Chapter 7 - THE SIRENS IN THE DARK
“FBI! DROP THE WEAPON!”
The voice boomed through a megaphone, cutting through the thunder.
Spotlights erupted from the lake, blinding bright. Three heavily armored tactical boats breached the shoreline, flanked by federal agents swarming the estate grounds from the driveway.
Marco stared at the red dots on his chest. He looked at Adriana, his face twisting in rage, but he slowly released his grip on the gun.
Agents rushed the dock, throwing Marco onto his stomach and securing him in zip-ties.
Adriana collapsed onto the wet wood, her chest heaving.
Elena was rocking Sofia on the grass, burying her face in her daughter's hair, crying openly.
“Are you Adriana Moretti?” a woman in an FBI windbreaker asked, kneeling beside Adriana.
“My name is Adriana Vale,” she managed to say.
“We have an ambulance coming. You’re safe now.”
Adriana pointed toward the reeds. “My husband. He’s shot.”
Medics rushed past them, pulling Luca onto a stretcher. As they rolled him past Adriana, his hand reached out and caught hers.
“Adriana,” Luca rasped, his face pale, oxygen mask strapped to his face. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”
“You didn’t know,” she whispered, squeezing his hand.
“I knew enough to keep you away,” he said softly, a tear mixing with the rain on his cheek. “I was a coward.”
As they loaded Luca into the ambulance, Elena walked over, holding a thick, waterproof binder. She handed it to the lead FBI agent.
“It’s all here,” Elena said. “The offshore accounts, the judge payouts, the hit orders. Everything Vittorio and Marco have done for the last twenty years.”
The agent nodded. “You did good, Elena. Witness Protection is waiting. You and Sofia will vanish tonight.”
Adriana felt a sharp pang in her chest. Vanish.
She looked at the little girl who had saved her life, and the woman her mother had died to protect.
“You’re leaving?” Adriana asked.
Elena turned to her. She reached into her pocket and pulled out the small, bent silver rosary. She placed it gently into Adriana’s palm.
“Your mother gave this to me in the hospital room twelve years ago,” Elena said, her voice breaking. “She told me that faith wasn't about waiting for miracles. It was about making them. She bought me the time to run. She paid for it with her life when Vittorio finally tracked her down.”
Adriana closed her fingers around the beads. The tears finally fell.
“Why didn't you tell Luca about Sofia?” Adriana asked.
“Because if Luca knew he had a child, he would have stayed to fight Vittorio,” Elena said. “And Vittorio would have killed him. I had to let him think I was dead so he could live.”
Elena touched Adriana’s cheek. “You are exactly like your mother. Fierce. Beautiful. Brave. Luca didn’t pick you because Vittorio told him to. Luca picked you because you were the only light in his dark world.”
Sofia stepped forward and wrapped her arms around Adriana’s waist, hugging her tightly. “Thank you for saving my mommy.”
Adriana knelt down and kissed the top of the girl’s head. “Be good, Sofia. Have a beautiful life.”
Elena and Sofia walked toward the black armored SUV waiting for them.
But as the doors closed, a paramedic shouted from the burning boathouse.
“We’ve got a survivor!”
Adriana turned.
Two agents were dragging a severely burned, coughing man out of the wreckage.
May you like
It was Vittorio. He had survived the fire.
And he was looking right at Adriana.
