Chapter 6 - THE GHOST IN THE SMOKE
My lungs burned, not just from the toxic smoke filling the lobby of Alder Court, but from the sheer shock of the man standing before me.
“Brother?” I coughed, clutching Leo’s cracked pocket watch to my chest.
Victor tightened his grip on Vivienne’s throat, silencing her pathetic whimpers. He didn't look like Leo, and he didn't look like Matteo. His features were sharper, crueler, stripped of the quiet honor that defined the Romano men.
“Half-brother, to be precise,” Victor said smoothly, ignoring the roar of the fire consuming the second floor above us. “The illegitimate mistake our father tried to sweep under the rug. While Matteo and Leo were groomed for the throne, I was sent away. But I always knew Leo was the weak link. The sentimental one.”
He violently shoved Vivienne away. She collapsed onto the ash-covered floor, gasping for air, her black trench coat ruined.
“I paid Richard Ashcroft a fortune to arrange that hit-and-run four years ago,” Victor continued, stepping closer to me. The heat of the fire cast demonic shadows across his face. “Leo had the ledger. He was going to use it to dismantle the family completely. I couldn't let him destroy the empire I planned to inherit. But the fool hid it before he died.”
He looked down at Vivienne with utter disgust. “And this idiot and her father couldn't find it, even after I gave them the money to buy the building.”
I backed away, the heat of the burning staircase searing my back. “You killed my husband.”
“I corrected a mistake,” Victor corrected coldly. He reached into his suit jacket and pulled out a heavy, suppressed pistol. He pointed it directly at my forehead. “Now. Where is the lockbox, Rose?”
“I don't know,” I said, my voice shaking but defiant.
“Don't lie to me!” Victor snapped, his calm facade finally cracking. “He left you a map! The kid had a map!”
He stepped forward, the barrel of the gun inches from my face.
But as he moved, his foot knocked against a loosened brick near the baseboard.
I looked down.
It was exactly where the red X had been on Nora’s drawing. Right next to the green entrance door, hidden behind a decorative planter that Richard’s men had smashed earlier.
Victor followed my gaze. He saw the loose mortar.
A triumphant grin spread across his face. He lowered the gun, reached down, and dug his gloved fingers into the gap. He grunted, pulling with all his strength.
The heavy brick slid out, revealing a dark, hollow cavity in the wall.
Victor reached inside.
He pulled out a heavy, rusted metal lockbox.
“Finally,” Victor breathed, his eyes wide with greed. “The keys to the kingdom.”
He placed the box on the floor and aimed his gun at the heavy padlock, preparing to shoot it open.
But before he could pull the trigger, the front doors of the building were violently kicked open.
Through the billowing smoke, a massive silhouette appeared.
It was Luca.
Without missing a beat, the giant security man raised a shotgun and fired. The blast deafened me, echoing terribly in the confined space.
The shot didn't hit Victor, but it shattered the brick wall inches from his head, showering him in sharp shrapnel.
Victor cursed, diving behind a fallen support beam for cover. He returned fire, the suppressed thwip-thwip of his pistol chipping away at the doorframe where Luca stood.
“Rose! Get down!”
It was Matteo.
He sprinted through the doors, diving to the floor beside me. His expensive suit was soaked from the rain, his face smudged with soot.
“Are you hurt?” Matteo yelled over the crackle of the flames, grabbing my shoulders.
“No,” I choked out, tears streaming down my face from the smoke. “Matteo, that’s Victor! He’s your brother! He ordered the hit on Leo!”
Matteo’s face turned to stone. The revelation didn't shock him; it only hardened his resolve. “I know. Richard confessed in the basement. That’s why we’re here.”
Across the lobby, Victor blindly fired another shot, pinning Luca behind the doorframe.
“Matteo!” Victor yelled from behind the beam, his voice laced with manic glee. “It’s over! I have the lockbox! The syndicate belongs to me now!”
Matteo didn't answer. He looked at the rusted metal box sitting exposed on the floor between them.
Then he looked at me, his dark eyes intensely focused.
“Rose,” Matteo whispered, leaning close to my ear. “Do you trust me?”
I looked at the man who had taken my family in, who had broken off his engagement to protect my daughter.
“Yes,” I said without hesitation.
“Good. Close your eyes and cover your ears.”
I did.
Matteo stood up, completely exposing himself to Victor’s line of sight.
“Victor!” Matteo roared, his voice cutting through the roar of the fire. “You want the ledger? Take it!”
I peeked through my fingers.
Matteo wasn't holding a gun.
He was holding the black, embossed vault ticket Nora had given him.
He threw it across the room. It landed squarely on top of the rusted lockbox.
Victor hesitated, confused. He peered over the beam, looking at the ticket, then at Matteo’s empty hands. Greed won over caution. Victor scrambled forward to grab the box.
As Victor’s fingers touched the metal, Matteo pulled a small, silver object from his pocket.
It wasn't a weapon.
It was a delicate, silver rosary.
I recognized it immediately. It was the rosary Leo always kept hung over the rearview mirror of our old car.
Matteo held it up.
“Leo knew you would come for the box, Victor,” Matteo said softly, though the words carried perfectly. “He knew you were too greedy to resist.”
Victor froze. He looked down at the lockbox.
He noticed, for the first time, a tiny wire protruding from the padlock, feeding directly into the baseboard of the old building.
“No,” Victor whispered, his eyes widening in absolute horror.
“Luca, move!” Matteo yelled, diving back toward the entrance and grabbing me around the waist.
May you like
He tackled me through the front doors, out into the freezing, pouring rain, shielding my body with his own.
A split second later, the lockbox detonated.
