Chapter 6 - The Last Dance
Luca grabbed Eva.
“Down.”
The ballroom erupted.
Guests screamed.
Tables overturned.
The supposed federal agents moved toward Luca.
Real security rushed in.
Nobody knew who belonged to whom.
Luca and Eva disappeared behind a marble column.
Matteo arrived through the service door.
“Kitchen!”
They ran.
A shot shattered glass behind them.
No one was hit.
The attackers weren't shooting wildly.
They wanted Luca.
Or the ledger they believed he had.
In the kitchen, staff scattered.
Luca pulled Eva behind a steel counter.
“Stay here.”
“No.”
“Eva.”
“You don't get to become controlling because we danced twice.”
“This isn't flirting.”
“Neither is this.”
She pointed toward the service exit.
Two men entered.
Matteo intercepted one.
Luca took the other.
Seconds later, both attackers were down.
One carried federal credentials.
Matteo examined them.
“Fake.”
Luca took the man's phone.
One message was visible.
RECOVER SEVEN. ELIMINATE MORETTI AND CONTI.
Eva stared.
“Conti.”
“They want both of us.”
“Why me?”
“Your father.”
The phone rang.
Luca answered.
Carlo.
“Where are you?” Luca demanded.
“Trying not to die.”
“Victor is dead.”
Silence.
Carlo whispered, “Then they're cleaning the board.”
“Who?”
“I know where Meridian is meeting.”
“Where?”
“The Bellmont boardroom.”
Luca stared toward the ceiling.
The boardroom was inside the same building.
“Tonight?”
“Right now.”
“Why?”
“Because the gala wasn't merely cover. Half of Meridian is already inside the hotel.”
Everything made sense.
The wealthy guests.
The controlled entrances.
The security access.
The assassination.
“They planned to kill me in the middle of their own meeting.”
“They planned to blame your criminal enemies.”
Luca looked at Eva.
“Where is Reeves?”
“On his way.”
“We don't have time.”
Carlo said, “Luca, don't go upstairs.”
“Funny. Everyone keeps telling me where not to go.”
He disconnected.
Eva grabbed his arm.
“Your father told you not to become him.”
“My father also spent years trying to stop these people.”
“And died.”
“So did yours.”
The words hurt her.
Luca regretted them immediately.
“Eva—”
“No. You're right.”
She stepped closer.
“They killed our fathers because our fathers fought separately after Marco died.”
Luca understood.
“We don't.”
“Exactly.”
Matteo said, “I hate interrupting whatever this is, but armed men are approaching.”
They moved.
Service stairs.
Up two floors.
Bellmont boardroom.
The door was guarded.
Matteo handled the guard quietly.
Inside, voices argued.
Luca recognized Carlo.
Another belonged to Senator James Bellmont, chairman of the charity.
The same smiling politician who had welcomed guests earlier.
Luca opened the door.
Conversation stopped.
Twelve people sat around a long table.
Bankers.
Executives.
A judge.
A police commissioner.
Carlo stood near the window.
Bellmont stared at Luca.
“You're supposed to be downstairs.”
Luca smiled.
“I get that a lot tonight.”
Eva entered beside him.
Bellmont's expression changed.
“Marco's daughter.”
Eva said, “Apparently everyone knows me except me.”
Carlo almost smiled.
Bellmont stood.
“This can end peacefully.”
“No,” Luca said. “It can't.”
Bellmont looked at Luca's hands.
“Where is the ledger?”
“Safe.”
“You don't understand what you're holding.”
“Bank records are usually easy to understand.”
“You think this is about money?”
“It's always about money.”
Bellmont shook his head.
“Meridian prevented wars.”
Eva laughed.
“You murdered my father.”
“Marco threatened stability.”
“You murdered Antonio.”
“Antonio became reckless.”
Luca's face changed.
There it was.
The confession.
Bellmont realized too late.
Luca touched his lapel.
A tiny recorder blinked.
Bellmont lunged.
The boardroom doors burst open.
Daniel Reeves entered with actual federal agents.
“Everybody stay where you are!”
Chaos.
Carlo raised his hands.
Bellmont ran toward another door.
Eva blocked him.
He shoved her.
Luca caught Bellmont before he reached the exit.
For one dangerous second, Luca could have killed him.
Everyone saw it.
Bellmont saw it too.
“Do it,” Bellmont whispered. “Prove you're exactly what we say you are.”
Luca remembered his father's recording.
Do not let my son become what I became trying to fight them.
Luca released Bellmont.
“No.”
Reeves handcuffed him.
“You get a courtroom.”
Bellmont looked almost disappointed.
“You think this ends Meridian?”
Luca looked around the table.
“No.”
Eva stepped beside him.
“But it starts.”
Agents collected phones, computers, documents.
Carlo approached Luca.
“I'll testify.”
Luca looked at his uncle.
“That doesn't erase anything.”
“I know.”
“Marco died because of you.”
“I know.”
“My father died because you helped these people.”
Carlo lowered his head.
“I know.”
Luca walked away.
Reeves stopped him.
“Moretti.”
“What?”
“Ledger Seven.”
“Isabella has it.”
Reeves stared.
“Isabella Conti is alive?”
Eva smiled faintly.
“Long story.”
Outside the boardroom, Luca finally allowed himself to breathe.
Eva leaned against the wall.
Her blue gown was torn slightly at the hem.
“You look terrible,” Luca said.
“So do you.”
“I always look good.”
She laughed.
It was the first genuine laugh he had heard from her.
Then Matteo came running.
His expression killed the moment.
“Boss.”
“What?”
“Reeves needs you inside.”
“Why?”
“They found something on Bellmont's phone.”
Luca and Eva returned.
Reeves held the device.
“Bellmont sent a message six minutes ago.”
“To whom?”
“We don't know. Number is encrypted.”
“What does it say?”
Reeves turned the screen.
FAILSAFE. CLEAN EVERYTHING.
Eva whispered, “What does that mean?”
An agent across the room suddenly shouted.
“Sir.”
He turned his laptop around.
Bank accounts connected to Ledger Seven were disappearing.
Files were being deleted.
Names.
Transactions.
Evidence.
Reeves swore.
“Someone is wiping Meridian.”
Luca looked at Bellmont.
Bellmont was smiling again.
“You were never fighting me,” he said.
“Then who?”
Bellmont said nothing.
Luca grabbed his chair.
“Who?”
Bellmont's smile widened.
“You still haven't figured out why the shooter missed you.”
Eva froze.
Luca slowly turned toward her.
The first shot had never been meant to kill him.
It had forced Eva into his arms.
Forced them together.
Led them to the storage unit.
The cemetery.
The ledger.
Meridian.
Someone had orchestrated the entire night.
Luca's phone vibrated.
Unknown number.
One photograph.
It showed Luca and Eva standing inside the boardroom.
Taken seconds earlier.
Someone was still watching them.
Then another message appeared.
YOU DID EXACTLY WHAT I NEEDED.
A third message arrived.
COME TO THE ROOFTOP ALONE.
Eva read it.
“No.”
Luca looked at her.
She shook her head.
“Absolutely not.”
Then a final message appeared.
A photograph of Isabella Conti.
She was sitting in a chair.
Her hands were tied.
Behind her stood a shadowed figure.
May you like
The message beneath it contained only five words.
BRING EVA IF YOU WANT HER.
