Chapter 6 - The Last Stain
Moretti Linen Services occupied an old brick building near the river.
According to Alessandro’s message, Dominic Rizzo was inside with six men.
According to Marco, Alessandro had ordered me to remain at the lake house.
I lasted forty minutes.
Then Emma found a small plastic bag inside the pocket of Alessandro’s jacket.
Inside it was the original laundry receipt.
There was a second address beneath the fold.
Not the mansion.
The lake house.
My blood turned cold.
Victor had known about this place too.
I called Alessandro.
No answer.
I called Marco.
No answer.
Then the lights outside went dark.
Emma looked up from the rug.
“Mama?”
I locked the doors and pulled the curtains.
“Come here.”
A car engine approached.
Not one car.
Two.
I took Emma into the pantry and pushed aside shelves until I found a narrow crawlspace.
Alessandro built exits into every room.
“Listen to me,” I whispered. “Stay here with Bunny.”
“You come?”
“I’ll be right outside.”
“No.”
“Emma.”
Her eyes filled with tears.
“You stay quiet. No matter what you hear.”
I kissed her forehead and closed the panel.
The front door burst open.
Two men entered the kitchen.
I grabbed a cast-iron pan from the stove and hid behind the wall.
One man walked past me.
I struck him across the side of the head.
He fell against the table.
The second man raised his gun.
“Drop it.”
I held the pan tighter.
“Where is the girl?”
“Not here.”
He smiled.
“We watched the house.”
A gunshot sounded outside.
The man turned.
I hit his wrist with the pan.
The weapon fired into the ceiling.
We struggled against the counter. He grabbed my hair and slammed my shoulder into the refrigerator.
Then the back door opened.
Marco fired once.
The attacker collapsed.
“Where is Emma?” he shouted.
“Pantry.”
He checked the front hall.
“More coming.”
“Where is Alessandro?”
“He went to the laundry building.”
“It was a trap.”
“We know.”
“No, you don’t.” I held up the receipt. “This address was written on it.”
Marco’s face changed.
His phone rang.
He answered.
Alessandro’s voice came through.
“Marco?”
“We have an attack at the lake house.”
Silence.
Then Alessandro said, “Grace?”
“I’m here.”
“Emma?”
“Safe.”
His breath left him hard.
“Rizzo isn’t at the laundry building.”
“I know.”
“I’m coming.”
The line went dead.
Marco pulled Emma from the crawlspace.
She ran into my arms.
“Bad men?”
“Yes.”
“Bear come?”
“Yes.”
This time, I believed it.
The remaining attackers entered through the front and side doors together.
Marco pushed us behind the kitchen island and exchanged fire with them.
A bullet struck the wall inches above my head.
Emma covered her ears.
“Too loud!”
I pressed her against me.
The gunfire stopped suddenly.
A man shouted from the living room, “Moretti! Put it down!”
Alessandro had arrived.
I lifted my head carefully.
Through the doorway, I saw him standing near the front entrance with his hands raised.
Dominic Rizzo held a gun against Alessandro’s chest.
Rizzo was older, silver-haired, and dressed in a long gray coat. He smiled as though he had finally won.
“I knew you would come running,” Rizzo said.
Alessandro’s gaze moved toward the kitchen.
He saw me.
Then Emma.
His expression did not change, but his eyes did.
Rizzo noticed.
“There it is,” he said. “The weakness.”
“You wanted me,” Alessandro replied. “Let them go.”
“I wanted to prove something.”
“To whom?”
“To every man who thinks the Wolf cannot bleed.”
Rizzo pressed the gun harder against him.
“You lost a brother because your father chose power. Tell me, Alessandro. Will you choose differently?”
Alessandro glanced at Emma.
“Yes.”
Rizzo smiled.
“Good.”
He pulled back the hammer.
I saw Alessandro’s right hand move slightly.
Marco saw it too.
He shot the light fixture above Rizzo.
Glass rained down.
Alessandro drove his shoulder into Rizzo’s chest.
The gun fired into the floor.
They crashed against the wall.
Rizzo reached for a knife inside his coat.
Alessandro caught his wrist.
The two men struggled across the living room, overturning a table.
Rizzo slashed Alessandro’s arm.
Blood darkened his sleeve.
Alessandro drove him into the fireplace mantel.
The knife fell.
Rizzo reached for the gun again.
I kicked it beneath the couch.
He turned toward me.
Alessandro struck him once.
Rizzo dropped to his knees.
Marco moved in and cuffed him.
Rizzo laughed through bloodied lips.
“You think this ends because I go to prison?”
Alessandro stood over him.
“No.”
“Then kill me.”
“No.”
Rizzo’s smile faded.
“You and Victor made the same mistake,” Alessandro said.
“You thought mercy and weakness were the same thing.”
Sirens sounded outside.
Alessandro turned away from Rizzo and crossed the room toward us.
Emma ran into his arms.
He fell to one knee and held her.
“You came back,” she said.
“I promised.”
She saw the blood on his sleeve.
“You hurt again.”
“It’s only a scratch.”
“Mama say that when big hurt.”
I laughed shakily.
Alessandro looked at me over Emma’s shoulder.
“Are you all right?”
“Yes.”
He touched my face with his uninjured hand.
“You disobeyed every instruction.”
“So did you.”
“I came to save you.”
“I stayed to save her.”
His mouth tightened, but not with anger.
Behind him, police pulled Rizzo to his feet.
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The man who had used a child to destroy Alessandro Moretti was taken away in handcuffs.
And for the first time, the Wolf let the entire world see what he protected.
