Chapter 3 - The House of Shadows
Mama grabbed me before I could scream.
She pushed me down behind Alejandro’s huge desk, covering me with her body. I could smell soap, coffee, and the lavender lotion she used before bed.
Another gunshot rang out.
Then another.
Men shouted in Italian. Furniture scraped across the floor. Somewhere close by, somebody groaned.
“Stay down,” Mama whispered.
“I can’t see Bunny,” I whispered back.
“Bunny is with you.”
I hugged my backpack tighter. She was right. My stuffed rabbit was safe.
That mattered.
At least, it mattered enough to keep me from crying.
A flashlight snapped on across the room. Dr. Romano’s face appeared in the beam.
“Mr. Moretti!” he called.
“I’m here,” Alejandro answered.
His voice was low and controlled, even though he had almost died five minutes earlier.
“Vincenzo?”
No answer.
“Vincenzo!”
Still nothing.
Then we heard footsteps.
Slow footsteps.
Coming toward the desk.
Mama’s hand covered my mouth.
The shadow stopped on the other side.
For a moment, no one breathed.
Then Alejandro spoke.
“Whoever you are,” he said, “you have one chance to put the weapon down.”
A man laughed softly.
It wasn’t Marco.
The voice belonged to someone older.
Someone calm.
Someone who didn’t sound afraid at all.
“You were always too proud, Alejandro,” the man said. “That is why you never saw this coming.”
The flashlight beam moved.
It landed on a pair of polished black shoes.
Then rose slowly.
I recognized him.
Mr. Bellini.
He was Alejandro’s lawyer.
He came to the mansion every Tuesday wearing expensive suits and smelling like cigars. He always gave me chocolate from his pocket and called me “little princess.”
Now he was holding a gun.
Mama gasped.
Bellini smiled in the dark. “Ah, Sofia. You should have kept your child in the basement.”
Alejandro stepped out from behind a chair, one hand pressed against his chest. “You poisoned me.”
“No,” Bellini said. “Marco poisoned you. I simply gave him a reason.”
“Money?”
Bellini’s smile widened. “Money is for desperate men. I wanted control.”
He raised the gun.
“You built an empire from fear, Alejandro. But you made one mistake. You trusted people who were afraid of you.”
A tiny sound escaped me.
Not a scream.
Just a little squeak.
But Bellini heard it.
His eyes dropped toward the desk.
Mama pulled me closer.
“Is the child there?” Bellini asked.
Alejandro moved instantly, placing himself between us and the gun.
“Don’t,” he said.
Bellini laughed. “The feared Alejandro Moretti, protecting a maid and her daughter. How touching.”
“You will not hurt them.”
“I don’t need to.” Bellini tilted his head. “But you should understand something. The girl saved your life. That makes her dangerous.”
I didn’t understand why saving someone made me dangerous.
But Alejandro did.
His jaw tightened.
Bellini stepped closer.
Then the fire alarm began to scream.
A sharp, terrible sound filled the mansion.
Red emergency lights flickered on.
And through the study window, I saw flames rising from the west wing.
“The records room,” Alejandro said.
Bellini backed toward the door. “By sunrise, there will be no evidence. No witnesses. No empire.”
He fired one shot into the ceiling.
Then he disappeared into the hallway.
The guards rushed in seconds later, but Bellini was gone.
Alejandro turned toward Mama.
“Take Emma to the safe room,” he ordered.
Mama shook her head. “No. We’re leaving.”
“You cannot leave.”
“I can and I will.” Her voice trembled, but she stood straight. “My daughter almost got shot because of your world.”
Alejandro looked at me.
His face changed again.
Not softer exactly.
But sad.
“You are right,” he said.
Mama stared at him, surprised.
“You and Emma will be taken somewhere safe,” he continued. “Tonight. Under guard.”
“We don’t want your guards.”
“I understand.” He paused. “But Bellini has people outside this house. He knows who Emma is. He knows she saved me.”
I clutched Mama’s dress.
“Why would he care about me?” I asked.
Alejandro crouched slowly in front of me. He looked tired, like he had been carrying something heavy for a very long time.
“Because bad people are scared of good people,” he said. “Especially brave ones.”
Then a loud crack sounded from the hallway.
The fire had reached the study door.
Smoke curled under the frame.
Vincenzo stumbled into the room, coughing. His suit was torn, and blood covered one side of his face.
“Boss,” he said, breathing hard. “Bellini escaped through the service tunnel.”
Alejandro’s eyes narrowed.
“The tunnel leads outside the walls.”
“Yes.”
“Then he is not running.”
Vincenzo looked toward the flames.
“He’s going to the old chapel,” Alejandro said.
Mama frowned. “Why?”
Alejandro looked at the burning records room.
“Because that is where he hid the real proof.”
May you like
And before anyone could stop him, Alejandro Moretti walked straight into the smoke.
---
