Chapter 6 - The Bride Who Became a HostageBianca woke with tape over her mouth and blood on the side of her face.
He remembered every second.
Giovanni Moretti dropping his coffee cup.
His mother screaming.
Fourteen-year-old Luca standing frozen in the doorway while Matteo cried beside him.
Uncle Salvatore had been the one who took control.
Salvatore arranged the funeral.
Salvatore kept rival families from exploiting the weakness.
Salvatore put his hand on Luca’s shoulder and promised, You still have a father in me.
Now Matteo’s letter claimed the man who saved their family had created the tragedy in the first place.
Dominic inserted the flash drive into a secure laptop.
A password screen appeared.
One clue.
THE SONG SHE NEVER FINISHED.
Everyone looked at Sofia.
“I don’t know.”
Luca did.
Their rooftop dance.
The melody Sofia used to hum.
“You stopped the song because you forgot the last note.”
Sofia stared at him.
“You remember that?”
“I remember everything.”
Her eyes softened despite herself.
Luca entered the notes as letters based on the old piano scale.
The drive opened.
Folders appeared.
BANK RECORDS.
AUDIO.
SHIPMENTS.
GIovanni.
SOFIA.
MATTEO.
Luca clicked GIOVANNI.
There were scanned medical documents from a private laboratory showing traces of digitalis in his father’s preserved blood sample.
Then payments from a Moretti-controlled shell company to a nurse who vanished two days after Giovanni’s death.
Approved by Salvatore.
Luca’s jaw tightened.
Sofia touched his arm.
He did not pull away.
Dominic opened the audio folder.
Matteo’s voice filled the vault.
“If Luca hears this, then either I’m dead or I’ve become very paranoid.”
A brief laugh.
Classic Matteo.
Then seriousness.
“Uncle Sal has been selling routes to Bellini for years. Dad discovered it. Dad planned to remove him. Three days later Dad died.”
Luca closed his eyes.
The recording continued.
“Vittorio wants trafficking routes. Luca will never allow it. So they’re building a case that makes it look like he already does.”
Dominic swore under his breath.
Another recording.
Salvatore’s voice.
Clear.
“If Sofia talks, remove her.”
Vittorio answered.
“And the child?”
A pause.
“If there is one, same answer.”
Luca stood so quickly the chair crashed backward.
Sofia covered her mouth.
Luca had heard enough.
“We kill them.”
Dominic immediately said, “No.”
Luca turned.
“No?”
“You kill Salvatore today, every piece of this dies with him.”
“I don’t care.”
“Yes, you do.”
Dominic stepped closer.
“You want vengeance. Fine. But Vittorio has judges, cops, politicians. He’ll make you look like exactly what they claim. Human trafficker murders respectable businessmen.”
Sofia spoke quietly.
“Matteo wanted the truth exposed.”
Luca looked at her.
“He died for that.”
He hated that she was right.
They copied everything.
Then found the folder bearing Sofia’s name.
Photographs.
Surveillance reports.
Addresses.
Milwaukee.
Indianapolis.
St. Louis.
Chicago.
Sofia stared at them.
“They knew.”
Luca scrolled.
The surveillance ended six months earlier.
The month Bianca said Vittorio recognized Sofia.
“Why didn’t they kill me?”
Dominic opened one final document.
An insurance policy.
Luca understood.
“They needed you alive.”
“For what?”
“To control me.”
A message had been drafted but never sent.
Once the marriage is complete, bring the woman and child to the lake house. Luca will cooperate.
Sofia became sick.
“They were waiting until you married Bianca.”
Dominic nodded.
“The Bellini marriage would merge enough legitimate assets that Vittorio could control nearly everything if Luca became compromised.”
Luca stared at the screen.
“Bianca.”
Sofia looked at him.
“You think she knew?”
“I don’t know.”
For the first time, Luca had to consider that the woman he was supposed to marry might be another victim.
They returned to the mansion separately.
Luca entered through the front.
Sofia and Lily used an underground garage.
Salvatore was already waiting.
He sat in Luca’s library drinking espresso.
“Quite an evening.”
Luca forced himself to appear calm.
“You heard.”
“Everyone heard.”
Salvatore smiled.
“So. Sofia lives.”
From anyone else the sentence would have sounded ordinary.
Knowing the truth, Luca heard the hidden disappointment.
“You knew her?”
“Of course.”
“You told me you met her once.”
“Perhaps twice.”
Luca poured himself a drink.
He had to stand within six feet of the man who murdered his father and pretend not to know.
Salvatore studied him.
“And the child?”
“Mine.”
His uncle smiled.
“Then congratulations.”
Luca wanted to break the glass in his hand across his face.
Instead he drank.
Salvatore continued.
“Bianca is devastated.”
“I’ll speak with her.”
“Her father is furious.”
“I don’t care.”
“You should.”
Salvatore leaned forward.
“This marriage prevents war.”
“So everyone keeps telling me.”
“You cannot throw away twenty years of peace because a woman returned from the dead.”
Luca looked at him.
“Watch me.”
For the first time, Salvatore’s mask slipped.
Only slightly.
“You have responsibilities beyond your heart.”
“My heart has never been part of our business.”
“No?”
Salvatore smiled.
“It appears to have caused quite a problem.”
Luca placed his glass down.
“I need time.”
“Take tonight.”
Salvatore stood.
“Tomorrow, we announce the wedding will proceed.”
“No.”
His uncle paused.
“You misunderstand.”
“I understood you.”
“You don’t have a choice.”
The room chilled.
Luca smiled faintly.
“That sounded almost like a threat.”
Salvatore returned the smile.
“Family doesn’t threaten family.”
Then he left.
Upstairs, Lily was building a castle from couch cushions.
When Luca entered, she looked up.
“You’re home.”
The word home affected him strangely.
Sofia emerged from the bedroom.
“How did it go?”
“He knows something.”
“Does he know about the box?”
“Not yet.”
Lily interrupted.
“Can Daddy help with the dragon?”
Luca and Sofia both froze at Daddy.
Lily pointed to a stuffed dog positioned outside the castle.
“He’s the dragon.”
Luca removed his suit jacket.
“Obviously.”
For twenty minutes, the Wolf of Chicago crawled across an expensive Persian rug pretending to be a dragon while his daughter defended a couch-cushion kingdom.
Sofia watched from the doorway.
Something inside her hurt.
This was what had been stolen.
First steps.
First words.
Birthdays.
Fevers.
Christmas mornings.
Four years Luca would never recover.
Later, Lily fell asleep against his chest.
Luca carried her into bed.
Sofia pulled the blanket around her.
“She trusts fast.”
“She gets that from you.”
“No.”
Sofia looked at him.
“I stopped trusting people a long time ago.”
“I know.”
They stood in silence.
“I’m sorry,” Luca said.
“For what?”
“For not protecting you.”
“You didn’t know.”
“I should have.”
“You aren’t responsible for every bad person in Chicago.”
“I used to think I was.”
Sofia almost smiled.
Then the mansion alarm exploded.
Dominic burst inside.
“Fire.”
Smoke poured under the hallway door.
Luca grabbed Lily.
“Where?”
“West wing.”
They ran.
Flames climbed the staircase.
Sprinklers activated.
Guards shouted.
Sofia coughed.
“This isn’t accidental.”
Dominic’s radio crackled.
A guard’s panicked voice came through.
“Mr. Moretti, somebody opened the south gate from inside.”
Then another voice.
“They took her.”
Luca stopped.
“Took who?”
Static.
The guard answered.
“Miss Bellini.”
Bianca.
A second later, Luca’s phone rang.
Vittorio Bellini.
Luca answered.
Vittorio spoke calmly.
“If you want my daughter alive, bring Sofia and the child to the lake house.”
Luca’s expression turned murderous.
“You kidnapped your own daughter?”
Vittorio laughed.
“No, Luca.”
May you like
A pause.
“Your uncle did.”
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