Chapter 12 - The New Queen And The Future
I stared at the heavy emerald pendant hanging from Luca’s fingers, the green stone catching the pale moonlight.
“Me?” I whispered, my voice barely working. “Why would Dominic give the syndicate seat to me?”
“He didn’t,” a voice said from the shadows near the garage.
We all turned.
Stepping out into the light, flanked by two heavily armed guards, was Vanessa’s father. Don Bellini. The man Dominic had supposedly taken hostage.
He didn’t look like a hostage. He looked like a king who had just conquered a country. He was wearing a pristine cashmere coat, smoking a thick cigar.
Luca instantly pushed me behind him, raising his gun. “Bellini. What is this?”
“Put the gun down, Luca,” Bellini chuckled, puffing on his cigar. “I’m not here to fight. I’m here to congratulate you on your early retirement.”
Bellini walked closer, stopping ten feet away. He looked at the emerald necklace in Luca’s hand, then looked directly at me.
“Dominic didn’t kidnap me,” Bellini said smoothly. “Dominic and I formed a temporary alliance. We both knew you were too soft to hold the city, Luca. You care too much about the orphan girl. You care too much about the maid.”
Bellini smiled a greasy, arrogant smile.
“I fed Vanessa a sob story about being tortured so she would panic and flush out Thomas Reed,” Bellini continued. “I needed the ledgers to blackmail the New York Commission into giving me Chicago. And Dominic sent his best assassin tonight to wipe you all out.”
“But the assassin failed,” Luca said coldly.
“Yes, he did,” Bellini sighed. “Which is unfortunate for Dominic, seeing as he is currently locked in your trunk and facing a federal indictment tomorrow.”
Bellini took a step forward, his eyes locked on me.
“But the Commission is a traditional body,” Bellini said. “They don’t like vacuums. If you step down, Luca, the seat defaults to the person who holds the greatest leverage over the families. The person who holds the ledgers.”
He pointed his cigar at me.
“You, Nora Reed. The Commission voted an hour ago. Because your father possesses the ledgers, and you possess your father, they transferred the Moretti Emerald to you. As an offering of peace. They want you to burn the ledgers, and in exchange, you sit at the head of the table.”
I felt the world spinning. Me? A housekeeper? Running the Chicago syndicate?
“It’s a trap,” Luca said immediately, stepping in front of me to block Bellini’s view. “The moment she gives up the ledgers, the Commission will have her killed.”
“Perhaps,” Bellini shrugged. “But if she doesn’t accept the necklace, the Commission will consider it an act of war. Every hitman from here to New York will hunt her down. And you, Luca, don’t have the manpower to stop them anymore.”
Bellini dropped his cigar on the wet cobblestones and crushed it beneath his expensive shoe. “You have until dawn to accept the title, Nora. If you don’t put that necklace on, we burn this house to the ground.”
He turned and walked away into the darkness, his guards following him.
The silence that followed was suffocating.
I looked at the emerald necklace in Luca’s hand. The symbol of absolute power. The symbol of absolute corruption.
My father grabbed my arm, his hands shaking violently. “Nora, don’t do it. We can run. We can change our names again.”
“No,” I said softly.
I stepped away from my father. I looked at Luca. The man who had given up everything to protect me. The man who wanted to take his niece to a lake house and live a quiet life.
“Luca,” I said, my voice steadier than it had ever been. “Give me the necklace.”
“Nora, you can’t,” Luca pleaded, his dark eyes full of terror. “It will destroy you. It destroyed my father. It will turn you into a monster.”
“No, it won’t,” I said, stepping closer to him. I placed my hands over his, feeling the cold gold of the chain beneath my fingers. “Because I’m not doing this alone.”
I took the necklace from him. But I didn’t put it around my own neck.
I stepped forward and fastened the clasp around Luca’s neck.
The heavy emerald rested against his chest.
Luca stared at me in shock. “Nora, what are you doing?”
“I’m keeping you in the game,” I whispered, looking up into his eyes. “Bellini thinks I’m a scared little maid who will roll over and hand him the city. But he forgot one thing.”
I reached into my pocket and pulled out my father’s cell phone.
“I’ve had my dad’s phone recording in my pocket for the last five minutes,” I said, a fierce, protective fire burning in my chest. “I have Don Bellini confessing to blackmailing the New York Commission. I have him confessing to conspiring with Dominic.”
Luca’s eyes widened, a slow, predatory smile spreading across his face.
“If I send this recording to the Commission,” I said, “Bellini is a dead man by sunrise.”
Luca let out a breathless laugh, wrapping his arms around my waist and lifting me off the ground in a crushing hug. “You are the most terrifying, brilliant woman I have ever met.”
He set me down and pulled his own phone from his pocket. He immediately dialed a secure line to New York.
Within ten minutes, the audio file was sent.
Within twenty minutes, Marco received word from the front gate. Don Bellini’s convoy had been intercepted on the highway by Commission enforcers. Bellini was gone.
The war was over before it even started.
As the sun began to rise, painting the Chicago skyline in hues of pink and gold, the estate finally felt quiet.
Ray was bandaged and resting in the staff quarters, promised a massive promotion to Head of Logistics. My father was asleep in the guest suite, finally free from the ghosts of his past.
And I was standing on the back terrace with Luca.
He had taken the emerald necklace off and left it on his desk. He didn’t need a piece of jewelry to prove who he was.
He wrapped his arms around me from behind, resting his chin on the top of my head as we watched the sunrise over the gardens.
“So,” Luca murmured, his deep voice vibrating against my back. “Are you ready to pack?”
“To the lake house?” I asked, leaning back against his solid chest.
“To the lake house,” he confirmed. “No more syndicates. No more hitmen. Just a legitimate shipping company, a very bossy six-year-old niece, and the woman who saved my life.”
I smiled, turning in his arms to look up at him.
The shadows were gone from his eyes. He looked young, happy, and entirely at peace.
May you like
“I think I can handle that,” I whispered.
He leaned down and kissed me as the morning sun broke over the horizon, washing the darkness away completely. We had survived the fire, and now, finally, we were going home.
