Chapter 3 - A House Divided
Luca moved before the first bullet struck the wall.
He grabbed Elena around the waist and pulled her behind the marble bar as Mara returned fire toward the shattered window. Rain blew into the penthouse through broken glass, scattering across the floor in silver streaks.
“Stay down,” Luca ordered.
Elena’s heart hammered so hard she could barely hear him.
Vincent had vanished in the darkness.
“Mara!” Luca called.
“Two shooters on the building across from us. Possibly more.”
A bullet ripped through a painting above them.
Luca reached into the hidden compartment beneath the bar and pulled out a handgun. Elena stared at it, at the absolute calm in his hands, and felt something inside her fracture.
This was his real world.
Not boardrooms. Not numbers. Not quiet dinners after long meetings.
Blood. Guns. Loyalty bought with fear.
And yet he had knelt before her earlier that night.
He had asked permission before touching her.
“Luca,” Elena whispered, “Vincent is gone.”
“I know.”
“He must have planned this.”
“I know.”
Another gunshot cracked through the air.
Then the emergency lights came on, bathing the penthouse in a dim red glow.
Mara crouched near the hallway. “Security team is moving in. Vincent took the private elevator. We locked it down, but he had access codes.”
“Of course he did,” Luca said.
Elena looked at Derek Shaw’s phone on the floor. The screen had cracked, but it still glowed.
A new message appeared.
The ledger for Caroline. Choose quickly.
Elena stopped breathing.
Luca saw it.
“No.”
“He has her,” Elena said.
“We don’t know that.”
“He has her,” Elena repeated. “He knows exactly what to threaten.”
Mara’s phone rang. She answered, listened, then looked at Luca.
“Caroline’s security convoy was hit leaving Queens. One vehicle disabled. We lost contact with the second.”
Elena rose too fast.
“I have to go.”
Luca caught her arm. “You are not going anywhere.”
“That is my sister.”
“And Mercer wants you to panic.”
“I don’t care what he wants!”
Her voice echoed through the ruined room.
Luca stared at her.
Elena pulled free, tears burning in her eyes.
“My father died because he tried to protect me from men like this. I spent years telling myself that if I kept my head down, if I stayed useful, if I was careful enough, my family would be safe.” Her voice broke. “But they are never safe around you, Luca.”
The words hit harder than any bullet.
Luca looked as though she had struck him.
Elena regretted them instantly.
But fear had already taken control.
Mara stepped between them. “We have a location.”
Everyone turned.
“One of our trackers activated near the old Valenti shipping terminal in Red Hook.”
Luca’s face hardened.
“Vincent’s father used that terminal,” he said.
“It has been closed for years,” Mara replied.
“Not closed,” Luca said. “Hidden.”
Elena looked at him. “You know where they are.”
“I know where Vincent wants us to go.”
“Then we go.”
Luca studied her for a long moment.
“No.”
“Luca—”
“No. You stay with Mara.”
“Elena,” Mara said, “he’s right.”
“They took my sister because of me.”
“They took her because Vincent wants the ledger.”
“And he will kill her if I don’t bring it.”
Luca stepped close enough that Elena could feel the heat of him.
“He will kill her if you walk into that building unprotected.”
She looked up at him.
For the first time, neither of them pretended.
“I cannot lose her,” Elena whispered.
Luca’s expression broke.
“You won’t.”
Then he turned to Mara.
“Get the ledger.”
Mara frowned. “From Elena’s apartment?”
“Yes.”
“That location is compromised.”
“Then take every available man.”
Elena shook her head. “The ledger isn’t there.”
Luca looked back at her.
“It’s in a safety deposit box.”
“Where?”
“Elena,” Luca warned.
She met his eyes.
“In the basement vault of St. Michael’s Church in Little Italy.”
Mara blinked. “A church?”
“My father trusted Father Donnelly. When he died, the priest held it for me.”
Luca understood immediately.
Vincent would not expect the ledger to be there.
But Mercer might.
“We split,” Luca said. “Mara goes to the church. I go to Red Hook.”
“I’m going with you,” Elena said.
“No.”
“Then I’ll find my own way there.”
Luca stared at her.
Mara almost smiled despite the danger.
“You picked the wrong woman to command,” she told him.
Luca exhaled slowly.
Then he took Elena’s face in both hands.
His thumb brushed away a tear.
“You stay behind me,” he said.
“I will.”
“You do exactly what I say.”
“I’ll try.”
“Elena.”
“I said I’ll try.”
For one heartbeat, Luca looked like he wanted to laugh.
Instead, he kissed her.
It was not gentle.
It was desperate, fierce, and full of everything they had not said during two years of stolen glances and unfinished conversations.
When he pulled back, his forehead rested against hers.
“If we survive tonight,” he said, “we stop lying to each other.”
Elena nodded.
“If we survive tonight,” she whispered, “you tell me what you feel.”
Luca’s eyes held hers.
May you like
“If we survive tonight, I will tell you every day.”
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