Chapter 6 - The Price of the Ruby
Gabriel Moretti walked Mia upstairs.
He held no gun.
He didn't need one.
Victor Hale did.
Mia was pale but unharmed.
“Brother,” Gabriel said pleasantly.
Damiano moved forward.
Victor raised the weapon.
“Don't.”
Serena stood beside the hidden compartment.
Gabriel looked at her.
“You have your mother's eyes.”
“People keep saying sentimental things before threatening me.”
Gabriel smiled.
“You're sharper than Evelyn.”
“She's alive.”
“I know.”
His smile faded.
“Ledger.”
Damiano held it up.
“Mia first.”
“Documents first.”
Serena watched Victor.
His attention moved constantly.
Damiano.
Door.
Security cameras.
Back to Damiano.
But never Serena.
He still saw the baker.
Good.
Serena quietly reached behind the counter.
Her fingers found the emergency cake torch she used for caramelizing sugar decorations.
Not a weapon.
But fire was persuasive.
“Why steal the cameo?” Damiano asked.
“To create confusion.”
“You could have taken the key years ago.”
“We didn't know where Elena put it.”
“And you knew Serena had the dinosaur?”
“Recently.”
Noah.
Serena suddenly understood.
The thrift store.
Someone had deliberately placed the dinosaur where her mother would find it years ago.
Evelyn had been closer than Serena knew.
“Gabriel,” Serena said.
He glanced at her.
“You didn't find me.”
“No.”
“My mother led you to me.”
Silence.
Damiano looked at her.
Serena continued.
“She wanted this to happen.”
Gabriel's expression tightened.
“She wanted you exposed.”
“Your mother was always reckless.”
“No. She was patient.”
Serena smiled.
“So am I.”
She pressed the cake torch.
Flame burst upward.
Victor jerked toward her.
Damiano moved.
Everything happened at once.
Mia dropped.
Damiano struck Victor's wrist.
The gun fired into the ceiling.
Serena threw herself behind the counter.
Security crashed through the front door.
Victor hit the floor.
Gabriel ran.
He reached the back exit.
Then stopped.
Evelyn stood there.
Two federal agents beside her.
Gabriel's face collapsed.
“No.”
Evelyn held up her phone.
“You talked too much.”
Every word had been recorded.
The next hours blurred.
Police.
Federal investigators.
Statements.
Evidence bags.
Gabriel and Victor were taken away.
Mia hugged Serena so tightly she could barely breathe.
Damiano stood across the bakery.
His black shirt was torn.
Blood marked one knuckle.
He looked less like a feared man than an exhausted brother.
Eventually everyone left.
Except Serena.
And Damiano.
She began sweeping broken glass.
He took the broom from her.
“No.”
“This is my bakery.”
“And I'm responsible.”
“You didn't fire the gun.”
“I brought this into your life.”
She looked at him.
“Your mother brought this bakery into mine.”
“That doesn't erase what I did.”
“No.”
“I accused you.”
“Yes.”
“I searched you.”
“Technically your guard did.”
“Serena.”
She folded her arms.
He took a breath.
“I humiliated you because suspicion was easier than judgment. Then when you were proven innocent, I protected my pride instead of your dignity.”
She said nothing.
“I was wrong.”
“Yes.”
“I am sorry.”
This time it sounded like an apology.
Serena studied him.
“Accepted.”
His shoulders loosened slightly.
“Not forgotten.”
“They shouldn't be.”
She smiled.
“Better.”
He helped clean.
At three in the morning, they sat on the bakery floor eating damaged wedding cake from paper plates.
“This is good,” Damiano said.
“It's worth being falsely accused for.”
He nearly choked.
Serena laughed.
Really laughed.
For the first time all day.
Damiano looked at her.
Something shifted.
Not romance yet.
Possibility.
Then someone knocked.
Evelyn.
Serena opened the door.
Her mother held a sealed envelope.
“I found this in the bank box after you left.”
“For me?”
“No.”
She handed it to Damiano.
His mother's handwriting covered the front.
FOR MY SON, WHEN HE FINALLY KNOWS EVERYTHING.
Damiano stared.
He opened it.
His eyes moved down the page.
Then stopped.
“What?” Serena asked.
He looked at Evelyn.
“This says my father wasn't the man who ordered Victor Hale to silence Elena.”
Evelyn went pale.
Damiano read the next line.
His expression changed.
“The person who gave the order is still alive.”
A car stopped outside Sweet Mercy.
The bakery door opened.
May you like
Damiano looked up.
And the person named in his mother's letter walked inside.
