Chapter 5 - THE BURNT LEDGER
I stopped breathing.
Luca raised his pistol, aiming squarely at Vanessa’s head, but he didn’t fire.
The angle was wrong. If he missed by a fraction of an inch, or if Vanessa pulled the trigger by reflex, Elena would die.
“Drop the gun, Elena,” Vanessa repeated, pressing the barrel harder into the woman’s skull. “You’ve caused enough trouble for one night.”
Elena didn’t lower her weapon. She kept it aimed at Mercer, who was struggling to hold the kicking, crying four-year-old.
“Mama!” the boy shrieked, reaching out for her.
“Close your eyes, Leo!” Elena shouted back. “Just close your eyes, baby!”
Luca stepped out from the shadows.
“Vanessa.”
His voice boomed across the empty pier.
Vanessa spun around, dragging Elena backward to use as a human shield.
Mercer cursed, tightening his grip on Leo and reaching into his own jacket.
“Don’t do it, Mercer,” Luca warned, his gun now fixed on the private investigator. “You draw that weapon, you die before it clears leather.”
Mercer froze.
Vanessa laughed. It was a high, manic sound that cut through the rain.
“Luca! You left your own engagement party. How rude.”
“Let them go, Vanessa.”
“Why would I do that? I finally have everything I want.”
“You want money?” Luca said, taking a slow step forward. “Take it. I’ll wire ten million to whatever offshore account you want. Just let the boy go.”
“I don’t want your money!” she screamed.
“Then what do you want?”
“I want you to hurt!” she spat, her eyes wild. “My father died in a cheap motel because of you! You took his dignity. You took his legacy. Now I’m taking yours.”
I watched Mercer’s face.
He didn’t look triumphant. He looked terrified.
He was a hired gun. A private investigator. He wasn’t a killer.
“Vanessa,” Mercer said nervously. “We got the kid. Let the ex-wife go. We stick to the plan.”
“The plan changed, William!” she snapped without looking at him.
I remembered the silver locket in my pocket. The picture of the two of them.
Vanessa didn’t love Mercer. She was using him, just like she used everyone else.
I took a breath and stepped out from behind Luca.
“Olivia, get back,” Luca hissed.
But I ignored him. I walked slowly toward the SUV.
“She’s not going to pay you, Mercer,” I called out.
Vanessa’s eyes locked onto me. “Shut up, maid.”
“I was in her suite tonight,” I lied. My voice shook, but I forced it to project. “While you were driving here, I was packing her things.”
“Liar!” Vanessa screamed.
“I found the burnt ledger in her fireplace, Vanessa,” I continued, making up the detail on the spot based on what Mrs. Carter had told me about the embezzlement. “I saw the offshore routing numbers. The accounts she emptied.”
Mercer looked at Vanessa. “What is she talking about?”
“She’s lying, William! Don’t listen to her!”
“I saw the transfer receipts,” I said, looking directly at Mercer. “She didn’t put the money in a joint account. She put it in a private trust under her mother’s maiden name. You’re not leaving the country with her, Mercer. She’s leaving you to take the fall for kidnapping a mafia boss’s son.”
“Shut up!” Vanessa shrieked.
Mercer loosened his grip on the boy.
He looked at Vanessa. “Is that true? You set up a private trust?”
“William, focus!”
That single moment of distraction was all Elena needed.
She slammed her elbow backward, catching Vanessa directly in the ribs.
Vanessa stumbled, her gun firing wildly into the air.
Luca moved like lightning.
He fired twice.
Not at Vanessa. But at the engine block of the SUV.
The massive vehicle hissed as steam and oil exploded from the hood, blinding Mercer.
Elena ripped Leo from Mercer’s arms and threw herself to the wet asphalt, covering the boy with her own body.
Mercer drew his weapon, aiming blindly through the steam.
Luca fired again.
Mercer screamed and dropped his gun, clutching his shattered shoulder. He collapsed against the side of the ruined SUV.
Vanessa scrambled to her feet, her dress torn, her face twisted in fury.
She raised her gun toward Elena and the boy.
Without thinking, I grabbed a heavy iron wrench from a nearby rusted toolbox and hurled it.
The heavy metal spun through the air and struck Vanessa squarely in the wrist.
She cried out, dropping her weapon.
Luca closed the distance in three massive strides.
He grabbed Vanessa by the throat and slammed her against the side of a shipping container.
The gun was useless on the ground.
Luca pressed the barrel of his pistol directly beneath Vanessa’s chin.
“Give me one reason,” he whispered, his voice vibrating with lethal intent. “One reason not to blow your head off.”
Before Vanessa could answer, a small, terrified voice broke the silence.
“Mama?”
Luca froze.
He slowly turned his head.
May you like
Elena was sitting up on the wet ground.
And clutched tightly against her chest, staring at Luca with wide, terrified gray eyes, was his son.
