Chapter 4 - THE INSIDE MAN
The ballroom plunged into a suffocating silence.
The sixty guests seemed to shrink back into the walls, realizing they were no longer witnessing a mere family dispute—they were standing in the middle of a mafia execution plot.
Luca’s dark eyes locked onto the gold cane in Victor Bellini’s hand.
“Where did you get it, Victor?” Luca asked. His voice was no longer a shout. It was a terrifying, quiet whisper. The voice of the underboss.
Victor tightened his grip on the cane, but he kept his chin high. “Donato was a weak man, Luca. He gave this to me as a token of gratitude for keeping his shameful secret about Adrian’s disappearance.”
“Liar!” Margaret shouted, her voice echoing off the crystal chandeliers. She moved toward the massive oil painting of her late husband.
To my shock, the elderly woman didn't stop to admire it. She reached out, her frail hands gripping the heavy gilded frame, and pulled.
The painting swung forward on hidden hinges, revealing a dark, steel safe built directly into the mansion’s stonework.
The guests gasped. Even Luca looked entirely caught off guard.
“Ma, what is that?” Luca asked, stepping toward her. “I’ve lived in this house my whole life. I never knew that was there.”
“Your father built it the week before he died,” Margaret said, her breath ragged. “He knew someone in his inner circle was working with the Bellinis. He knew they were coming for him.”
She turned to me. “Emily. The cufflink.”
I startled, realizing my fist was still clenched tight around the gold cufflink Margaret had given me earlier. The one with the engraved letters A.M.
I hurried forward and handed it to her.
Margaret didn't use a key or a combination. She inserted the flat edge of the gold cufflink into a microscopic groove beneath the safe’s handle.
There was a heavy, metallic click.
The safe swung open.
Inside, there was no money. No gold. No jewels.
There was only a single, black leather-bound ledger.
Margaret pulled it out and handed it to Luca. “Your father’s final records. He tracked the stolen money. He tracked every bribe Victor Bellini paid.”
Luca opened the ledger. His eyes scanned the first page, and the color instantly drained from his face.
He didn't look at Victor.
He slowly turned his head to the left, his gaze landing directly on Marco, his towering head of security.
Marco, who was still holding his weapon.
“Marco,” Luca said, his voice cracking. “You’ve been with this family for thirty years. You taught me how to shoot.”
Marco’s broad chest heaved. He didn't lower his gun. In fact, he slowly raised it, pointing the barrel directly at Luca’s chest.
Panic erupted. Several guests screamed and dropped to the floor. Vanessa shrieked and ducked behind her father.
“I’m sorry, Boss,” Marco said, his voice thick with emotion, his hands shaking slightly. “Victor found out about my son’s gambling debts twenty years ago. He was going to kill my boy. I had to let them take Adrian. I had to look the other way.”
Adrian stared at the man who had been his childhood bodyguard. “You opened the greenhouse door, Marco. You let them drag me out into the snow.”
A single tear rolled down Marco’s weathered cheek. “I didn't have a choice, Adrian. And when your father started getting close to the truth… Victor made me finish it. I switched his heart medication.”
Luca let out a guttural sound of pure agony. It was the sound of a son realizing his father’s most trusted protector was his murderer.
Before Luca could move, before Marco could pull the trigger, Victor Bellini barked a command.
“Enough! Shoot him, Marco, and secure the ledger! The estate is mine!”
Marco’s finger tightened on the trigger.
But I didn't think. I just reacted.
I grabbed the heavy, silver champagne bucket from the nearest table and hurled it with all my strength.
It crashed directly into Marco’s forearms.
The gun fired, the bullet shattering a crystal vase on the mantle, inches from Luca’s head.
In a blur of motion, Adrian tackled Marco to the marble floor. Luca was on him a second later, stripping the weapon away and pinning the massive man down.
“Tie him up!” Luca roared to his other guards, who were just shaking off their shock. They rushed forward, dragging Marco away from the center of the room.
Victor Bellini cursed violently, backing toward the ballroom doors.
“You think this changes anything?!” Victor shouted, his composure completely shattered. “I still hold the deed! And I still hold the one thing you care about most, Emily!”
I froze, the empty champagne bucket slipping from my hands and clattering to the floor.
Victor reached into his pocket and pulled out a small, plastic hospital ID bracelet.
It had a cartoon dinosaur on it.
May you like
Leo’s favorite.
“My men are at the hospital right now,” Victor sneered, looking directly at me. “Hand over the ledger, Luca, or Emily’s little brother gets his life support unplugged in exactly ten minutes.”
