Chapter 4 - The Voice on the Other LineThe name sent a shiver down my spine.
Uncle Bernardo.
Bernardo Moretti.
Luca’s ruthless uncle who ran the northern syndicate.
The man everyone in the house whispered about in terrified tones.
Vanessa hadn't acted out of petty jealousy.
She was an assassin sent by Luca’s own family.
Luca stepped out of the bedroom into the hallway.
His footsteps were completely silent.
Vanessa was still whispering into her phone, her back turned to him.
“Kill Luca first,” she murmured. “If Luca dies, the council has to recognize Bernardo as Don—”
Luca’s hand clamped down over Vanessa’s mouth.
She let out a muffled shriek.
Luca took the phone from her trembling hand.
He put it to his ear.
A raspy, older voice came through the speaker.
“Vanessa? Did the girl choke on her own blood? Is Luca distracted?”
Luca stared down at Vanessa with dead eyes.
“Hello, Uncle,” Luca said smoothly.
The voice on the other end went completely still.
“...Luca.”
“You picked a very clumsy girl to do your dirty work.”
Bernardo laughed on the phone.
A dry, rattling sound.
“She did what she was supposed to do, nephew. She got your guards looking inside the house.”
Luca frowned.
“What did you say?”
“Look out your front gate, boy.”
The call went dead.
Suddenly, an explosion shook the mansion.
The crystal chandelier in the hallway swung violently.
Plaster dust fell from the ceiling like snow.
Car alarms screamed in the courtyard.
Gunfire erupted.
Heavy, automatic weapon fire.
RAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT.
Bullets shattered the stained-glass windows in the grand foyer downstairs.
Daniel ran up the stairs, drawing two semi-automatic pistols from beneath his jacket.
“Boss! We're under attack! Three black SUVs just breached the iron gates!”
Luca threw Vanessa to the floor.
She curled into a ball, sobbing hysterically.
“Take Sienna through the underground tunnel to the armored transport!” Luca commanded Daniel.
“What about you, boss?”
“I will handle my uncle's dogs.”
Luca reached inside his jacket and pulled out a heavy black handgun.
He turned to look at me.
I was pressed against the wall, trembling.
My hands were covered in dried blood.
Luca stepped directly in front of me.
He placed his heavy hand on the back of my neck.
His thumb brushed my jaw.
“Emma.”
“Yes... Mr. Moretti?”
“You saved my sister’s life tonight.”
“I just... I did what anyone would do.”
“No,” he murmured. “Nobody else did anything. You stood against Vanessa. You brought my sister back from the dead.”
Glass shattered downstairs.
Men were screaming in Italian.
Heavy boots thudded against the marble steps of the grand staircase.
Luca’s eyes bore into mine.
“I won't let you die for it.”
He grabbed my wrist and pulled me toward the back of the hallway.
He punched a code into a hidden keypad behind a framed painting.
A heavy steel door slid open into the wall.
“A panic room,” I whispered.
“Bulletproof. Independent ventilation. Satellite phone inside.”
He pushed me gently inside the reinforced room.
“Stay here until I come for you.”
“Wait!” I cried, grabbing his sleeve. “Luca, there are too many of them!”
He gave me a grim, dark smile.
“This is my house, Emma.”
He pulled the heavy door shut.
The heavy hydraulic locks engaged with a loud THUD.
I stood in the dim, humming room.
Silence enveloped me.
Then, through the reinforced steel door, I heard a terrible sound.
A single gunshot right outside the frame.
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A grunt of pain.
And the heavy sound of a body hitting the floor right against the metal door.
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