A Child’s Drawing In The Wrong Hands

"Arrest me?" I yelled at the phone. "For what?!"

"Accomplice after the fact," Marco rushed out. "They say you helped destroy evidence from the night of the crash."

"I didn't even know him five years ago!" I screamed.

"Hang up," Luca commanded.

He grabbed the phone and crushed it under his heel on the linoleum floor.

He grabbed my arm and pulled me out of the room, leaving the old man laughing in the dark.

We practically ran back to the SUV.

"Luca, what is he talking about?" I demanded as he shoved me into the passenger seat. "Why would the feds think I helped you?"

"Because Vanessa planted something," Luca growled, tearing out of the parking lot. "She knew she was going down, so she rigged a trap for us on her way out."

"What basement?" I asked, my heart hammering. "I cleaned that house for eleven months. There is no basement."

Luca stared straight ahead. "There is. Under the wine cellar. It’s where my father kept the family ledgers."

"And what did Vanessa put down there?"

Luca didn't answer.

Sirens wailed in the distance.

"Luca, tell me!"

"A ledger," Luca said, his voice completely flat. "With your forged signature on it. Dating back five years. Showing you received monthly payments to keep quiet about Matteo."

I felt like I was going to throw up.

"She’s framing me to take you down," I whispered.

"Yes."

"Did you kill him, Luca?" I asked.

The SUV swerved slightly.

Luca hit the brakes, pulling into a dark alleyway behind an abandoned warehouse. He threw the car into park and finally looked at me.

"Matteo was a monster," Luca said, his eyes burning. "He was selling our own people out to the Feds. He put out a hit on our father. The night of the crash... I was in the car with him. He pulled a gun on me. We fought for the wheel."

Luca looked down at his hands.

"The car flipped. He was pinned. The car caught fire." Luca swallowed hard. "I could have pulled him out. But I didn't. I watched him burn."

Tears streamed down my face.

"I did it to save the family," Luca whispered. "To save Marco. To save my son."

He reached out and touched the necklace he had given me an hour ago.

"I won't let her take you down for my sins, Emma."

Suddenly, bright headlights flooded the alley.

Two black SUVs blocked our exit. But they weren't police.

Four men stepped out, holding heavy rifles.

Vanessa’s cousins. They hadn't all been arrested.

"Luca!" I screamed.

Luca drew his gun.

"Get down!" he yelled.

Gunfire erupted, shattering the windshield. Glass rained down on us.

Luca fired back, hitting one man in the chest.

"We can't stay here!" Luca shouted over the noise. "Run for the door on your right!"

I kicked my door open and scrambled out, crawling over the broken glass.

Luca covered me, firing into the dark.

We made it to the rusty metal door of the warehouse. Luca kicked it open, and we spilled inside, slamming the heavy deadbolt shut behind us.

Bullets pinged against the metal door.

We were trapped in the dark.

Luca checked his magazine. "Two bullets left," he muttered.

He turned to me. He took my face in his hands.

"Listen to me," he said, his voice fiercely calm. "There is a tunnel at the back of this building. It leads to the sewer main. You follow it north for two miles, you'll come out near the river. My boat is docked there. The keys are in the visor."

"I'm not leaving you!" I cried, gripping his shirt.

"You have to," Luca said. "The Feds are looking for you. Vanessa’s men are trying to kill you. If you stay by my side, you die."

He kissed me. Hard, desperate, and full of sorrow.

"Go," he ordered.

Then, a heavy thud hit the metal door. They were trying to breach it.

"Emma, run!"

I backed away, tears blinding me.

Before I could turn, a loud crash echoed from the roof of the warehouse.

A skylight shattered.

Someone dropped to the floor, landing in a crouch in the moonlight.

It wasn't one of Vanessa's men.

The figure stood up slowly.