Chapter 7 - THE TARNISHED BRACELET
The alleyway spun around me. The rain felt like ice against my skin.
"Vanessa," Luca said, his voice terrifyingly calm. "If you touch a single hair on that woman's head, I will dismantle you piece by piece."
Vanessa’s laughter echoed through the phone, sharp and arrogant. "Oh, spare me the mafia theatrics, Luca. Your men were very easy to ambush. Uncle Peter sends his regards, by the way. His tactical team is much more efficient than your overpriced bodyguards."
My hands flew to my mouth to stifle a sob. My mother. They had my mother.
"Bring the watch, Marco, and the boy, to the old railyard at 5th Street," Vanessa demanded. "You have exactly thirty minutes. If you call your men, if you try to set a trap, I will put a bullet in this sweet old nurse’s head."
The line went dead.
I collapsed against the side of Marco's rusted sedan, unable to breathe. "She's going to kill her. Luca, she's going to kill my mom."
Luca put his phone away. He didn't offer empty platitudes. He stepped directly into my space, grabbing my shoulders with a firm, grounding grip.
"Look at me, Sophie," Luca commanded.
I forced my tear-filled eyes up to meet his.
"I am not going to let your mother die," Luca said, every word dripping with absolute certainty. "Do you hear me? I protect what is mine. And right now, you and your family are mine."
The possessiveness in his voice sent a shockwave through my chest, cutting through the panic.
He turned to Marco. "Get in the SUV. We are going to the railyard."
"Luca, we can't bring Leo," Marco pleaded, looking at his sleeping son. "If Peter gets his hands on him..."
"We aren't giving them the boy," Luca said, his mind working furiously. "But we have to bring him close enough to make Vanessa believe we are surrendering. I have an armored safe-room in the back of my SUV. Leo will be locked inside. He won't hear or see a thing."
Three minutes later, Leo was transferred to the heavily fortified back cabin of Luca’s vehicle. The child barely stirred.
As Luca sped toward the abandoned railyard on the edge of the city, he reached into his jacket pocket.
He pulled out a tarnished silver bracelet.
He handed it to me.
"Sophie," Luca said, his eyes on the dark, rain-slicked road. "Do you recognize this?"
I took the heavy silver jewelry, my fingers tracing the familiar, worn floral patterns engraved into the metal.
"Yes," I gasped. "This is my mother’s. She lost it years ago. Where did you get this?"
"I found it in a hidden wall safe in Vanessa’s dressing room two days ago," Luca admitted. "I was looking for financial records. I didn't know why she had a cheap silver bracelet locked away with her diamonds. Not until tonight."
I stared at the tarnished silver. "I don't understand."
"Twelve years ago," Luca said, his voice grave, "my father died of a sudden, massive heart attack in his sleep. The family doctor signed the death certificate. No autopsy was performed. It was closed very quickly by Uncle Peter."
Marco spoke up from the backseat, his voice bitter. "Because Peter poisoned him."
I gasped, looking back at Marco.
"Peter wanted the throne," Marco continued. "He poisoned the old Don. But Peter is sloppy. Someone must have seen him do it. Someone who was in the room."
Luca looked at me, the tragic puzzle finally piecing itself together.
"Your mother was the night nurse," Luca said softly. "She saw Peter murder my father."
The horrifying reality crashed over me. "Oh my god. That’s why she was so terrified... that’s why she quit nursing and took a job at a minimum-wage daycare. She was hiding."
"She didn't just hide," Luca said, pointing to the silver bracelet in my hand. "Peter and Vanessa must have realized she was a witness. They bought her silence. They took her favorite bracelet as collateral, threatening to kill you if she ever went to the police."
It made sickening sense. Vanessa’s cruel smile when I broke the kitchen window. The way she flaunted her power over me, knowing she held my family’s survival in the palm of her hand. She had planted me in the Moretti house as a maid just to keep me under her thumb, a constant warning to my mother.
The SUV slowed down.
We were approaching the abandoned railyard. Rusty train cars loomed in the fog like steel skeletons.
"Listen to me, Sophie," Luca said as he parked the vehicle behind a massive shipping container. "You stay in the car. Keep the doors locked. If things go wrong, you hit the red button on the dash. It will drive this vehicle straight to my heavily guarded compound on autopilot."
"I'm not staying in the car," I said, my voice trembling but firm. "That’s my mother out there."
Luca looked at me. He saw the fierce, desperate fire in my eyes. He didn't argue.
He reached into the center console, pulled out a small, suppressed handgun, and handed it to Marco.
"Let's go end this," Luca said.
We stepped out into the freezing rain, walking slowly into the cavernous, echoing space between the abandoned trains.
At the center of the yard, beneath a single, flickering halogen light, stood Vanessa.
She was still wearing her stunning red engagement gown, though the hem was soaked in mud. She held an umbrella in one hand.
In the other, she held a gun pressed directly against the temple of my weeping mother.
May you like
And stepping out of the shadows behind her, leaning heavily on a gold-tipped cane, was Uncle Peter.
"Right on time, nephews," Peter smiled, a chilling, serpentine grin. "I believe you have something that belongs to me."
