Chapter 5 - THE LOADED WEAPON
The room went deathly still.
Mr. Bellini stepped between his daughter and Luca.
His face was flushed with dark, furious rage.
"Step away from my daughter, Luca," the older man snapped.
His hand twitched inside his jacket.
I saw the outline of the gun barrel pressing against the wool fabric.
Sal saw it too.
The old driver quietly moved his heavy frame between us and Mr. Bellini.
"Put your hands where I can see them, Mr. Bellini," Sal said.
His voice lacked all fear.
Thirty-four years in the underworld had taught Sal how to spot a cornered animal.
Mr. Bellini sneered at the old driver.
"Shut up, old man, or I'll put a bullet through your chest right now."
Luca's eyes narrowed into slits of pure death.
"You pull that weapon," Luca whispered, "and I will tear your entire empire down before sunrise."
The tension in the foyer was thick enough to slice with a knife.
Guests scattered toward the exits in absolute panic.
Expensive dresses rustled as people scrambled for the doors.
Within seconds, only family and security remained.
Mr. Bellini kept his hand on his hidden gun.
"She protected him," Mr. Bellini snarled, defending his daughter.
"Protected him from what?" Luca demanded.
"From our enemies! From the rival families who would use a bastard child to destroy us!"
Leo whimpered.
He wrapped his small arms tightly around my leg.
I knelt down, pulling the little boy into my embrace.
I covered his ears so he wouldn't hear the monsters shouting above us.
Luca looked at Vanessa's father with absolute disgust.
"You knew?" Luca asked.
Mr. Bellini didn't answer.
His silence was confession enough.
Luca slowly reached into his suit jacket.
He didn't pull out a gun.
He pulled out his phone.
He pressed a single button on speakerphone.
"Do it," Luca commanded into the device.
Instantly, the heavy iron security gates at the end of the driveway slammed shut.
Heavy truck engines roared to life outside.
Luca's personal enforcement squad had just locked down the entire estate.
"Nobody leaves this house," Luca declared.
Vanessa screamed, collapsing onto the marble floor.
"You've ruined everything!" she sobbed.
May you like
"No," Luca replied, stepping over her train. "I've just begun."
[CLIFFHANGER: My phone buzzed in my pocket with an anonymous text message containing a bank routing number and three words: They are coming for the boy.]
