Chapter 5 - THE BROKEN ROSARY
The screams from the guests shattered the night air. People scrambled backward up the marble steps, slipping in the rain, trying to get behind the heavy oak doors. “Daniel, put the gun down,” Luca ordered. He didn't shout. But his voice cut through the panic like a blade. He stepped deliberately in front of me and Lily, placing his body between us and the gun. Rosa was paralyzed with fear, her eyes wide, tears mixing with the rain on her face. “Back off, boss!” Daniel shouted, his hand trembling as he held the gun to Rosa’s head. “I’m walking out of here. If anyone follows me, the old lady dies!” “You’ve worked for me for ten years, Daniel,” Luca said, taking one slow step forward. “Why are you doing this?” Daniel let out a bitter, desperate laugh. “Because loyalty doesn't pay my gambling debts, Luca! Marcus Bellini offered me a half-million dollars to look the other way while Vanessa spied on your fleet!” Marcus, standing near the driveway, looked panicked. “Shut up, you idiot!” “You shut up!” Daniel screamed at Marcus. “You told me it was just corporate espionage! You never said she was going to run down a kid and murder Frank!” Daniel swallowed hard, adjusting his grip on Rosa. “When Frank caught her, Vanessa called me. She promised me double if I helped her clean it up. I’m the one who drove Frank’s Cadillac out to the Stevenson Expressway. I staged the crash.” Rosa let out a gut-wrenching wail. “You killed him!” Rosa cried, struggling against Daniel’s grip. “He was already dying!” Daniel yelled back. But in his panic, Daniel made a critical error. He shifted his weight to secure his hold on the struggling widow. As he moved, the heavy silver cross necklace around his neck swung outward. Without warning, Rosa reached up with both hands. Not for the gun. But for the necklace. With a surge of widow’s grief and fury, Rosa grabbed the silver chain and yanked downward with all her strength. The chain snapped. The heavy silver cross tore across Daniel’s neck, cutting a jagged red line into his skin. Daniel flinched, crying out in pain, his gun arm dropping for a fraction of a second. That was all Luca needed. Luca closed the distance in a blur of motion. He grabbed Daniel’s gun wrist, twisting it violently upward until a sickening pop echoed in the rain. Daniel screamed, dropping the weapon. Luca delivered a brutal, punishing blow to Daniel’s jaw, dropping the massive security chief to the cobblestones entirely unconscious. Rosa stumbled forward. I rushed over and caught her, pulling her into a tight embrace. “I’ve got you, Rosa,” I sobbed. “I’ve got you.” Luca picked up the dropped gun and turned his attention to Marcus Bellini. Marcus was already backing toward the open gates, trying to slip away in the chaos. “Going somewhere, Marcus?” Luca asked, aiming the weapon directly at the older boss’s chest. Marcus froze. “You have nothing on me, Luca,” Marcus stammered, raising his hands. “Daniel acted alone. My daughter acted alone. You can't prove I knew about the murder.” “No,” a soft voice said from the darkness near the gates. “But I can prove what you buried in the garden.” A young woman stepped out of the shadows of the oak trees. She was pale, shivering, and wearing wet blue nursing scrubs. It was Mia. She limped forward, clutching a heavy, mud-caked metal lockbox against her chest. I let go of Rosa and ran to her. “Mia!” I cried, wrapping my arms around the girl who had sat with me in the ICU. Mia hugged me back, exhausted but alive. “I’m sorry it took so long, Claire,” Mia whispered. “I had to find proof.” She looked at Luca, holding out the muddy lockbox. “When Vanessa locked me in the trunk, she thought I was unconscious,” Mia said, her voice steadying. “I heard her call her father. I heard Marcus tell her that if she got caught, he would use the ledger in the garden lockbox to buy off the judges.” Luca took the heavy metal box. He looked at the rusted padlock holding it shut. “How do we open it?” Luca asked. Mia reached into the pocket of her wet scrubs. She pulled out a small, ornate brass key attached to a velvet ribbon. “Lily knew where her grandpa kept the key,” Mia said, offering a small smile to the little girl standing safely behind Luca’s legs. Luca took the brass key. He inserted it into the rusted padlock. The click echoed loudly in the rain. And as the lid of the lockbox creaked open, Marcus Bellini fell to his knees in the mud.
