Chapter 4 - The Enemy at Lorenzo’s Table
Emma zoomed in until the reflection blurred into pixels.
Lorenzo took the phone from her.
His expression became dangerously still.
“Daniel.”
Emma nodded.
The man reflected behind Isabella was Daniel Mercer.
Her father’s oldest friend.
Her CFO.
The man sitting downstairs at that very moment under Duca protection.
Lorenzo called Matteo.
No answer.
He called again.
Nothing.
The mansion lights went out.
Emma whispered, “I’m developing a serious problem with people turning off electricity around me.”
Lorenzo reached into a drawer and removed a pistol.
“Stay behind me.”
“Fine.”
He glanced back, perhaps surprised that she had agreed.
“I’m not stupid.”
“I never thought you were.”
“That might be the nicest thing you’ve said to me.”
They moved into the corridor.
Emergency lighting came on.
A guard lay unconscious beside the stairwell.
Lorenzo checked his pulse.
“Alive.”
Emma heard footsteps downstairs.
Then Daniel’s voice.
“Lorenzo.”
He stood in the center of the foyer.
Alone.
His hands visible.
“Put the gun down.”
Lorenzo aimed at him.
“I’m unlikely to do that.”
Daniel looked at Emma.
“I need five minutes.”
“You have five seconds,” she said.
“Isabella isn’t being held by me.”
“You were in the photograph.”
“Yes.”
“Very convincing start.”
Daniel reached slowly into his coat.
Lorenzo’s gun lifted.
Daniel stopped.
“Phone.”
“Take it out slowly.”
Daniel did.
He opened a video.
Isabella appeared.
Untied.
Standing in what looked like an abandoned office.
She spoke directly into the camera.
“Lorenzo, if you’re seeing this, Daniel has reached you.”
Lorenzo lowered the weapon slightly.
Isabella continued.
“I asked him to stage the photograph. We needed whoever is watching Emma’s communications to believe I was captured.”
Emma’s mouth fell open.
“These people love fake kidnappings.”
Lorenzo almost looked at her.
The video continued.
“Salvatore wasn’t the only person involved. His death did not end the operation. Someone inside your organization took his place.”
Lorenzo’s jaw tightened.
“Daniel knows where I am. Bring Emma. Bring no more than one guard. Trust nobody else.”
The video ended.
Emma looked at Daniel.
“You could have explained before shooting started.”
“I didn’t shoot.”
“Someone did.”
“And I’m trying to help you find out who.”
Lorenzo lowered the gun.
“Where is Matteo?”
Daniel frowned.
“I thought he was with you.”
That answer landed heavily.
Lorenzo called again.
Still nothing.
Emma remembered Matteo outside the security room.
Matteo at Carter Freight.
Matteo knowing every move.
No.
He had seemed loyal.
But apparently everyone in this story seemed loyal right before a secret appeared.
A door opened behind them.
Matteo walked in.
His shirt was torn.
Blood marked his forehead.
He held both hands up.
“Before anyone shoots me, the east security room was attacked.”
Lorenzo’s gun shifted toward him.
Matteo stopped.
“Fair.”
Emma almost laughed from pure nerves.
“What happened?”
“Two guards turned.”
“Names?” Lorenzo asked.
“Rossi and Vale.”
Lorenzo swore softly.
“They worked for Salvatore,” Matteo said.
“Formerly.”
“Apparently not former enough.”
Daniel looked toward the windows.
“We need to move now.”
Lorenzo made the decision.
“Matteo comes.”
Isabella’s instruction had said one guard.
Emma noticed.
“So you trust him?”
“With my life.”
Matteo glanced at Emma.
“And hers?”
Lorenzo’s answer came without hesitation.
“More.”
Nobody spoke for a moment.
Emma looked at him.
He refused to look back.
They left through an underground garage.
Daniel drove.
Matteo sat in front.
Emma and Lorenzo sat in the rear.
For twenty minutes they said nothing.
Then Emma whispered, “More?”
Lorenzo stared out the window.
“This is not the time.”
“It sounded very dramatic.”
“I regret speaking.”
“You should.”
A faint smile touched her mouth.
His hand rested on the seat between them.
Emma placed hers beside it.
Not touching.
Close.
Lorenzo looked down.
Then slowly moved one finger until it touched hers.
No grand gesture.
No confession.
Just contact.
Emma left her hand there.
The abandoned office was actually an old church administrative building.
Isabella waited inside.
When Lorenzo saw her, he stopped.
Twenty years of control disappeared from his face.
“Aunt Isa?”
Isabella covered her mouth.
“Oh, Lorenzo.”
He crossed the room.
They embraced.
Emma turned away because the grief of other people sometimes deserved privacy.
When she looked again, Lorenzo was wiping his eyes.
He did not appear embarrassed.
That made Emma like him more.
Isabella took Emma’s hands.
“You look like your father.”
“I’ve been hearing a lot about him lately.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Please don’t apologize. Just tell me the truth.”
Isabella nodded.
They sat.
The story was worse than Emma expected.
Salvatore Duca had used freight networks to move illegal weapons for years.
Peter Carter discovered it.
Alessandro Duca helped him collect evidence.
Isabella copied financial records.
Victor Sanz secretly moved witnesses.
Michael Carter, Peter’s twin, originally enforced Salvatore’s orders but switched sides when he learned Salvatore planned to kill Peter’s family.
“So where is Michael now?” Emma asked.
Isabella exchanged a look with Daniel.
“We don’t know.”
“You called me from the box.”
“Yes.”
“How?”
“Your father arranged the phone. It only activated when the lock opened.”
“Dad knew I’d find it?”
“He hoped you never would.”
Emma sighed.
“Protection.”
Isabella smiled sadly.
“Yes.”
“Everyone in my family was terrible at it.”
Lorenzo’s shoulder touched hers.
Grounding her.
“What killed Peter?” she asked.
Isabella’s expression changed.
“A car crash.”
“That’s what police said.”
“It was not an accident.”
Emma closed her eyes.
She had known the answer before asking.
Still, hearing it hurt.
“Who?”
“We believe someone working inside Lorenzo’s organization.”
Lorenzo leaned forward.
“Name.”
“We don’t have it.”
“But Peter did.”
Isabella opened a folder.
Inside was an image of a ledger.
A series of payments.
All authorized with a single designation.
L-2.
“What is L-2?” Emma asked.
Lorenzo’s face darkened.
“In the old organization, leadership codes were used when names were too dangerous to record.”
“Lorenzo was L-1,” Isabella said.
Emma stared.
“So L-2 means the second-ranking person.”
Lorenzo looked at Matteo.
Matteo looked horrified.
“I’m not second.”
“Who is?” Emma asked.
Lorenzo answered quietly.
“My cousin Marco.”
Emma remembered the name.
Marco Duca.
Public-facing businessman.
Charity boards.
Luxury hotels.
Photographed with politicians.
“Where is he now?”
“At my mansion,” Lorenzo said.
They all went silent.
Emma whispered, “With access to everything.”
“Yes.”
Including the guards.
The cameras.
Her location.
Lorenzo stood.
“We go back.”
Isabella grabbed his arm.
“No. That’s what he wants.”
“He’s in my home.”
“He wants you angry.”
“He killed Peter.”
“We think.”
Emma stood too.
“Then we don’t give him what he expects.”
Lorenzo looked at her.
“What do you suggest?”
“A wedding.”
Everyone stared.
Emma’s pulse quickened.
“You said the marriage announcement was supposed to expose whoever was watching me.”
“Yes.”
“So expose him.”
“Emma.”
“Announce that we’re getting married tomorrow.”
Isabella’s eyebrows rose.
Emma continued.
“Marco thinks I found my father’s evidence. He knows I’m with you. If he believes marrying you makes me untouchable, he has to act before the ceremony.”
Lorenzo shook his head.
“That puts you in danger.”
“I’m already in danger.”
“It makes you the target.”
“I’m already the target.”
“No.”
Emma stepped closer.
“You don’t get to lock me away because caring about me scares you.”
Silence.
Lorenzo looked genuinely shaken.
Emma realized what she had said.
Caring.
Neither denied it.
Daniel cleared his throat.
Matteo stared at the floor.
Isabella looked amused despite everything.
Lorenzo lowered his voice.
“This is not a game.”
“I know.”
“If anything happens to you—”
“What?”
He stopped.
Emma waited.
Lorenzo looked at her as if the words themselves were more dangerous than bullets.
“I would not handle it well.”
Her heart softened.
“Then make sure nothing happens.”
Twenty-four hours later, Chicago’s elite received the announcement.
Lorenzo Duca would marry Emma Carter.
The ceremony would take place privately at the Duca mansion.
By sunset, journalists gathered outside.
By nightfall, flowers filled the foyer.
Emma stood in the same emerald dress where she had first grabbed Lorenzo’s tie.
“This is psychologically strange,” she told him.
“You wanted authenticity.”
“You own other rooms.”
“This room has sentimental value.”
“I attacked you here.”
“Exactly.”
She laughed.
For one moment, everything felt almost normal.
Then Lorenzo’s phone buzzed.
A message.
He read it.
His face changed.
Emma moved closer.
“What?”
He showed her.
A single photograph.
Marco Duca standing beside Emma’s sister, Rachel.
Rachel’s hands were tied.
Under the image:
MIDNIGHT.
COME TO THE OLD DUCA HOTEL.
BRING THE CARTER LEDGER.
NO POLICE.
NO GUARDS.
Emma stared at her sister’s terrified face.
Then another message arrived.
This one was addressed directly to Emma.
May you like
And it contained only three words.
BRING THE BRIDE.
