Chapter 7 - THE NIGHT LUCA CHOSE US
I don’t remember getting into the car.
I remember Luca’s hand around mine.
I remember sirens somewhere in the distance.
I remember thinking about Emma’s purple pajamas.
She had tiny yellow stars on them.
That stupid detail became the only thing my mind could hold.
“She's three.”
Luca looked at me.
“What?”
“She’s three years old.”
His grip tightened.
“I know.”
“She still thinks the moon follows our car.”
“Ava—”
“She thinks raisins are candy because I couldn’t afford candy one week and I lied to her.”
My voice broke.
“And she believed me.”
Luca pulled me against him.
For the first time, I didn’t fight.
“I’m getting her back.”
“What if—”
“No.”
His voice hardened.
“Don’t finish that sentence.”
The hospital had been evacuated from the private wing.
Antonio’s men controlled three floors.
Police had surrounded the building, but nobody knew there was a kidnapped child inside.
Luca refused to involve them fully.
Not because of his criminal reputation.
Because Antonio had threatened to kill Emma if police entered.
Matteo studied the building plans.
“There’s an old maintenance entrance beneath the parking structure.”
Luca nodded.
“You and Nico take it.”
“And you?”
“Front.”
“That’s suicide.”
“It’s distraction.”
I stared at him.
“No.”
“Ava.”
“No.”
He turned.
I grabbed his jacket.
“You do not get to walk in there and die because you feel guilty.”
His eyes held mine.
“This isn’t guilt.”
“Then what is it?”
Silence.
Around us, armed men prepared for war.
But suddenly it felt like only Luca and me existed.
He touched my face.
“I walked into Marino’s because I needed your vote.”
The confession hurt even though I already knew.
“Then I watched you try to pick broken glass off the floor while you could barely stand.”
His thumb brushed beneath my eye.
“And I forgot about the vote.”
“Luca.”
“I don’t know when it changed.”
My heart hammered.
“But somewhere between you threatening to jump out of my SUV and your daughter telling me I was too tall, this stopped being business.”
Tears burned my eyes.
“Don’t say goodbye.”
“I’m not.”
He kissed me.
Not desperately.
Not like a man taking something before death.
Like a promise.
Then he stepped away.
“Stay with Matteo.”
“Luca—”
He walked toward the hospital.
Antonio’s men let him inside.
I watched through a surveillance feed Matteo had hacked.
Luca entered the lobby alone.
Unarmed.
Antonio waited near the elevators.
Even through grainy video, I saw the resemblance.
“Where’s the girl?” Luca asked.
“Safe.”
“My father used to say that right before somebody got hurt.”
Antonio smiled.
“You’ve become sentimental.”
“You’ve become predictable.”
“Have I?”
Antonio lifted a tablet.
Emma appeared on screen.
She sat beside my mother.
Both alive.
I nearly collapsed.
Antonio looked at Luca.
“Ava signs. Carter’s shares transfer to Sloane Holdings. You withdraw Castellano opposition to the waterfront sale.”
“And you?”
“I disappear.”
“With what?”
“Two hundred million dollars.”
Luca laughed softly.
Antonio’s smile faded.
“You think this is funny?”
“I think you spent your entire life teaching me power mattered more than family.”
“Yes.”
“And you still don’t understand why you lost yours.”
Antonio slapped him.
I screamed at the screen.
Luca barely moved.
Then the lights flickered.
Matteo smiled.
“They’re in.”
Nico’s team had reached the maintenance level.
We watched camera feeds.
Hallway.
Stairs.
Third floor.
Then one feed went black.
Another.
Antonio realized something was wrong.
He grabbed Luca.
Gunfire erupted.
“Emma!”
I ran.
Matteo caught me.
“Wait.”
“My daughter is upstairs!”
“So is my brother.”
“Then move!”
We entered through the parking structure.
Smoke filled the stairwell.
On the third floor, I heard my mother screaming.
I ran toward her voice.
A man stepped from a doorway.
I froze.
Jake.
His shoulder was bandaged.
“What are you doing here?”
“Fixing what I broke.”
He handed me a gun.
“I don’t know how to use this.”
“Point and pull.”
“Wonderful.”
He led me through a service corridor.
“Emma’s in room 318.”
“How do you know?”
“I worked for Caleb.”
“You what?”
“Later.”
We reached 318.
Empty.
A stuffed rabbit lay on the floor.
Emma’s.
“No.”
Jake checked the adjoining room.
“Moved.”
Then someone attacked him.
They crashed through a cart.
I grabbed the gun.
The attacker turned toward me.
I pulled the trigger.
Click.
Safety.
Of course.
Jake slammed the man into the wall.
“Run!”
I ran.
At the end of the corridor, elevator doors opened.
Antonio stood inside.
Emma was in his arms.
A gun pressed against her side.
“Mama!”
I stopped.
Antonio smiled.
“There you are.”
“Give her to me.”
“You have something I need.”
“The shares?”
“No.”
His eyes dropped to my necklace.
The brass key hung there.
I had put it around my neck after Pier 47.
“You already opened Samuel’s locker.”
“Yes.”
“But that key opens something else.”
“What?”
“The future.”
He backed into the elevator.
“Come with me and Emma lives.”
“No.”
The word came from behind him.
Luca.
Blood covered one side of his face.
His gun was aimed at his father.
Antonio turned.
“You always were a disappointment.”
“And you always talked too much.”
Emma suddenly bit Antonio’s hand.
He shouted.
I lunged.
A gun fired.
Luca fell.
I screamed.
Jake tackled Antonio.
I grabbed Emma and collapsed against the wall.
Gunshots exploded.
Then silence.
“Luca!”
He lay on the floor.
Blood spread beneath him.
I crawled toward him with Emma in my arms.
His eyes found mine.
“Ava.”
“I’m here.”
He tried to smile.
“Emma?”
“She’s safe.”
“Good.”
His eyes closed.
“No.”
I touched his face.
“Luca!”
Nothing.
May you like
And for one horrible moment, the most feared man in Seattle didn’t breathe.
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