Chapter 12 - The Night Bellaforte Burned
Smoke rolled from Bellaforte’s kitchen when they arrived.
Gabriel had locked twelve employees inside.
Jenna was among them.
Tessa moved toward the entrance.
Matteo blocked her.
“No.”
“He wants me.”
“That’s why you’re staying here.”
“You still haven’t learned.”
“Tessa—”
She looked directly at him.
“People have spent my entire life deciding what I should know, where I should go, and what dangers I’m allowed to face. My mother did it because she loved me. Gabriel does it because he thinks he owns me. Don’t become either one.”
Matteo stepped aside.
They entered together.
Gabriel stood beneath the chandelier.
Employees knelt near the wall.
Luca stood beside him.
Matteo stared.
“You.”
Luca looked ashamed.
“I didn’t have a choice.”
“You always have a choice.”
Gabriel smiled.
“Beautiful sentiment from a Moretti.”
Tessa held up the pendant.
“You want this?”
Gabriel’s eyes narrowed.
“The key.”
“You already opened the box.”
“There’s another.”
“Where?”
“Anna’s safe.”
Tessa had guessed.
Gabriel confirmed it with his expression.
She threw the pendant across the floor.
Gabriel moved instinctively.
That was the opening.
Frank killed the lights.
Chaos erupted.
Employees ran.
Matteo tackled Gabriel.
Tessa freed Jenna.
Fire spread through the curtains.
Luca stood between Matteo and Gabriel with his gun raised.
“Move,” Matteo said.
Luca’s hand shook.
Gabriel shouted.
“Shoot him!”
Luca looked at the man who had promised him power.
Then at Matteo.
Twenty years of friendship hung in one second.
Luca lowered the gun.
Gabriel shot him.
Luca collapsed.
Matteo caught him.
Frank tackled Gabriel.
Police sirens approached.
Tessa knelt beside Luca.
Blood spread across his shirt.
“I’m sorry,” he whispered.
Matteo pressed his hands against the wound.
“Save it.”
“For what?”
“For when you’re alive enough to annoy me.”
Luca almost laughed.
Firefighters entered.
Gabriel was dragged outside in handcuffs.
For one brief moment, Tessa thought it was over.
Then Gabriel looked back at her.
“You still don’t know what Anna did.”
Tessa stopped.
He smiled through the blood on his mouth.
May you like
“Ask Salvatore why your mother really returned to Philadelphia.”
Behind Tessa, Salvatore went pale.
