Chapter 7 - Safehouse Shadows
Before Vittorio’s mercenaries could raise their rifles, the plate-glass windows behind them exploded into a storm of glass.
Sniper fire from the adjacent skyscraper tore through the room.
Two of Vittorio’s guards dropped instantly. Luca lunged across the desk like a panther, tackling Vittorio to the floor while Matteo and Daniel returned fire, neutralizing the remaining two gunmen.
“Move! Out through the service stairwell!” Luca yelled, dragging a cursing Vittorio Bellini by his collar.
The penthouse was compromised. Alarms wailed, and smoke began filling the corridors.
We sprinted down five flights of emergency stairs to a concealed maintenance garage where an unmarked black SUV was waiting.
Luca shoved Vittorio into the back, binding his wrists with heavy zip-ties.
We climbed in, and Matteo sped out into the rainy Chicago night, taking evasive back alleys toward an undisclosed location on the outskirts of the city.
An hour later, we arrived at an old brick industrial warehouse near the canal.
Inside, the warehouse was a fortress: steel blast doors, high-resolution surveillance monitors, and twenty heavily armed Moretti soldiers guarding the perimeter.
Luca shoved Vittorio onto a metal chair under a single hanging lightbulb.
Vittorio spit blood onto the floor, glaring up at Luca.
“You think you’ve won, boy? The Bellini family has allies in every precinct, every district court. You can’t hold me here.”
Luca removed his jacket, rolling up his sleeves to reveal intricate black ink tattoos spanning both forearms—symbols of the Moretti bloodline and family honor.
“I’m not holding you for the police, Vittorio,” Luca said coldly. “I’m holding you for treason against the Commission.”
Vittorio’s eyes widened slightly.
“The Commission knows nothing of this.”
“They will,” Luca said. He turned to me. “Emma.”
“Yes, Mr. Moretti?”
“Can you extract the complete financial records from that titanium drive we recovered from the desk?”
“I need a clean terminal and three hours,” I answered, feeling the adrenaline still humming in my veins. “If their routing nodes are intact, I can expose every offshore shell account the Bellinis have used for the last fifteen years.”
Luca looked at me with an expression of intense respect.
“Daniel, set her up in the secure comms room. Give her whatever she needs.”
As Daniel guided me toward the comms room, Luca caught my hand gently.
His grip was warm, solid, and protective.
“Thank you, Emma,” he murmured, his voice soft enough that only I could hear. “You’ve done more for my family in twelve hours than anyone has in a decade.”
I looked into his piercing gray eyes, feeling my heart beat faster for reasons that had nothing to do with danger.
“I’m just doing my job, Luca.”
May you like
A faint, genuine smile crossed his handsome lips.
“Your job as a housekeeper ended tonight, Emma. From now on, you’re my Chief Financial Auditor. And my personal partner in taking them down.”
