Chapter 8 - The Man Beneath the Bomb
Ruby stopped.
"Dad."
Patrick's eyes filled.
"Stay there."
Lorenzo smiled.
"Touching."
Dante's entire body had gone rigid.
Marco's weapon remained aimed toward Lorenzo, but six armed men surrounded them.
Patrick stood between both groups.
A black vest beneath his jacket blinked red.
Ruby couldn't breathe.
"Why are you doing this?" she demanded.
Lorenzo looked almost offended.
"Doing what?"
"Using my father."
"Patrick volunteered."
Patrick said sharply, "Don't listen to him."
Lorenzo smiled.
"See? Family disagreements."
Dante's voice was flat.
"What do you want?"
"The card."
"No."
Lorenzo tilted his head.
"Then Patrick dies."
Dante glanced at Marco.
Ruby recognized the look.
Calculation.
Distance.
Angles.
Probability.
She stepped in front of him.
"No shooting."
Lorenzo applauded softly.
"The bride learns quickly."
Ruby turned to him.
"You want the ledger because it exposes you."
Lorenzo's smile faded slightly.
"Partly."
"What else?"
"I want what Vittorio stole."
"Money?"
"Identity."
Dante laughed coldly.
"You've spent your life whining that someone stole your name."
Lorenzo's face hardened.
Dante stepped forward.
"You're Enzo's son. Vittorio protected you from him."
"He hid me like a disease."
"He kept you alive."
"He gave you everything."
Dante shook his head.
"You think I wanted any of this?"
"Powerful men always pretend power was a burden."
"Then take it."
Everyone froze.
Ruby looked at Dante.
Lorenzo frowned.
"What?"
Dante removed the Moretti signet ring from his hand.
He tossed it onto the concrete floor.
"You want the organization?"
Ruby stared.
"Dante—"
He didn't look at her.
"Take it."
Lorenzo's eyes narrowed.
"All holdings. All accounts. All voting authority I personally control."
Marco looked alarmed.
"Boss."
"Quiet."
Dante continued.
"In exchange, Patrick walks out. Ruby keeps Gallagher Holdings. You disappear."
Lorenzo stared at the ring.
Then laughed.
"You think this is about money."
"What is it about?"
Lorenzo looked at Ruby.
"Her."
Dante went still.
Ruby's stomach tightened.
"Me?"
Lorenzo's eyes softened in a way that felt far more disturbing than hatred.
"You were supposed to belong to my family."
Dante stepped between them.
"Careful."
Lorenzo smiled.
"Still jealous."
Ruby frowned.
"We've never met."
"Oh, we have."
Dante's expression changed.
Ruby's missing memories.
Florence.
The elevator.
A black car.
Ruby whispered, "You abducted me."
"I rescued you."
"From who?"
Lorenzo looked at Patrick.
"Ask him."
Ruby turned.
Patrick shook his head.
"Don't."
Lorenzo continued.
"Patrick's people drugged you first."
Ruby stared.
"Dad?"
Patrick closed his eyes.
"It wasn't like that."
Lorenzo laughed.
"It never is."
Ruby's voice broke.
"What did you do?"
Patrick looked at her.
"We learned Enzo's surviving network intended to take you in Florence."
"So you drugged me?"
"We staged a medical emergency to move you quietly."
Ruby felt sick.
"Without telling me."
"I was trying to save you."
She laughed bitterly.
Everyone protected her.
Everyone lied.
Lorenzo stepped closer.
"My men intercepted them."
"You kidnapped me."
"I moved you somewhere safe."
"You held me against my will."
"You were unconscious."
"That doesn't make it better!"
For the first time, Lorenzo looked genuinely irritated.
"I kept you alive."
Dante's voice turned lethal.
"And then?"
Lorenzo looked at him.
"You arrived."
Ruby watched.
Dante's missing memory.
"What happened?"
Lorenzo smiled.
"Dante tried to kill me."
"Apparently unsuccessfully."
"We fought."
"And Luca?"
Lorenzo's expression briefly changed.
Pain.
"Dante shot him."
Dante's jaw tightened.
"I thought he was you."
"Exactly."
Ruby looked at Patrick.
"You let Dante believe he killed Lorenzo."
Patrick nodded slowly.
"We needed Lorenzo to think Dante believed it."
"Why?"
"Because it gave us time."
"For what?"
"To dismantle the network."
Lorenzo's face hardened.
"And instead, they erased me."
Patrick said, "You continued your father's work."
"My father?"
Lorenzo's eyes flashed.
"Enzo used me. Vittorio abandoned me. Elena lied to me. Which father exactly?"
No one answered.
Lorenzo looked at Ruby.
"You're the only person in this room who understands."
"No."
Ruby shook her head.
"I understand being lied to."
She stepped forward slightly.
"But I don't use that pain to destroy people."
Lorenzo's expression chilled.
"You married Dante."
"Yes."
"Do you know what he is?"
Ruby looked at her husband.
She thought of the contract.
The blank signature.
The years he had stayed away.
The nights he woke during storms.
The fear in his face when the bullet shattered the window beside her.
"I know what he's trying to become."
Dante looked at her.
Lorenzo noticed.
Something bitter crossed his face.
"Give me the ledger."
Ruby held the card.
"No."
Patrick shouted, "Ruby—"
She lifted it.
"You kill my father, I destroy this."
Lorenzo stared.
Dante understood immediately.
He stepped closer to Ruby.
"The card is the only copy."
Lorenzo looked suspicious.
Ruby lied smoothly.
"My father taught me backups were vulnerabilities."
Patrick almost smiled.
Lorenzo's thumb moved over the detonator.
Ruby's heart pounded.
"Take off his vest."
"No."
"Then you get nothing."
Lorenzo studied her.
"You've changed."
"I grew up."
"You don't remember me."
"Maybe that's a gift."
His face tightened.
Ruby held the microSD card over a drainage grate.
"Release him."
Long silence.
Finally, Lorenzo nodded to one of his men.
The man approached Patrick.
He began disconnecting the bomb.
Dante leaned toward Ruby.
"Don't move."
Patrick's vest came free.
Ruby exhaled.
The man carried it toward Lorenzo.
Patrick took one step toward Ruby.
Then the blinking light accelerated.
Dante shouted.
"RUN!"
Everyone moved.
Dante grabbed Ruby.
Marco tackled Patrick.
They dove behind a concrete barrier.
The explosion ripped through the tunnel.
Ruby's ears screamed.
Dust filled the air.
She couldn't see.
"Dante!"
"I'm here."
His body covered hers.
Gunfire erupted.
Marco shouted.
Ruby crawled.
Patrick appeared through the smoke.
Alive.
He grabbed her hand.
"This way."
They ran toward the service tunnel.
Dante followed.
Behind them, Lorenzo's men fired blindly.
Ruby held the ledger against her chest.
They reached a steel door.
Patrick entered a code.
It opened.
They rushed inside.
The door slammed.
For several moments, only their breathing filled the darkness.
Ruby turned toward her father.
Then she slapped him.
The sound echoed.
Patrick didn't move.
Ruby began crying.
"That was for dying."
He nodded.
She slapped him again.
"And that was for being alive."
"I deserved both."
Then she threw her arms around him.
Patrick held her.
For a few seconds, Ruby was eight years old again.
Then Dante's flashlight moved.
He was staring down the corridor.
"Someone's coming."
Patrick released Ruby.
"That's impossible."
Footsteps approached.
Slow.
Unhurried.
A flashlight appeared around the corner.
A man stepped forward.
Marco raised his gun.
The stranger stopped.
Patrick's face drained.
Dante whispered, "Who is that?"
Patrick answered.
"The man whose name is at the top of the ledger."
Ruby stared.
May you like
The stranger smiled.
And then Uncle Charles stepped out behind him.
