Chapter 8 - The Ghost with the Number ThirteenSofia did not tell Lily about the photograph.
Sofia’s body dropped.
Luca stopped breathing.
Then Adrian screamed.
Sofia had fallen not because she was shot, but because she drove her elbow into Adrian’s wounded arm exactly as the gun discharged.
The bullet struck the ceiling.
Luca fired.
Adrian staggered backward.
His pistol fell.
He crashed through the open trapdoor into the black water below.
Luca reached Sofia.
“Are you hit?”
“No.”
He touched her face, shoulders, arms.
“Luca.”
“I’m checking.”
“I’m okay.”
Only when he was certain did he pull her against him.
She held him just as tightly.
Above them, more shots echoed.
“Bianca.”
They ran upstairs.
The main room looked like a battlefield.
Broken glass.
Overturned furniture.
Smoke.
Vittorio knelt near the fireplace with blood running from his shoulder.
Dominic covered the rear hall.
Agent Monroe’s team secured two of Salvatore’s men.
But Salvatore was gone.
So was Bianca.
Vittorio tried to stand.
“He took her.”
“Where?”
“Garage.”
Luca ran outside.
A sedan disappeared down the private road.
Dominic reached the driveway.
“Vehicles!”
They pursued.
Wisconsin roads twisted through dark woodland.
Rain began falling.
Salvatore’s sedan moved fast.
Too fast.
Luca followed with Dominic driving.
Agent Monroe was behind them.
Sofia sat in the rear despite Luca’s objections.
“I’m not leaving.”
Salvatore called.
Luca answered over speaker.
“You should have stayed obedient.”
“Release Bianca.”
“I know about the drive.”
“Then you know you’re finished.”
“No.”
Salvatore laughed.
“You still don’t understand. Matteo collected evidence against me, yes. But he also collected evidence against you.”
Luca frowned.
“What evidence?”
“Every illegal deal you ever approved. Every bribe. Every threat. Every man who vanished.”
Agent Monroe’s vehicle stayed close.
Luca knew she was probably recording.
Salvatore continued.
“When the drive reaches federal prosecutors, your empire collapses beside mine.”
Sofia watched Luca.
He seemed strangely calm.
“Then let it.”
Silence.
Salvatore had not expected that.
“What?”
“You heard me.”
“You’d lose everything.”
“Not everything.”
Luca looked at Sofia through the mirror.
“For the first time, I know what everything actually is.”
Sofia’s eyes filled.
Salvatore’s voice hardened.
“You sound like your father.”
“Thank you.”
The call ended.
Ten minutes later, Salvatore’s sedan swerved.
A deer crossed the road.
The driver jerked the wheel.
The vehicle crashed through a guardrail.
It rolled once and landed against a tree.
Luca’s SUV stopped.
He rushed toward the wreck.
Bianca screamed from inside.
Luca pulled open the rear door.
Salvatore’s driver was unconscious.
Bianca was trapped beneath a twisted seat belt.
Salvatore crawled out the opposite side holding a gun.
“Stay back!”
Luca raised his weapon.
Bianca struggled.
“My leg!”
Salvatore pointed at her.
“Nobody moves.”
Vittorio arrived in the second car despite his wound.
“My daughter.”
Salvatore laughed.
“You always were soft.”
Vittorio raised his gun.
“You put a weapon against Bianca again and I’ll show you how soft I am.”
Federal vehicles approached.
Sirens echoed.
Salvatore’s eyes darted around.
Escape was disappearing.
He grabbed Bianca by the hair.
She screamed.
Luca lowered his gun slightly.
“Sal.”
“Don’t call me that.”
“Then listen.”
“You think you won?”
“No.”
Luca stepped closer.
“You lost.”
“You have no family left.”
Luca almost smiled.
“You’re wrong.”
Salvatore’s face twisted.
For decades he had built his power around one belief: family could be controlled through fear.
Now Luca had discovered the opposite.
Family could make a man fearless.
Salvatore aimed.
A shot rang out.
His gun flew from his hand.
Vittorio had fired.
Federal agents rushed forward.
They dragged Salvatore to the ground.
He screamed threats.
Promised judges.
Politicians.
Police.
Nobody cared.
Agent Monroe handcuffed him herself.
“You’re under arrest.”
Salvatore laughed from the mud.
“So is Moretti.”
Everyone looked at Luca.
Monroe did not deny it.
Three days later, Chicago woke to the largest organized-crime investigation in decades.
The Matteo Files, as newspapers named them, exposed politicians, police officers, judges, businessmen, Salvatore’s network, Vittorio’s crimes—and Luca’s.
Luca did what nobody expected.
He surrendered.
Sofia learned from television.
She ran into the study.
“What did you do?”
Luca sat calmly.
“Made a deal.”
“What deal?”
“Full cooperation.”
“You’re going to prison.”
“Possibly.”
“No.”
She stared at him.
“After all this, you’re leaving Lily?”
“I’m trying to make sure nobody ever uses my past against her.”
Sofia’s anger turned to fear.
“You promised.”
“I promised to protect her.”
“She needs you.”
“I know.”
“Then fight.”
Luca approached.
“I spent half my life believing power meant nobody could force me to answer for anything.”
He looked tired.
Older.
“Matteo died trying to stop what this family became. My father died for the same reason.”
Sofia shook her head.
“You weren’t trafficking people.”
“No.”
“You didn’t kill them.”
“No.”
“But you did other things.”
“Yes.”
She closed her eyes.
At least he didn’t lie.
Luca touched her cheek.
“I want Lily to grow up knowing her father told the truth when it finally mattered.”
Sofia began crying.
“Why couldn’t you become noble before we had a child?”
He laughed softly.
“Terrible timing.”
She hit his chest.
Then kissed him.
It was not romantic or graceful.
It was four years of rage, grief, love, and missed chances colliding at once.
When they separated, Luca rested his forehead against hers.
“I never stopped loving you.”
Sofia whispered, “I tried.”
His expression changed.
“Tried what?”
“To stop.”
“And?”
She smiled through tears.
“I’m apparently terrible at it.”
A small voice came from the doorway.
“Why are you kissing?”
They jumped apart.
Lily stood holding her stuffed dog.
Sofia wiped her face.
“Grown-up reason.”
Lily looked suspicious.
“That’s gross.”
Luca crouched.
“Probably.”
She walked to him.
“Are you going away?”
Luca’s heart broke.
“For a little while.”
“How little?”
“I don’t know.”
“That’s not a number.”
“No.”
Lily hugged him.
“Then come back when you know the number.”
Luca closed his eyes.
“I will.”
Federal agents arrived that afternoon.
Before leaving, Luca gave Sofia an envelope.
“What is this?”
“The million dollars Bianca promised.”
Sofia stared.
“You actually transferred it?”
“Lily earned it.”
“She spun in a circle.”
“She exposed an international criminal conspiracy.”
“That wasn’t intentional.”
“Still impressive.”
For the first time since returning to Luca’s life, Sofia laughed freely.
He memorized the sound.
Then walked outside with the agents.
Six months later, Salvatore’s trial began.
Vittorio pleaded guilty and agreed to testify.
Bianca entered therapy and disappeared from Chicago society.
Adrian Cole’s body was never found in the lake.
That worried Dominic.
It worried Luca more.
Because one night, while Luca sat inside a federal detention facility awaiting sentencing, Sofia received an envelope with no return address.
Inside was a photograph of Lily leaving preschool.
Across the bottom someone had written:
THE DANCE ISN’T OVER.
Sofia turned the photograph over.
One symbol had been drawn on the back.
XIII.
May you like
Thirteen.
Adrian was alive.
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