Chapter 3 - The Man Who Betrayed the Family
Emergency lights flooded the penthouse red.
Jamie screamed.
I pulled him against me.
Luca's men moved instantly.
Doors locked.
Curtains closed.
Someone spoke into a radio.
“Garage team isn't responding.”
Luca looked toward the older man who had brought me upstairs.
“Marco?”
“Internal breach.”
“How internal?”
Marco hesitated.
“Very.”
Luca understood immediately.
“So it's him.”
I didn't know who him was.
I didn't want to.
“Jamie and I are leaving.”
“No elevators,” Marco said.
“Stairs.”
“Compromised.”
My heart began pounding.
Luca walked toward us.
“There's a secure room behind the study.”
“I don't want your secure room.”
“You want your son alive?”
I stared at him.
“Don't use him to scare me.”
His jaw tightened.
“I'm trying to prevent you from discovering how justified your fear is.”
Gunfire cracked somewhere far below.
Jamie buried his face against me.
Luca's expression hardened.
“Marco.”
Marco opened a hidden door.
“Inside.”
I carried Jamie through.
Luca followed.
“Why are you coming?”
“Because they're here for me.”
“That isn't comforting.”
“It wasn't meant to be.”
The room was small but reinforced.
Monitors covered one wall.
Jamie sat on a couch.
Luca crouched in front of him.
“Hey.”
Jamie looked up.
“That noise downstairs?”
Jamie nodded.
“Construction.”
I stared at Luca.
Jamie frowned.
“At night?”
“Union job.”
I nearly laughed despite myself.
Jamie apparently accepted this explanation.
Then he noticed Luca's tattoos.
“Does that hurt?”
Luca looked at his hands.
“Once.”
“Why'd you get them?”
Luca became quiet.
“The names of people I didn't want to forget.”
Jamie pointed at one line of script.
“What's that?”
“My brother.”
“Where is he?”
Luca looked toward the monitor.
“Gone.”
Jamie considered this.
“My dad's gone too.”
Silence filled the room.
Luca looked at me.
I looked away.
Then one monitor flickered.
A man appeared on the security feed.
Expensive suit.
Silver hair.
He looked enough like Luca that I understood before anyone explained.
Luca's face became stone.
“Uncle.”
The man's voice came through the speakers.
“Open the penthouse, Luca.”
Luca pressed the intercom.
“You cut power to my hotel?”
“I asked you to retire.”
“You tried to kill me twice.”
“Three times.”
Jamie looked at me.
I covered his ears.
The silver-haired man smiled.
“Family should be honest.”
Luca stepped closer to the monitor.
“You brought this into a building full of civilians.”
“You stopped caring about civilians years ago.”
Luca glanced toward Jamie.
Something shifted in his face.
“Tonight I care.”
His uncle laughed.
“Then surrender.”
“No.”
“Then people get hurt.”
Luca leaned toward the microphone.
“You made one mistake, Salvatore.”
“What?”
“You came into my house.”
The monitor went black.
Luca turned toward Marco.
“Evacuate every civilian floor.”
Marco nodded.
“And Salvatore?”
Luca looked at Jamie.
“Police.”
Marco appeared surprised.
“You want police involved?”
“I want nobody dying in this hotel tonight.”
May you like
That was the moment I realized the stories about Luca Vescari might not tell the entire truth.
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