Chapter 3 - Bloodlines and Broken Safes
Daniel reacted in a fraction of a second.
He shoved Luca sideways toward the concrete wall.
A hail of high-caliber bullets ripped through the doorframe.
Plaster exploded into clouds of white dust.
The heart monitor shattered into sparking electronic debris.
I dropped flat onto the cold linoleum floor, covering my head with my arms.
The noise was deafening.
Gunfire roared inside the narrow concrete corridor.
Daniel leaned around the shattered doorway and fired three controlled bursts from his handgun.
A man screamed in the hallway.
A heavy body collapsed against the metal supply cart outside.
“Boss!” Daniel shouted over the ringing in our ears.
“We have at least six shooters entering through the rear ambulance bay!”
Luca rose from the floor like an enraged demon.
His eyes were burning with lethal fury.
He pulled a customized silver semi-automatic pistol from his shoulder holster.
“Emma!” he barked, glancing down at me.
“Yes, sir!” I gasped, choking on the drywall dust.
“Stay on the floor beside the bed. Protect her.”
He didn't wait for my answer.
Luca stepped directly into the line of fire.
Two rapid gunshots cracked from his weapon.
Another body fell in the hallway.
The woman in the bed—Lucia Moretti—was hyperventilating, clutching my wrist with ice-cold fingers.
“Emma... is that your name?” she whispered, her chest heaving.
“Yes, Mrs. Moretti. Don't move. You're safe.”
“I am not safe,” she coughed, blood flecking her pale lips.
“Listen to me, child. The ring... Vanessa’s ring...”
I leaned closer, my ear inches from her mouth while gunfire rattled the walls.
“What about the ring?”
“The diamond unscrews from the platinum base,” she wheezed, her strength fading fast.
“There is a micro-key inside the setting. It opens the vault beneath the St. Jude mausoleum.”
“What is inside the vault?”
Her eyes widened in agony.
“The original birth certificates. The bloodline contract signed in 1994.”
Outside the room, Luca’s weapon fired twice more.
Silence suddenly fell over the corridor.
Heavy footsteps approached the doorway.
I held my breath, bracing myself for another shooter.
Luca stepped back into the room.
His shirt was torn at the shoulder, covered in black powder residue, but he was uninjured.
Smoke drifted from the barrel of his gun.
Daniel appeared behind him, clutching a bleeding forearm.
“Ambulance bay is clear, boss. But Bellini’s main security detail will be here within ten minutes.”
Luca reholstered his weapon and knelt beside the bed.
“Mother. We are leaving right now.”
He reached down and slid his arms beneath her frail body.
He lifted her effortlessly, wrapping her inside the heavy woolen hospital blanket.
Lucia groaned in pain, resting her head against his chest.
“Luca... my boy... you’re so big now...”
“Hold onto me,” he whispered softly, his voice cracking with emotion.
He looked over his shoulder at me.
“Emma, stay tight on Daniel’s back. If anyone moves, Daniel will drop them.”
“Understood,” I said, scrambling to my feet.
We moved down the destroyed corridor in tight formation.
Three armed men in black tactical gear lay motionless on the linoleum floor.
We burst through the rear emergency exit into the pouring rain.
The cold air hit my face like an icy slap.
Matteo had already backed one of the armored SUVs directly up to the loading ramp.
Luca placed his mother gently across the wide leather back seat.
“Get in, Emma,” Luca ordered, pushing me into the rear cabin beside her.
“Keep pressure on her IV site. Keep her warm.”
I pulled off my heavy woolen coat and draped it over Lucia’s shivering frame.
Daniel jumped into the driver’s seat, slamming the vehicle into reverse.
The tires shrieked against the wet pavement as we spun around and rocketed toward the shattered front gate.
In the rearview mirror, headlights appeared on the gravel road behind us.
Three black pickup trucks were closing the distance at terrifying speed.
“Company, boss!” Daniel shouted, swerving hard onto the paved two-lane highway.
“Lose them,” Luca said coldly.
He reached beneath his seat and pulled out a heavy black tactical rifle.
He rolled down his window, ignoring the freezing rain blasting into his face.
Luca leaned out into the storm.
The rifle roared three times.
The front tire of the lead pursuing pickup exploded in a shower of sparks and shredded rubber.
The truck flipped violently into the roadside ditch, rolling three times before bursting into flames.
The other two vehicles braked hard, swerving to avoid the wreckage.
Their headlights vanished into the rainy night behind us.
Luca pulled himself back inside and rolled up the window.
He wiped water and gunpowder from his forehead with the back of his hand.
He turned toward his mother.
Lucia lay with her eyes closed, her breathing shallow and irregular.
“Where are we taking her, boss?” Daniel asked from the front seat.
“The safehouse in Lake Forest,” Luca replied.
“No,” Lucia whispered, her eyes opening slightly.
Luca leaned closer.
“Mother?”
“Not Lake Forest,” she breathed.
“Carlo owns the security grid in Lake Forest. He will trace the alarms.”
“Then where?” Luca asked.
Lucia looked directly at me.
“The girl’s apartment.”
I froze.
“My apartment?” I stammered.
“It's off the grid,” Lucia whispered.
“Carlo doesn't know the staff’s private addresses. Not yet.”
Luca looked at me, his gray eyes searching mine.
“Where do you live, Emma?”
“Pilsen,” I swallowed hard. “Nineteenth Street. Third floor of an old brick walkup.”
Luca turned to Daniel.
“Set GPS for Pilsen. Call Dr. Rossi. Tell him to bring emergency surgical supplies and blood units to that address.”
Twenty minutes later, we pulled into the dark alley behind my small apartment building.
The rain had slowed to a steady, miserable drizzle.
Daniel and Matteo secured the narrow back staircase while Luca carried his mother up three flights of stairs.
I unlocked the deadbolt with trembling keys and pushed open the door.
My modest one-bedroom apartment suddenly felt microscopic.
Luca carried Lucia directly into my bedroom and laid her gently on the mattress.
He pulled the floral quilt over her frail shoulders.
Within ten minutes, Dr. Rossi—a trusted physician on the Moretti payroll—arrived through the back fire escape carrying two heavy black medical bags.
The doctor immediately began checking Lucia’s vitals and administering clean fluids.
Luca stood in the narrow doorway of my kitchen, staring at the floorboards.
His tailored suit was soaked through with rain and soot.
I walked over to the counter and poured two glasses of tap water.
I handed one to him.
He took the glass.
His fingers brushed mine.
They were icy cold.
“Thank you, Emma,” he said quietly.
“You don't have to thank me, Mr. Moretti.”
“You risked your life tonight. You didn't run when the shooting started.”
I looked down at my hands, which were still trembling slightly.
“Your mother looked terrified in that hospital. Nobody deserves to be locked away in the dark.”
Luca took a slow sip of water.
His eyes were intense, haunted by twenty-two years of lies.
“She told you something in that room before we carried her out,” Luca said.
His voice was dangerously quiet.
“What did she say to you, Emma?”
My breath caught in my throat.
I remembered Lucia’s desperate warning.
The ring unscrews... there is a micro-key inside... the vault beneath the St. Jude mausoleum.
And her final words in the clinic:
She locked me here to hide you from your real father.
I looked up into Luca’s gray eyes.
“She told me about the engagement ring on Vanessa’s finger.”
Luca’s jaw clenched tight.
“What about it?”
“The diamond unscrews from the platinum setting,” I whispered.
“There’s a key hidden inside. It opens a private vault in the St. Jude mausoleum.”
Luca stared at me in stunned silence.
The glass in his hand cracked under the pressure of his grip.
Water dripped through his fingers onto my linoleum floor.
“St. Jude,” he muttered, his voice shaking with realization.
“That’s the Bellini family crypt.”
Before he could say another word, Dr. Rossi stepped out of the bedroom, pulling off his latex gloves.
His face was grim.
“Luca.”
Luca stepped toward the doctor immediately.
“Is she stable?”
“Her vitals are holding, but she was administered heavy neuro-blockers for years,” Dr. Rossi said.
“Her heart is severely weakened. She has a few hours of lucidity at most before she slips into a coma.”
Luca pushed past the doctor and walked to his mother’s bedside.
I followed quietly, standing near the doorway.
Lucia turned her pale head toward her son.
She reached up, touching Luca’s cheek with her frail fingers.
“Luca... listen to me carefully,” she whispered.
“I’m here, Mother.”
“You must go to the mansion right now,” she gasped.
“Get that ring from Vanessa’s finger before Carlo realizes the clinic was hit.”
“I will,” Luca promised, kissing her forehead.
“And Luca...”
Lucia’s eyes filled with fresh tears of terror.
“Do not open the vault alone.”
“Why?” Luca asked.
Lucia’s breathing turned shallow.
“Because the man who put me in that clinic... the man who ordered my death...”
May you like
She choked on her breath, clutching her chest.
“He is sitting in your mansion right now, waiting for you.”
