Chapter 10 - THEY TOOK THE WRONG WOMAN
For twelve seconds, nobody moved.
Then Luca became someone I had never seen before.
Not angry.
Not loud.
Terrifyingly focused.
“Lock the property.”
Marco shouted into his radio.
Security teams spread through the mansion.
Adrian ran toward the east hall.
Matteo had disappeared.
Vanessa too.
Luca grabbed my shoulders.
“Stay here.”
“No.”
“Hannah.”
“They took Teresa.”
“And I will find her.”
“I know why they took her.”
He stopped.
The trust.
Vanessa needed Teresa’s signature.
If Carlo couldn’t have Teresa declared incompetent quickly enough, they could force her to transfer control.
Luca understood instantly.
“She owns the voting shares.”
“Yes.”
Adrian returned.
“Garage tunnel.”
Luca swore.
The old estate had a service tunnel built during Prohibition.
Vanessa must have learned about it from Matteo.
We reached the underground garage.
One SUV was missing.
Marco pulled security feeds from nearby traffic cameras.
“Black Escalade. Northbound.”
Luca took his keys.
I followed.
He turned.
“No.”
“Teresa trusts me.”
“That doesn’t make you bulletproof.”
“It might make her cooperate less if I’m there.”
His jaw flexed.
Adrian said, “She’s right.”
Luca looked like he wanted to argue with both of us.
Then opened the passenger door.
“Stay beside me.”
We tracked the SUV to an abandoned social club near the Chicago River.
The Moretti family had owned it decades earlier.
Luca’s men surrounded the property.
Inside, we heard Vanessa’s voice.
“Sign it.”
Teresa answered calmly.
“No.”
“You’re making this harder than it needs to be.”
“I raised three stubborn men. You don’t frighten me.”
Despite everything, I almost smiled.
Then Matteo spoke.
“Mother, sign the papers.”
Teresa’s voice cracked.
“My own son.”
Matteo sounded tired.
“This isn’t personal.”
“That is what cowards say when everything is personal.”
Luca looked at Adrian.
They moved.
The door exploded inward.
Chaos followed.
Men shouted.
A weapon hit the floor.
Marco restrained one guard.
Adrian tackled another.
I saw Teresa tied to a chair.
I ran to her.
“Hannah!”
“I’ve got you.”
Then Vanessa stepped from behind a pillar with a gun.
Pointed directly at me.
Luca froze.
“Put it down.”
Vanessa’s hand shook.
“You ruined everything.”
I stared at her.
“No. You did.”
She laughed wildly.
“You were supposed to be invisible.”
Teresa whispered, “So was I.”
Vanessa’s eyes shifted toward her.
That half second was enough.
Luca moved.
The gun fired.
I heard Teresa scream.
Then Luca hit Vanessa’s wrist and Marco took her down.
I looked at myself.
No blood.
Then at Luca.
Nothing.
Then Adrian.
He was standing strangely still.
A dark stain spread across his shirt.
Teresa screamed his name.
Adrian dropped to his knees.
And as Luca caught his brother, Adrian whispered something only the three of us heard.
“Matteo wasn’t working for Carlo.”
Luca stared at him.
May you like
Adrian gasped.
“Carlo was working for Matteo.”
