Chapter 7 - THE CONFESSION
I stared at the silver beads gleaming against the hardwood. My father’s rosary.
Vanessa hadn't hired someone to burn my apartment. She had done it herself. She had stood in my home, taken my most precious possession, and lit the match.
Luca’s men swarmed the hallway, extinguishing the flames and dragging Marco’s body away. Two of them caught Vanessa before she made it to the stairs. They forced her to her knees in front of Luca.
“Luca, please!” she sobbed, her manicured facade finally shattering. “Marco forced me! The Rossi family threatened my father’s business! I had to give them information!”
Luca holstered his weapon. He looked down at her with absolute disgust.
“You used my home. You used my son’s books to hide your treason,” Luca said, his voice deadly calm. “And you tried to burn the woman who saved my driver’s life.”
“She’s nothing!” Vanessa spat, glaring at me. “She’s a maid!”
“She has more honor in her little finger than your entire bloodline,” Luca replied. He turned to his men. “Take her to the Rossi compound. Tell their boss I am returning his garbage. The truce is broken. If she ever sets foot in this city again, she won’t leave it.”
Vanessa screamed as she was dragged away, her voice fading into the massive estate.
Luca walked over to me. I was shaking violently, clutching the rosary.
He didn't say a word. He just wrapped his arms around me and pulled me against his chest. He smelled like gunpowder and cedar. For the first time since my father died, I felt completely safe.
Leo ran out of the bathroom and wrapped his arms around Luca’s leg. Luca knelt down, bringing all three of us into a tight embrace.
“Are you hurt?” he asked us, his voice thick with emotion.
“No,” I whispered.
“Good.” Luca stood up, keeping a protective hand on Leo’s shoulder. “Because we have to rebuild. And I need someone I can trust by my side.”
Later that evening, after Leo was asleep, I found Luca sitting in his study. The fire was roaring in the hearth. He poured two glasses of bourbon and handed me one.
“Ray is coming back tomorrow,” Luca said. “He wants to personally thank you again.”
I smiled. “I’m just glad he’s okay.”
Luca sat on the edge of the desk, looking at me intently. “My brother Carlo didn't die in that crash, Nora. The money clip Marco found… I ran the serial numbers on the metal. It was a fake.”
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I paused with the glass near my lips. “What does that mean?”
“It means the Rossi family has been lying for five years,” Luca said. “And I think they have my brother.”
