!" Luca roared in the darkness.
Strong hands grabbed my jacket, dragging me through the debris. Luca was pulling us toward the fire escape window in the living room.
I scrambled over the ruined couch, holding tightly to my grandmother’s hand. We reached the window, the cold rain blowing in through the open glass. Luca shoved us out onto the rusted iron landing.
"Where is your mother?" I yelled over the rain.
Luca looked back into the pitch-black apartment. His face was illuminated by the brief flashes of muzzle fire.
"Mom!" Luca shouted.
"Go, Luca!" Elena’s voice cried out from the darkness near the kitchen. "I’ll hold them back! Save the evidence!"
"I'm not leaving you again!" Luca roared, moving to step back inside.
But a heavy hand clamped onto Elena in the dark. A flashlight beam cut through the smoke, illuminating Victor holding a gun to Elena’s temple.
"Drop the drawing, Luca," Victor yelled. "Or I blow her brains out right now."
Luca froze on the window ledge. The rain plastered his dark hair to his forehead. He looked at his mother, the woman he had mourned for twenty-five years, now a hostage once again.
"Don't do it, Luca!" Elena screamed. "He'll kill us all anyway!"
Luca slowly raised his left hand, holding the child's drawing out in the rain.
"Take it," Luca yelled.
He crumpled the thick parchment and threw it back into the living room. It landed at Victor's feet.
As Daniel rushed forward to grab the paper, Luca grabbed my arm and dragged me and my grandmother down the wet iron stairs of the fire escape. We slipped and stumbled into the muddy alleyway below.
"He has the proof," I cried as we ran toward the stolen sedan. "Luca, he has the evidence! And he has your mother!"
Luca threw the car doors open, shoving my grandmother into the back seat. He slid behind the wheel, his face a mask of absolute, terrifying fury.
He started the engine, slamming his foot on the gas.
"He doesn't have the proof, Emma," Luca said, his voice vibrating with dark triumph.
I stared at him, confused, shivering in the freezing car. "I just saw you throw it to him."
Luca reached into his wet suit jacket.
He pulled out the pristine, dry child's drawing with Isabella's name on it.
I gasped. "But... what did you throw?"
May you like
Luca looked at me in the rearview mirror.
"A takeout menu from your kitchen counter," Luca said coldly. "Victor is going to realize he's been played in about sixty seconds. And when he does, we’re going to be waiting for him at Union Station. Because this drawing is just the key. Tonight, we open the vault."
