Chapter 7 - The Bloodline Ledger
“I can walk,” I said, throwing off the heavy duvet and swinging my legs over the side of the bed. The moment my feet hit the floorboards, a sharp, white-hot knife of pain drove through my left side, making my knees buckle.
Before I could hit the carpet, Luca caught me effortlessly in his arms, scooping me up against his chest with unmatched strength.
“Hold onto my neck,” he ordered, his voice steady amidst the rising chaos outside.
“Mr. Moretti, you can’t carry me and fight!” I protested, wrapping my arms tightly around his broad shoulders as another dull explosion shook the foundation of the house.
“I can, and I will,” he replied without hesitation, kicking open the reinforced fire-escape door that led into the estate’s hidden service tunnels.
The concrete passage beneath the mansion was cool and lit by amber emergency strips. Gunfire echoed above our heads—the distinct, rhythmic crackle of automatic rifles clashing on the manicured lawns.
Luca carried me down two flights of reinforced steel stairs with breathtaking speed, moving with the lethal grace of a trained soldier. He reached the lowest subterranean vault, punching an eight-digit code into a heavy titanium security door.
The door hissed open, revealing a hidden communications bunker filled with surveillance monitors, weapons racks, and a secure medical cot.
He gently laid me down on the cot, checking my bandages to ensure I hadn't reopened any wounds.
“You stay here. This room is blast-proof and air-sealed. No one enters without my biometric scan.”
“Where are you going?” I asked, grabbing the sleeve of his shirt, fear for his life overpowering my own physical pain. “There are too many of them out there!”
Luca looked down at my hand gripping his sleeve, then reached up to clasp my fingers in his warm grip.
“They didn't just come to rescue Arthur,” Luca said softly. “They came for the master vault where my mother’s heirlooms and financial ledgers are kept. If they get those offshore codes, the Bellinis can escape to South America before the sun rises.”
He pulled a small velvet pouch from his pocket and placed it into my palm.
I opened it. Inside lay an antique, tarnished silver key engraved with a delicate Sicilian rose.
“What is this?” I asked.
“That is the key to the iron lockbox inside the north cottage on the Hudson bluffs,” Luca said, looking directly into my eyes. “If anything happens to me tonight, Hannah... you take that key to Salvatore. He will protect you and your brother forever.”
“Nothing is going to happen to you,” I said fiercely, my voice cracking with emotion. “You come back down here and open this door yourself.”
Luca stared at me for a long, breathless moment. A rare, breathtaking smile touched his features.
“I will. Keep the key safe.”
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He turned, picked up a custom tactical carbine from the weapons rack, and stepped through the titanium doorway.
The heavy door sealed shut behind him with a hydraulic hiss, leaving me alone in the bunker with the surveillance screens displaying the war unfolding above.
