Chapter 5 - The Traitor in the Ranks
~1,050 words
The heavy silence of the penthouse shattered.
I stared in absolute horror as Dante, the massive, loyal bodyguard who had carried my daughter’s backpack, locked his finger over the trigger of his weapon.
“Drop it, Luca,” Dante said. His voice was thick with regret, but his hands didn't shake.
Luca didn't move. He stood perfectly still, his dark eyes fixed on the man who had stood by his side for a decade. The betrayal in the room was so thick it was suffocating.
“Dante,” Luca said softly. “You sold the armory codes to Silas.”
“I didn't have a choice, Boss,” Dante choked out, sweat beading on his forehead despite the cool air conditioning of the penthouse. “Silas took my brother. He said if I didn't feed him the weak points in your shipping yards, he would send him back to me in pieces.”
“So you helped Jake plant the decoy ferry ticket,” Luca deduced, his brilliant mind working even at gunpoint. “You needed me out of the penthouse. You needed the strike team at the terminal so Silas could hit the armory unchecked.”
“It was the only way to save my blood,” Dante pleaded.
I pulled Emma tightly against my chest, covering her ears. My heart was hammering so wildly I thought it might crack my ribs.
“But Jake double-crossed you, didn't he?” Luca said, a dark, knowing smirk playing at the corner of his mouth.
The reversal hit Dante hard. He blinked, the gun wavering a fraction of an inch. “What are you talking about?”
“Jake didn't just want to distract me. He wanted to frame you,” Luca said smoothly, taking a slow, deliberate step forward. “Jake left the bloodstained watch in Ava’s daughter’s bag. He knew Silas would track the watch here. Jake set you up to take the fall for harboring the one piece of evidence that could destroy Silas Moretti.”
Dante’s face went pale. “No. Jake said he threw the watch in the sound.”
“Jake lied to you, Dante. Just like he lied to Ava,” Luca said.
Before Dante could process the deception, Luca moved.
It was terrifyingly fast. Luca didn't reach for his own gun. He stepped inside Dante’s guard, his hand snapping out to grip the slide of Dante’s pistol, pushing it forcefully upward.
The gun went off with a deafening CRACK.
The bullet shattered a multi-million-dollar chandelier above us, showering the plush rug in crystal shards.
Emma screamed, burying her face in my neck.
Luca twisted his wrist, disarming Dante with a brutal, sickening crack of bone. Dante groaned, falling to his knees, clutching his broken wrist.
Luca racked the slide of the stolen gun, pressing the barrel directly against Dante’s forehead.
“Luca, no!” I screamed.
Luca froze. His finger hovered over the trigger. He looked at me, his chest heaving, the violence of his world colliding with the desperation of mine.
“He betrayed the family, Ava,” Luca rasped, his eyes completely black. “In my world, there is only one punishment for treason.”
“He did it for his brother!” I yelled, ignoring the pain in my ankle as I struggled to sit up. “You said you don't kill innocent people. He was protecting his family, just like you’re trying to protect your mother’s memory. If you pull that trigger in front of my daughter, you are no better than the monsters you claim to hate.”
The room held its breath.
Luca stared at me. The ruthless mafia boss warred with the man who had gently carried me out of a diner.
Slowly, agonizingly, Luca lowered the weapon.
He looked down at Dante, who was weeping silently on the floor.
“Get out,” Luca commanded, his voice like cracking ice. “Leave Seattle. If I ever see your face again, I will not hesitate.”
Dante scrambled to his feet, clutching his ruined wrist. “Thank you, Boss,” he whispered brokenly, before fleeing into the private elevator.
Luca turned his back to the door, exhaling a long, shuddering breath. He dropped the gun onto a glass table, running a hand through his dark hair.
He looked exhausted. Vulnerable.
I gently set Emma down on the sofa, wrapping her in the cashmere blanket. “Stay here, baby. Mommy is right here.”
I grabbed a silver cane the doctor had left for me and hobbled over to Luca. I stopped inches away from him.
“You spared him,” I said softly.
Luca looked down at me, his gaze intensely focused. “I spared him because you asked me to. Do not mistake that for weakness, Ava. I am still the man they say I am.”
“I don't believe that,” I whispered, looking deep into his brown eyes.
Before he could respond, his cell phone buzzed violently on the glass table.
Luca picked it up. He put it on speaker.
“Castellano,” he answered.
A ragged, wet cough echoed through the speaker.
“Luca.”
I froze. I recognized that voice immediately. It was a voice that had haunted my nightmares for eighteen months.
It was Jake.
“Jake,” Luca said coldly. “You are a difficult man to kill.”
“Not for long,” Jake wheezed. The sound of heavy rain and distant foghorns echoed in the background. “Silas’s men... they caught me at the shipping yards. They double-crossed me. I’m bleeding out, Castellano.”
“Why should I care?” Luca asked.
“Because I have something you want,” Jake gasped, his breath hitching in pain. “I didn't give the locket to Silas. I kept it. The platinum locket with your offshore accounts.”
Luca’s eyes narrowed. “The locket is in my possession, Jake. You left it at Mrs. Chen’s apartment.”
A wet, bitter laugh came through the phone.
“No, Castellano. I left a fake at the apartment,” Jake coughed. “I kept the real one. The one with the micro-engraving. Ava’s mother had two of them.”
The reversal dropped the floor out from under us. My mother had two lockets?
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“I’m at Pier 42,” Jake whispered, his voice fading. “Bring Ava. Just Ava. She’s the only one who knows the combination to open the hidden clasp. If you want your money back, bring her. If you don't... Silas gets here in ten minutes, and your empire burns.”
The line went dead.
