Chapter 6 - THE BROTHER AND THE BULLET
“Vincenzo.” Luca’s voice was barely a growl, his grip tightening on his handgun as he shielded Grace with his own body.
The red dot of the laser sight moved from Grace’s chest to center perfectly on Luca’s forehead.
“Step away from her, Luca,” Vincenzo called down from the catwalk, his voice echoing in the cavernous, freezing warehouse. “This was never supposed to get this messy. If she had just handed over the ledger and the key, she could have lived out her days in the suburbs.”
I crouched lower behind the rusted machinery, pulling Lily tightly against me. Her wedding dress was completely ruined, soaked in her mother’s blood and warehouse grease. She was trembling violently.
Selena let out a pathetic whimper from her corner. “Vincenzo? You… you’re working with Daniel?”
Vincenzo laughed softly. “Working with Daniel? My dear, stupid girl. I gave Daniel the orders. I told him to use you to keep my little brother distracted. And you played the part beautifully.”
Selena’s face crumpled. The realization that she wasn’t just a pawn, but a thoroughly manipulated distraction, shattered what was left of her ego. She wasn’t a master manipulator; she was bait.
“You sold out our family to the Rossettis?” Luca asked, his voice thick with betrayal. “For what, Vince? Money? You had everything.”
“I had nothing!” Vincenzo snapped, his calm facade breaking. “Dad gave the syndicate to you! You, the younger brother! I spent twenty years fetching your coffee and cleaning up your messes! The Rossettis offered me the throne. All I had to do was bankrupt you and hand over the offshore accounts.”
“So you framed me,” Grace said weakly, clutching her bleeding side. “You made it look like Luca was draining the accounts. You wanted me to leave him.”
“You were the only one smart enough to figure it out, Grace,” Vincenzo sneered. “But you were too emotionally compromised to see the whole board. Now, throw the rosary out onto the floor. Kick the gun away, Luca. Do it, or I shoot Lily next.”
The laser sight snapped off Luca and landed directly on Lily’s white dress.
Lily gasped, burying her face in my shoulder.
Luca’s jaw clenched. He looked at the gun in his hand, then at his daughter. Slowly, he placed his weapon on the concrete floor and kicked it away.
“Take the rosary, Emily,” Luca whispered to me without turning his head. “Toss it out.”
My hands shook as I held the small silver cross. The tiny piece of microfilm was still secured inside. I didn’t want to give it to him. But Lily was sobbing, and Grace was bleeding out.
I stood up slowly, raising my hands.
“I’m throwing it,” I called out.
I tossed the rosary. It skittered across the concrete floor, stopping in a pool of moonlight in the center of the room.
“Good,” Vincenzo said. He began descending the metal spiral staircase to the ground floor, keeping his rifle trained on us. “Now, Grace, tell me where the actual ledger book is. Daniel’s men tore your little apartment apart and found nothing.”
Grace coughed, a terrifying wet sound. “It’s in a safety deposit box. Under my maiden name.”
Vincenzo reached the bottom of the stairs. He walked cautiously toward the rosary, bending down to pick it up.
“Excellent,” Vincenzo smiled, holding the silver cross up to the light. “You see, Luca? This is how business is done. Without emotion. Without—”
BANG.
The gunshot didn’t come from the front doors. It came from our right.
Vincenzo screamed as his shoulder exploded in a mist of red. He dropped the rifle and the rosary, staggering backward against a metal pillar.
I whipped my head around.
Standing ten feet away, her hands shaking violently as she gripped a small silver pearl-handled revolver, was Selena.
She had pulled it from her ruined designer purse.
“I am nobody’s bait,” Selena breathed, tears streaming down her face.
Vincenzo clutched his bleeding shoulder, his face twisting in rage. He reached into his coat with his good hand, pulling out a secondary weapon.
“You stupid bitch!” Vincenzo roared.
He fired.
Selena was thrown backward into the rusted conveyor belt. She crumpled to the floor, her red silk dress instantly darkening with blood.
But the distraction was all Luca needed.
Like a coiled spring, Luca lunged forward, kicking his discarded handgun up from the floor. He caught it mid-air and fired twice into Vincenzo’s chest.
Vincenzo’s eyes went wide. He dropped his gun, collapsing onto his knees before face-planting onto the cold concrete.
Silence slammed back into the room.
Luca didn’t check on his brother. He ran straight to the center of the room, snatched the silver rosary off the floor, and rushed back to us.
“Emily, help me with Grace,” Luca ordered, sliding his arms under his wife.
I turned, but a weak voice stopped me.
“Emily.”
It was Selena. She was lying on her back, staring at the ceiling. The wound in her chest was fatal. I could see it in her eyes.
I hesitated, then crawled over to her.
“Selena,” I whispered.
She swallowed hard, blood pooling in the corner of her mouth. She reached a trembling hand into her pocket and pulled out a crumpled piece of paper.
It was a child’s drawing. Crayons on construction paper. A picture of a house with a smiling family.
“Lily drew this… when she was seven,” Selena whispered, coughing. “I found it… in Grace’s things. Look at the back.”
I turned the drawing over. Scrawled in faded blue ink was an address and a string of numbers.
“Daniel’s private safe house,” Selena gasped. “He kept the real blackmail files there… the ones he was going to use to destroy Luca. Take it.”
I took the drawing.
Selena looked past me, toward Luca, who was carrying Grace toward the back exit.
“Tell him…” Selena whispered, her eyes losing focus. “Tell him I loved the flowers.”
Her hand went limp.
I stared at her lifeless body for a second before Lily grabbed my arm, dragging me toward the back exit.
We burst out into the freezing alleyway.
But as we hit the street, a blinding spotlight hit us.
A police cruiser was blocking the alley.
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And stepping out of the driver’s seat was the Chief of Police himself.
TITLE: THE CHIEF AND THE CHILD'S DRAWING
