Chapter 11 - What Bianca Had DoneThe video was nineteen minutes long.
Blood spread across her shoulder.
Not her chest.
Alive.
Luca registered that in less than a second.
Then the lights went out.
Dominic.
The signal.
Complete darkness swallowed the therapy gym.
Ames shouted.
Emilia screamed.
Luca moved toward the sound.
Another gunshot.
Glass shattered.
Emergency lights flashed red.
Anna lunged toward Emilia.
Marco grabbed Bianca.
Matteo's voice thundered from the corridor.
"Down!"
DeLuca security entered from both stairwells.
Ames' men returned fire.
Luca reached Emilia.
He ripped the strap from her waist.
"Daddy!"
"I've got you."
He lifted her from the chair.
She clung to his neck.
Ames appeared near the rear door.
Gun raised.
Anna saw her.
"Luca!"
Luca turned.
Too slow.
Ames fired.
Anna threw herself sideways.
The bullet struck the wall.
Luca pulled Emilia behind concrete equipment.
Matteo fired toward Ames.
She disappeared through the rear exit.
"Dominic!"
"Going!"
Dominic followed.
Luca stayed with Emilia.
Years earlier, perhaps he would have chased the enemy himself.
Not tonight.
His daughter came first.
Always.
Anna crawled toward them.
"Are you okay?"
Emilia nodded through tears.
"Grandma?"
Luca looked toward Bianca.
Marco was pressing his jacket against her shoulder.
"She's alive."
Emilia cried harder.
Bianca heard her.
"I'm okay, sweetheart."
It was not entirely true.
But she was conscious.
Sirens began approaching outside.
Real federal agents this time.
Luca had sent Elena's evidence before arriving.
For the first time in DeLuca history, he had invited authorities into family business.
A decision his father had intended to make years earlier.
Maybe some cycles ended only when someone became willing to embarrass their ancestors.
Dominic returned ten minutes later.
"Ames escaped into the lower level."
"Seal the building."
"Federal teams are entering."
Luca looked at Emilia.
He wasn't leaving her.
Matteo understood.
"I'll go."
Luca nodded.
"Bring her back alive."
Matteo's expression hardened.
"I'll try."
Bianca was transported downstairs.
Anna went with Emilia.
Luca remained long enough to watch paramedics treat his mother.
Then a federal agent approached.
Special Agent Rebecca Sloan.
Elena's files had named Sloan's former supervisor as someone Carlo had tried to contact years earlier.
Dominic had vetted her carefully.
Sloan looked at Luca.
"We recovered twelve boxes from a secured basement room."
"What kind of boxes?"
"Medical files."
Luca's stomach turned.
"Children?"
"Some."
She hesitated.
"Mr. DeLuca, this operation was larger than your family realized."
Of course it was.
Evil rarely respected household boundaries.
Sloan continued.
"We also found financial records tied to foundations in five states."
"Can you prosecute?"
"With Marco Bellini's testimony and Elena's records?"
She nodded.
"Yes."
For the first time, Luca felt something resembling relief.
Then gunfire erupted below.
Two shots.
Everyone moved.
A radio crackled.
"Suspect heading toward east stairwell."
Ames.
Luca handed Emilia to Anna.
"Stay here."
"Daddy—"
"I'll be back."
He ran.
Despite his promise to think differently, some confrontations belonged to him.
He reached the basement corridor as Dominic appeared from the opposite end.
"She went into records."
The door was open.
They entered.
Shelves.
Dust.
Old cabinets.
No Ames.
Then Luca heard breathing.
Behind him.
He turned.
Ames stood with a gun aimed at Dominic.
"Drop it."
Dominic did.
Luca slowly raised his hands.
Ames looked less composed now.
Her hair was disordered.
Blood ran from a cut above her eyebrow.
"You should have left the past buried."
Luca stared.
"You should have stayed away from my daughter."
Ames laughed.
"Your daughter was collateral."
"She was a baby."
"Babies become witnesses."
"No."
Luca stepped closer.
"Babies become people."
Ames' gun shifted toward him.
"You think you are different from Vittorio?"
Luca said nothing.
"You've ordered men killed."
"Yes."
"Destroyed lives."
"Yes."
"Built your empire on fear."
"Yes."
She smiled.
"Then don't pretend morality found you because someone hurt your child."
Luca absorbed the accusation.
Because some of it was true.
"I don't."
That surprised her.
Luca continued.
"I've done things I can't erase."
Another step.
"But I can decide what happens next."
Ames' finger tightened.
"You'll always be a DeLuca."
"I know."
"Then act like one."
She fired.
Luca moved.
The bullet missed his chest.
Dominic tackled her.
The weapon slid across the floor.
Luca grabbed it.
Ames lay beneath Dominic.
Helpless.
She laughed at Luca.
"Do it."
Old Luca would have.
A bullet.
A body.
Problem gone.
Then Emilia's voice returned.
Don't become bad because they were bad.
Luca lowered the weapon.
Ames' smile disappeared.
"No."
Dominic looked surprised.
Luca stepped back.
"Let her live long enough to hear every sentence."
Federal agents entered.
They handcuffed Ames.
She began shouting.
Threats.
Names.
Promises.
Luca walked away.
By sunrise, Saint Catherine's belonged to investigators.
Bianca survived surgery.
The bullet had passed through her shoulder without striking major arteries.
Vittorio was transferred into federal custody.
Salvatore agreed to cooperate.
Marco prepared to testify.
Anna remained with Emilia.
And Emilia—
Emilia walked.
Not perfectly.
Not easily.
But she walked.
Three days later, Dr. Brooks examined her at a private rehabilitation center.
Luca stood outside the therapy room.
Emilia held parallel bars.
One step.
Two.
Three.
She stopped.
Breathed.
Then continued.
Anna clapped quietly.
Luca looked through the glass.
He had spent seven years imagining his daughter's first steps were gone forever.
He had missed them when she was a toddler.
But perhaps life had given him another chance.
Emilia looked through the window.
"Daddy!"
He entered.
"Watch."
She let go of one bar.
Anna became nervous.
"Slow."
Emilia grinned.
She took four steps toward Luca.
He crouched.
She fell into his arms.
He laughed.
Actually laughed.
Emilia wrapped her arms around his neck.
"See?"
"I see."
She whispered:
"I told you I could."
Luca closed his eyes.
"Yes, piccola."
Then Anna's phone rang.
Her face changed when she answered.
"What?"
Luca stood.
Anna listened.
Then looked at him.
"It's my father."
"What happened?"
"Federal agents searched Ames' apartment."
"And?"
Anna swallowed.
"They found another video."
Luca felt dread return.
"Of Elena?"
May you like
Anna shook her head.
"Of Bianca."
