Chapter 5 - THE TICKING CLOCK
The cartoon dinosaur on the plastic bracelet seemed to mock me from across the room.
My breath caught in my throat, choking off the air to my lungs. Leo was seven years old. He couldn't breathe on his own for more than three minutes without the ventilator.
“No,” I whispered, taking a step toward Victor. “Please. He’s just a little boy. He doesn't know anything about this.”
Victor’s cruel smile returned. He adjusted his suit jacket, relishing the power he suddenly held over the room again.
“Then tell your boss to hand over the ledger, Emily,” Victor said smoothly. “It’s a very simple transaction. The book for the boy.”
Vanessa peered out from behind her father, a triumphant smirk replacing her terror. “You really thought you could outsmart us, Luca? My father is always three steps ahead.”
Luca stood completely still, the black leather ledger heavy in his left hand, Marco’s confiscated gun heavy in his right. He looked at me. He saw the sheer, unadulterated terror in my eyes.
I knew the rules of this world. You never give up leverage. You never negotiate with a gun to your head. Luca Moretti was a mafia boss. He wasn't going to surrender his family’s legacy, his father’s dying truth, for a maid’s sick brother.
I squeezed my eyes shut, preparing for the worst.
“Take the book,” Luca said.
My eyes flew open.
Luca tossed the black ledger across the floor. It slid over the polished marble and stopped exactly at Victor Bellini’s polished shoes.
Victor laughed. It was a dark, victorious sound. He bent down, picked up the ledger, and tapped his gold cane against the floor.
“A wise decision, Luca,” Victor said. He pulled a burner phone from his pocket and pressed a single button. “Stand down. Leave the kid.”
He dropped the phone on the floor and crushed it beneath his heel.
“Come, Vanessa,” Victor said, turning toward the door. “We have an empire to claim. You have exactly twenty-four hours to vacate my property, Luca.”
Vanessa linked her arm through her father's, shooting one last venomous glare at Margaret. “Goodbye, you crazy old bat.”
The heavy oak doors swung open, and Victor and Vanessa walked out into the night, leaving the ballroom in absolute silence.
I fell to my knees, sobbing in relief. My brother was safe. That was all that mattered.
Luca immediately knelt beside me, his large hands gripping my shoulders. “Emily, breathe. Look at me. It’s okay.”
“You gave it up,” I cried, looking at his face. “You gave up your father’s legacy for me. Why?”
Adrian knelt on my other side. He exchanged a very brief, very subtle look with his mother.
Margaret was sitting back in her chair, calmly sipping a glass of water that hadn't been spilled in the chaos.
“Emily, my dear,” Margaret said softly. “Do you really think my husband would leave his most dangerous secrets in a book easily found behind his own portrait?”
I stopped crying, confusion washing over me.
Luca reached into the inner pocket of his tailored suit jacket and pulled out a small, rusted metal key.
“My father didn't write down his secrets, Emily,” Luca said quietly. “He locked them in a safe deposit box downtown. The ledger I just gave Victor? It’s a fake. It’s a book of dummy accounts I use to trap embezzlers in my own company.”
Adrian smiled grimly. “Victor just walked out of here with a book that proves absolutely nothing, thinking he’s won the war.”
I stared at them, my mind struggling to keep up. “But… the bracelet? Victor’s men are at the hospital! They’ll realize they’ve been tricked and they’ll hurt Leo!”
“No, they won't,” a new voice said.
I spun around.
Standing in the doorway connecting the ballroom to the kitchen was an older woman wearing a thick wool coat.
It was Nurse Helen. The head floor nurse from Leo’s pediatric ward.
She walked into the room, holding a heavy silver rosary in her hands.
“Nurse Helen?” I gasped, scrambling to my feet. “What are you doing here? Where is Leo?”
Helen smiled warmly and held out the rosary. “He’s safe, Emily. Mrs. Moretti gave me this rosary three months ago. She told me if men in dark suits ever came asking for Leo, I was to trigger the fire alarm, put him in a private ambulance, and bring him to the estate’s underground medical bay.”
My jaw dropped.
Margaret set her glass down. “Victor’s men are standing in an empty hospital room, threatening a bed with no sheets. Your brother has been sleeping safely beneath our feet for the last two hours, surrounded by my best doctors.”
I burst into fresh tears, rushing forward to hug Margaret. The elderly woman patted my back gently.
“You protected my son tonight, Emily,” Margaret whispered in my ear. “I protect my family.”
Luca stood up, his eyes burning with a dangerous fire. He looked at Adrian.
“Victor thinks he’s won,” Luca said. “He thinks he has the deed. He thinks he has the ledger. He thinks we’re beaten.”
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Adrian picked up Marco’s discarded gun from the floor. He checked the magazine, the metallic slide clicking loudly in the quiet room.
“Then let’s let him celebrate,” Adrian said, a ruthless smirk mirroring his younger brother's. “Right before we tear his empire to the ground.”
