Chapter 5 - The Bride’s Last Bargain
Sophia did not scream.
She stood perfectly still while Isabella pressed the pistol beneath her ear.
Marco’s gaze shifted toward the wounded guard.
The bullet had struck the chair beside him, missing his body by inches.
A warning shot.
“Drop your weapons,” Isabella said.
Marco slowly lowered his gun.
I released Luca and stood.
“You won’t get out of here,” I said.
“I don’t need to get far. I need the ledger and a vehicle.”
“You need Sophia alive to leave this room.”
“I know.”
Luca pushed himself upright, one hand covering his bleeding shoulder.
“You shot at me.”
Isabella glanced at him.
“Marco shot you.”
“You told Alessandro everything.”
“You planned to kill me after I delivered the Romano accounts.”
Luca laughed through the pain.
“And now you expect him to save you?”
“I expect him to choose the innocent woman over revenge.”
She looked at me.
“Isn’t that what separates you from men like us?”
Sophia’s eyes met mine.
She was afraid, but there was something else in her expression.
A warning.
Her right hand had moved slightly toward Isabella’s wrist.
I kept Isabella talking.
“You threatened Emma.”
“I needed Sophia to surrender the photograph.”
“You could have asked for it.”
“She would have gone to you.”
“And you were afraid I might protect her.”
“I was afraid you would start asking questions.”
“You underestimated a three-year-old.”
For the first time, Isabella’s grip tightened.
“That child destroyed everything.”
“No,” Sophia said quietly. “She exposed it.”
Isabella shoved the gun harder against her.
“Be silent.”
“You hurt me because you thought I was weak.”
“I hurt you because you refused to listen.”
“You threatened my daughter because you were afraid of a photograph.”
“I said be silent.”
Sophia moved suddenly.
She caught Isabella’s wrist with both hands and dropped her weight.
The pistol fired.
The bullet struck an overhead light.
Darkness swallowed half the warehouse.
Marco lunged toward them.
Luca grabbed the fallen gun near his feet.
I saw the movement and struck his arm aside as he fired. The bullet tore through my jacket and grazed my ribs.
We crashed into a stack of crates.
Across the floor, Isabella and Sophia struggled for the weapon.
Isabella pulled Sophia’s hair.
“You should have disappeared when I warned you!”
Sophia drove her elbow backward.
“You should never have threatened my child!”
Marco kicked the pistol away.
Isabella reached beneath her coat for a second weapon, but Sophia caught her hand.
Marco forced Isabella face-first onto the concrete and secured her wrists.
“It’s over,” he said.
She laughed breathlessly.
“You have no idea how many people are involved.”
Near the crates, Luca swung a metal bar at my head.
I ducked.
It struck the wall hard enough to throw sparks.
He swung again. I caught the bar, drove my shoulder into his chest, and slammed him against a support column.
“You always thought you were stronger,” he said.
“No.”
I twisted the bar from his hands.
“I thought you were family.”
He pulled a knife from his belt.
The blade cut across my forearm before I trapped his wrist.
Luca smiled.
“That hesitation will kill you.”
“Not today.”
I drove him to the floor.
He reached for the pistol again.
A small voice called from the warehouse entrance.
“Mommy!”
Every person froze.
Emma stood between two security officers near the open door.
My mother was behind them, struggling to catch up.
Sophia’s face turned white.
“Emma, stay there!”
The child had apparently slipped away during the confusion at the estate and hidden inside one of the vehicles.
Luca saw her.
His hand closed around the pistol.
He rolled onto his back and aimed toward Emma.
I moved before I thought.
I stepped into the line of fire.
The gunshot thundered through the warehouse.
Pain struck my shoulder and turned the world sideways.
I hit the floor.
Marco fired twice.
Luca’s body jerked.
The pistol slipped from his hand.
Silence followed.
Sophia screamed my name.
Emma tried to run forward, but my mother caught her.
Marco kicked Luca’s weapon away and checked his pulse.
“He’s alive,” he said. “Barely.”
Sophia dropped beside me.
Blood spread through my white shirt.
“Stay still.”
“I’ve had worse.”
“No, you haven’t.”
“Probably not.”
Her hands pressed firmly against the wound.
I looked toward Emma.
She was crying silently.
“Hey,” I called.
My voice sounded distant.
She looked at me.
“Your mother is safe.”
“You got hurt.”
“Not badly.”
Sophia gave me an angry look.
“Stop lying to her.”
“I’m trying to help.”
“You have a bullet in your shoulder.”
“A small bullet.”
“There is no such thing.”
Despite everything, Emma stepped closer.
“Are you going to die?”
“No.”
“You promise?”
I glanced at Sophia.
She was fighting tears while keeping pressure on the wound.
“I already made you one promise today,” I said. “I intend to keep both.”
Police sirens approached outside.
Not local officers.
The federal agents Marco had quietly contacted after the financial records were recovered.
Isabella lifted her head from the floor.
“You called the government?”
I looked at her.
“You wanted to destroy my empire.”
She smiled faintly.
“And you’re going to let them do it instead?”
“No.”
May you like
I looked at Sophia, then at Emma.
“I’m going to rebuild it without people like you.”
