Chapter 9 - Whispers in the Red Room
The smell of sterile gauze and lavender woke me.
Beep.
Beep.
Beep.
The steady, rhythmic sound of a heart monitor filled the quiet room.
I tried to turn my head, but a dull, throbbing ache flared along my left clavicle.
Sunlight was streaming through sheer white curtains.
I wasn't in a dingy basement.
I wasn't in a hospital ward.
I was in the master bedroom of the Moretti estate—the legendary locked room on the third floor.
The walls were papered in antique ivory damask.
A massive mahogany four-poster bed held me beneath piles of down duvets.
Beside the bed, slumped in a high-backed velvet armchair, sat Luca.
He looked completely exhausted.
Dark purple shadows bruised the skin beneath his eyes.
He still wore his bloodstained dress shirt, unbuttoned, sleeves rolled up over his tattooed forearms.
A heavy silver crucifix hung loose against his bare chest.
His eyes were closed, his breathing deep and ragged.
In the corner of the room, another bed had been set up.
Resting against a mountain of pillows was Lucia.
Her skin was still pale, but color had returned to her cheeks.
An IV line ran into her wrist, but her eyes were open, clear, and fixed entirely on me.
When she saw me blink, a soft, trembling smile broke across her face.
“Luca,” Lucia whispered softly.
Luca’s eyes snapped open instantly.
His hand instinctively reached for the holster at his waist before his gaze landed on my face.
He froze.
“Elena?”
He stood up so fast his chair screeched against the hardwood floor.
He was at my bedside in half a second, his large hand gently hovering over mine, afraid to press too hard.
“Water,” I croaked.
My throat felt like sandpaper.
Luca poured a glass from the crystal carafe on the nightstand, lifting my head with infinite care as he held the straw to my lips.
The cool water was heaven.
“How long?” I whispered, sinking back into the soft pillows.
“Two days,” Luca said, his voice thick with emotion.
He sank back onto the edge of the mattress, running a trembling hand over his face.
“The surgeon worked on you for five hours.”
He looked at my bandaged shoulder, his jaw tightening into rigid granite.
“You took a bullet that was meant for my heart.”
“You’re my family,” I replied, my voice gaining strength.
“I spent my whole life feeling like a shadow. Like I didn't belong anywhere.”
I looked over at Lucia, whose eyes were filled with tears of quiet joy.
“Now I know why.”
Lucia reached out across the small space between our beds.
“Sarah loved you, my sweet girl,” Lucia said softly.
“When Carlo threatened to take you, Sarah took you in the middle of a blizzard. She sacrificed her own life to raise you in hiding.”
“She never told me,” I murmured.
“To protect you,” Luca said firmly.
“If Carlo had known where you were, he would have killed you both twenty years ago.”
The heavy mahogany door opened softly.
Daniel walked in, holding a black leather ledger in his hands.
He stopped, seeing that I was awake, and bowed his head respectfully.
“Miss Elena. It is a relief to see you with us.”
“What did you find, Daniel?” Luca asked, the dangerous edge immediately returning to his voice.
Daniel set the ledger on the bedside table.
“Carlo’s private vault was breached this morning.”
Daniel flipped open the yellowed pages.
“It contains the complete paper trail of the Bellini syndicate.”
“Every dirty judge. Every corrupt federal agent. And every offshore dollar stolen from your mother’s trust.”
Luca looked down at the ledger, his eyes cold and calculating.
“And the shooter from the dining room?”
Daniel swallowed hard.
“A mercenary hired by Vanessa before the party began.”
“A contingency plan in case the coat wasn't burned.”
Luca’s lips parted in a cruel, icy smile.
“Where is Vanessa?”
Daniel glanced at me, then back at Luca.
“In the holding cells beneath the boat house, boss. Awaiting your judgment.”
Luca looked down at me.
His thumb gently brushed the back of my hand.
“Elena,” he said softly.
“She tried to destroy your life before you even knew who you were.”
May you like
His dark eyes were dead serious.
“You decide what happens to her.”
