Chapter 6 - The Choice Luca Refused to Make
The vault locked from the outside.
Aldo tested the door.
Nothing.
Luca looked at the ceiling.
“Cameras.”
I spotted one above the entrance.
A tiny red light blinked.
Commissioner Hale could see us.
“Congratulations,” his voice said. “Carlo made this unnecessarily difficult.”
Luca stared into the camera.
“You worked for Enzo.”
“Worked with.”
“You let my sister die.”
A pause.
“I followed priorities.”
Luca's face changed.
I put my hand on his arm.
He looked down.
Then back at the camera.
“What do you want?”
“The drive.”
“You can't open the door without giving us a chance to kill you.”
Hale laughed.
“I don't need to open it.”
A hiss came from the ventilation system.
Aldo looked upward.
“Gas.”
My heart stopped.
“What kind?”
“Does it matter?”
Luca grabbed the hard drive.
“Find another exit.”
“It’s a bank vault,” Aldo said.
“There is always another exit.”
I searched the box.
Photograph.
Badge.
Nothing.
Then I looked at the photograph.
My father stood outside the bank with Luca's father.
Behind them was a maintenance door.
On the back:
EVERY SECURE ROOM NEEDS TWO WAYS OUT.
“Luca.”
I showed him.
Aldo immediately began examining walls.
The gas hiss grew louder.
My lungs already felt tight.
“Here.”
Aldo found a panel hidden behind a shelving unit.
We pulled.
Locked.
No handle.
I looked at the key.
Tried it.
Nothing.
Luca slammed his shoulder against the panel.
Once.
Twice.
Metal groaned.
Aldo joined him.
Third hit.
The door broke.
A narrow maintenance corridor waited beyond.
We ran.
An alarm began screaming.
We reached a stairwell.
Two armed officers appeared below.
Police.
Luca stopped.
“Don't shoot.”
They raised weapons.
“Hands!”
Hale's men.
Aldo fired first at the light.
Darkness.
We moved upward.
Shots cracked through concrete.
We reached the roof access.
Locked.
Luca kicked it.
Nothing.
I saw a red emergency box.
Fire axe.
I smashed the glass.
Aldo raised an eyebrow.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
I swung the axe at the lock.
Three hits.
Door opened.
Cold night air.
We stepped onto the roof.
Sirens surrounded the building.
Too many.
Hale had prepared everything.
A helicopter spotlight swept across nearby streets.
“We're trapped,” I said.
Luca looked over the edge.
Adjacent parking structure.
Gap of six feet.
“No.”
I knew the look.
“No.”
He looked at me.
“You trust me?”
“That question usually comes before a bad idea.”
“Probably.”
He climbed onto the ledge.
“You're insane.”
“Possibly.”
Aldo looked over.
“We can make it.”
“You're both insane.”
Luca held out his hand.
“Come here.”
I stared at the gap.
Five stories down.
My entire body objected.
Then the stairwell door burst open behind us.
No time.
I took his hand.
“Don't drop me.”
“I won't.”
He jumped first.
Landed.
Turned.
“Go!”
I ran.
For half a second, there was nothing beneath me.
Then Luca caught me.
We crashed together onto concrete.
His arms locked around me.
I laughed.
Possibly hysteria.
“You're heavy,” he said.
My smile vanished.
Then he added:
“Good. You didn't blow away.”
I hit his chest.
He laughed.
Actually laughed.
For one insane moment, with corrupt police chasing us, my brother recently kidnapped, my father murdered, and a criminal conspiracy unfolding around us, I felt lighter than I had in years.
Aldo landed beside us with considerably less romance.
“Move.”
We escaped through the parking structure.
A loyal Bellandi driver collected us.
Thirty minutes later, we reached a safe house.
No mansion.
No servants.
Just an ordinary brownstone owned through one of Aldo's companies.
Luca connected the drive to an offline computer.
Encrypted.
It asked for two biometric confirmations.
Elena Conti.
Luca Bellandi.
We pressed our thumbs to the scanner Aldo had brought.
Then a phrase prompt appeared.
LEGACY IS—
I knew.
I typed:
WHAT YOU REFUSE TO BECOME.
Unlocked.
Folders filled the screen.
Payments.
Judges.
Police.
Politicians.
Shell companies.
Photographs.
Audio recordings.
Enough evidence to dismantle Enzo's entire network.
Luca stared.
“My father knew all of this.”
“So did mine.”
“And they buried it.”
“They were protecting us.”
“Were they?”
I looked at him.
“What would you have done at twenty-three?”
“Killed Enzo.”
“Exactly.”
He hated the answer.
But he knew.
Aldo began copying files.
“We need federal authorities.”
“Who can we trust?” I asked.
“Carlo left a contact.”
He opened a text file.
FEDERAL PROSECUTOR SARAH KENT.
“Still active?” Luca asked.
Aldo searched an offline directory.
“U.S. Attorney's Office. Organized crime division.”
“Call her.”
“No phones.”
Luca looked toward the window.
“I’ll send someone.”
I touched his arm.
“No one leaves alone.”
He looked at me.
“You're learning.”
“I had a terrifying teacher.”
His eyes held mine.
The humor faded.
“Elena.”
“What?”
“You don't have to stay.”
“Where would I go?”
“I can send you somewhere safe.”
“Safe doesn't exist while Enzo has my family.”
“I can protect them.”
“You couldn't protect Isabella.”
The words came out harsher than I meant.
He flinched.
“I’m sorry.”
“No. You're right.”
“That doesn't mean I should have said it.”
He looked down.
“I spent my whole life believing power meant preventing anyone from hurting the people around me.”
“And?”
“It doesn't.”
“No.”
“Sometimes power means choosing which person you fail.”
I hated the sadness in his voice.
“Then don't choose.”
He looked at me.
“What?”
“Stop deciding that one person has to be sacrificed.”
“That isn't how this world works.”
“Then maybe your world is stupid.”
His mouth almost smiled.
“My world is definitely stupid.”
I stepped closer.
“You could leave it.”
He looked at me for a long time.
“You think it's that simple?”
“No.”
“Then why say it?”
“Because complicated isn't impossible.”
For the first time, Luca touched my face.
Slowly.
Giving me time to move.
I didn't.
His thumb brushed my cheek.
“You walked into my house as someone else's replacement.”
“I remember.”
“I thought you were going to cry when the vase broke.”
“I nearly did.”
“You looked at me like you wanted to fight.”
“I also nearly did that.”
“I noticed.”
I smiled.
His hand remained against my face.
“Luca.”
“Yes?”
“If you kiss me because we almost died, I'll regret it.”
“What if I kiss you because I've wanted to since you insulted my security?”
“That is marginally better.”
He leaned closer.
Then stopped.
“May I?”
Nobody had asked me that in a long time.
“Yes.”
He kissed me.
Not violently.
Not possessively.
Slowly.
Like he meant to remember it.
When we separated, I whispered, “You're less terrifying than advertised.”
“Don't spread that around.”
Aldo cleared his throat from across the room.
“I deeply regret surviving long enough to witness this.”
I laughed.
Then the front window exploded.
Gunfire tore through the room.
Luca threw me down.
Aldo killed the lights.
Men shouted outside.
“Back exit!”
We ran.
Another bullet hit the wall.
Matteo called my name from upstairs.
My blood froze.
He wasn't supposed to be there.
“Matteo?”
He came down holding my mother's hand.
“What are you doing here?”
“Aldo brought us before the bank.”
Aldo shouted, “I thought it was safer!”
The back door opened.
A masked man entered.
Luca fired.
He fell.
We moved toward the alley.
Then my mother stopped.
“Wait.”
“What?”
“Isabella.”
I stared.
“What about her?”
“She never made it out of the mansion.”
Luca looked at Aldo.
Aldo's face went white.
“What do you mean?”
My mother held up her phone.
A message had arrived from Isabella's number.
A photograph.
Isabella tied to a chair.
Behind her stood Vittorio.
Alive.
Below it:
BRING LUCA AND ELENA TO THE BELLANDI MANSION AT DAWN.
A second line appeared.
OR THE SUBSTITUTE BRIDE WON'T BE THE ONLY WOMAN WHO DIES THERE.
Then another photograph loaded.
Luca's face went still.
It showed a woman I had never seen before.
Older.
Silver-streaked hair.
Terrified.
May you like
Luca whispered:
“That's my mother.”
