Chapter 7 - THE WAITER'S BETRAYAL
I stood frozen in the rain, Leo crying softly against my shoulder.
Greg? The man who scolded me for rolling silverware too slowly? The man who complained about the cost of printer ink in the back office?
"Greg?" I whispered, my mind unable to process the image of my cowardly manager standing amidst armed mercenaries.
"His real name is Gregorio Rossi," Silas wheezed, sliding down the stone pillar as Luca released him in shock. "Head of the Rossi syndicate. The man you've been fighting a shadow war with for five years, Luca."
Luca stared at Greg, pure venom in his eyes. "You infiltrated my city. You embedded yourself in a restaurant I frequent."
"Information is power, Luca," Greg said smoothly, twirling the handle of his umbrella. "From the floor of Aurelia, I heard every business deal, every weakness, every mistress of every powerful man in Philadelphia. And I met your beautiful, tragic Maya there when she used to wait tables."
I gasped. Maya had worked at Aurelia before me?
"Oh, Avery, didn't you know?" Greg offered a cruel, sympathetic pout. "Your sister worked for me. I was the one who introduced her to Luca. I planned the whole romance."
"You used her," Luca snarled, stepping protectively in front of me and Leo.
"I placed her," Greg corrected. "Maya was supposed to be my spy inside the Moretti house. But the silly girl fell in love with you. She stopped reporting back. She tried to sever ties with me."
Greg’s polite smile vanished, replaced by a cold, reptilian stare. "So, I approached your greedy uncle Silas. Silas wanted money; I wanted the Moretti empire. Silas helped me siphon the three million, and when Maya found out, she ran. She hid the ledger proving my involvement."
"And you killed her," I said, my voice shaking with rage.
"I sent Silas to do it," Greg sighed. "But she had already hidden the SD card. I’ve spent eleven months looking for it. And tonight, when you showed up wearing that matching sparrow necklace... I knew exactly who you were, Avery. I knew Maya must have mailed it to you."
Greg held out his hand, palm up. "Hand over the rosary, Avery. I saw you put it in your apron pocket."
My hand instinctively hovered over the heavy lump in my pocket. If I gave it to him, he would destroy the only evidence that could clear my sister’s name and put him in prison. But if I didn't, his men would gun us down in the driveway.
"Don't do it, Avery," Luca said quietly, his body tense, calculating the distance to the nearest armed guard.
"Luca, be reasonable," Greg chided. "Your mansion is burning. Your uncle betrayed you. Your men are scattered. Give me the ledger, hand over the territory, and I’ll let you and the girl walk away with the baby."
"You're lying," Luca said. "You leave no loose ends."
"True," Greg smirked. He nodded to his men. "Kill them."
The mercenaries raised their rifles.
"Get down!" Luca roared.
He tackled me and Leo backward, diving behind the thick stone retaining wall of the driveway planter just as the deafening roar of automatic gunfire shredded the night.
Bullets chewed through the stone above our heads, raining sharp debris and wet mud down on us. I curled my body entirely around Leo, pressing his face into my chest to muffle his terrified screams.
"We're pinned!" I yelled over the gunfire.
Luca pulled a backup piece from his ankle holster—a small Glock. "Stay down. When I start shooting, crawl along the wall toward the garage. There's an armored sedan inside. The keys are in the visor."
"I'm not leaving you!" I cried.
"Avery, look at me," Luca commanded, grabbing my chin. His eyes were desperate, wild, and incredibly tender. "You are the only mother that boy has left. You have to save him. For Maya. And for me."
Tears mixed with the rain on my face. I nodded.
Luca took a deep breath, rolled out from behind cover, and opened fire.
He dropped two of Greg's men in three seconds. The precision was terrifying. The remaining two mercenaries scrambled for cover behind the SUV, returning fire.
"Go!" Luca shouted.
I stayed low, crab-walking through the mud, clutching Leo tightly. We reached the edge of the retaining wall. The garage was twenty feet away across open ground.
I took a deep breath, braced myself, and ran.
The mud was slick, my shoes slipping with every step.
"Stop her!" Greg shouted from behind the SUV.
A bullet whizzed past my ear, striking the garage door with a loud ping. I screamed, lunging forward, hitting the security keypad. The code was Maya’s birthday—Luca had never changed it.
The side door clicked open. I threw myself inside the dark garage, slamming the heavy steel door behind me just as another bullet hit the wood.
We were in. It was pitch black, smelling of motor oil and expensive leather.
I found the armored sedan Luca mentioned. I yanked the door open, put Leo carefully in the back floorboard, and scrambled into the driver's seat. I threw the visor down. The keys fell into my lap.
I started the engine. The massive V8 roared to life.
I hit the button to open the main garage bay doors. As they slowly rolled up, the driveway came into view.
Luca was pinned behind the destroyed stone pillar. He was out of bullets. Greg and his last mercenary were slowly advancing on him.
"Goodbye, Luca," Greg said, raising his own pistol, aiming squarely at Luca’s head.
I didn't think. I slammed the sedan into drive and floored the accelerator.
The massive, two-ton armored car shot out of the garage like a missile.
Greg turned, his eyes going wide as the headlights blinded him.
The car slammed into the side of Greg’s SUV with a sickening crunch of metal. The impact sent Greg and the mercenary flying into the wet grass.
I hit the brakes, throwing the car in park. I kicked my door open. "Luca! Get in!"
Luca didn't hesitate. He scrambled over the wreckage, diving into the passenger seat.
"Drive!" he yelled.
I slammed it into reverse, spun the wheel, and floored it out of the burning estate, leaving Gregorio Rossi in the mud as police sirens wailed in the distance.
As we tore down the dark highway, the adrenaline finally crashed. My hands shook violently on the steering wheel.
Luca reached over and placed his large, warm hand over mine, steadying the wheel. He looked back at Leo, who was miraculously fast asleep on the floorboard.
Then, Luca looked at me.
"You drive like a maniac," he whispered, a slow, beautiful smile breaking through the soot and blood on his face.
"I drive like a waitress who’s late for a double shift," I replied, a hysterical laugh escaping my chest.
But as I reached into my apron to check on the SD card, my fingers brushed against something else. Something slick and wet on Luca's side.
I looked down.
Luca’s hand was covered in blood. And there was a dark, spreading stain blooming across his ribs.
"Luca," I gasped, slamming on the brakes.
May you like
"Keep driving," Luca slurred, his head rolling back against the seat, his eyes fluttering shut. "Just... keep driving, Avery."
Then, the most feared man in Philadelphia went completely limp.
