Chapter 5 - THE PRICE OF PROTECTION
The explosion destroyed the front windows of Luna Blue but killed no one.
That was not mercy.
It was a message.
Elena stood across the street behind police tape the next morning, staring at broken glass glittering across the pavement.
Veto sat inside an ambulance with blood on his forehead.
Marco was missing.
Elena turned to Rocco.
“Where is he?”
“We don’t know.”
“He closed with me last night. He knows everyone here.”
“We’re looking.”
Adriano emerged from the restaurant.
Elena marched toward him.
“This happened because of me.”
“No.”
“Barone wants the evidence.”
“He wants control.”
“And he attacked my workplace.”
“He attacked mine too.”
“This isn’t yours.”
“Luna Blue pays rent to a building company owned by me.”
Elena stared.
Adriano sighed.
“I own the block.”
“Of course you do.”
Despite everything, she almost laughed.
Then Veto called her name.
“Elena.”
She rushed toward him.
The old restaurant owner took her hand.
“Don’t blame yourself.”
“Look at this place.”
“Windows can be replaced.”
“Marco is gone.”
Veto’s expression changed.
“You didn’t know?”
“Know what?”
He looked toward Adriano.
“Marco owes Barone money.”
Elena felt the ground shift.
“What?”
“His brother got into gambling.”
“Marco doesn’t gamble.”
“His brother does.”
Elena remembered Marco grabbing her wrist.
Don’t go.
His fear when Adriano’s men arrived.
His pale face.
Had he been protecting her?
Or terrified she would discover something?
Adriano ordered everyone back to the estate.
Elena resisted until another message arrived.
A photograph.
Marco tied to a chair.
Bruised.
Alive.
Below it:
THE GIRL AND THE LEDGER.
MIDNIGHT.
NO POLICE.
Elena’s chest tightened.
“This is because of me.”
Adriano read the message.
“No.”
“Stop saying that!”
His gaze snapped to hers.
“You did not plant a bomb. You did not kidnap Marco. You did not murder Lucia or your father. Stop accepting guilt that belongs to violent men.”
The words silenced her.
He stepped closer.
“Barone wants you to believe every person hurt near you is your responsibility. That is how men like him control good people.”
Elena looked away.
“Then what do we do?”
“We get Marco back.”
“And give him the evidence?”
“No.”
“What if he kills him?”
“He won’t.”
“How can you know?”
“Because Barone wants something more than the ledger.”
“What?”
“You.”
Elena stared.
“Why?”
“The documents contain names and financial accounts. But Gianni was careful. Lucia was careful. Some pages refer to a second record.”
Elena remembered her father’s dance.
“What second record?”
“A witness list.”
“Where?”
“No one knows.”
Adriano’s eyes held hers.
“Barone thinks you do.”
That evening Elena sat alone on the terrace.
The harbor lights shimmered below.
She felt Adriano before she heard him.
“You’re terrible at sneaking up on people,” she said.
“I wasn’t trying.”
“You’re a mafia boss. Shouldn’t lurking be a professional skill?”
He stood beside her.
“I delegate.”
She smiled faintly.
Then silence settled.
“You could leave,” Adriano said.
“Where?”
“Anywhere.”
“You mean run.”
“Yes.”
“And Marco?”
“I’ll handle it.”
“My mother?”
“Protected.”
“My father?”
Adriano looked at her.
Elena shook her head.
“I spent twenty-three years believing he died because of bad brakes. I’m not running now that I know someone murdered him.”
Adriano leaned against the railing.
“You are very stubborn.”
“So I’ve heard.”
“My sister was stubborn.”
Elena turned.
“Is that why you keep looking at me like that?”
His eyes met hers.
“Like what?”
“Like you’re trying to solve me.”
Adriano was silent.
Elena’s pulse changed.
The danger between them was not only guns anymore.
“You watched me dance,” she said.
“I did.”
“You sent men to bring me to you.”
“Yes.”
“That was ridiculous.”
“Yes.”
“Do you normally admit when you’re ridiculous?”
“No.”
She laughed softly.
He smiled.
For one suspended moment, the entire violent world disappeared.
Then Elena said, “Why did you really bring me there?”
Adriano looked toward the sea.
“At first?”
“Yes.”
“I wanted to ask you to dance again.”
Elena blinked.
“That’s it?”
“Yes.”
“You terrified me because you wanted an encore?”
“I have since learned my social approach requires work.”
She laughed harder.
Adriano looked at her.
And the warmth vanished from his smile.
Not because he was angry.
Because he had stopped pretending not to want her.
Elena’s breath slowed.
“Adriano.”
He stepped closer.
“I know.”
“You don’t know what I was going to say.”
“Yes, I do.”
“What?”
“That this is a terrible idea.”
“It is.”
“That our lives are chaos.”
“They are.”
“That someone is trying to kill us.”
“Several people, actually.”
She stared at him.
“That doesn’t help.”
His hand lifted.
He did not touch her until she leaned forward.
Then his fingers brushed her cheek.
Slowly.
Carefully.
Elena closed her eyes.
The kiss was nothing like she expected from him.
No demand.
No possession.
Just restraint stretched almost painfully thin.
She kissed him back.
His hand settled at her waist.
For a few seconds she allowed herself to forget Barone.
Carlo.
The ledger.
Marco.
Then Rocco appeared in the doorway.
He immediately turned around.
“I saw nothing.”
Elena stepped back, cheeks burning.
Adriano looked murderous.
Rocco continued facing the hallway.
“But you might want to see what we found.”
In the security room, footage from a camera near Luna Blue played across the screen.
At 2:14 a.m., twenty minutes before the explosion, Marco appeared behind the restaurant.
Elena leaned forward.
“He’s walking freely.”
Marco met two men.
One handed him an envelope.
The other gave him something small.
A phone.
Then Marco pointed toward the building.
Elena’s stomach turned.
“No.”
The footage skipped.
A minute later, Marco entered through the back door.
At 2:31, he left.
At 2:44, the bomb exploded.
Elena stepped away from the monitor.
“He betrayed us.”
Rocco said nothing.
Adriano watched Elena.
“He may have been forced.”
“He took money.”
“We don’t know what was in the envelope.”
“I trusted him.”
Her voice broke.
Adriano reached for her.
She moved away.
“I need air.”
“Elena—”
“I said I need air.”
She walked into the hallway.
Her phone buzzed.
Unknown number.
She opened the message.
Marco.
Elena, I’m sorry.
I didn’t plant the bomb.
I gave them the schedule because they threatened my brother.
The photo they sent you is staged.
I’m not kidnapped.
I’m hiding.
But there’s something worse.
Someone inside Falcone’s house is feeding Barone everything.
Before Elena could respond, another message arrived.
Do not trust Rocco.
She froze.
Footsteps approached behind her.
Rocco appeared at the end of the hallway.
“Elena?”
Her heart stopped.
She quickly locked the phone.
“Everything okay?”
“Yes.”
Rocco studied her.
“You sure?”
Elena forced a smile.
“Tired.”
He nodded.
Then his phone rang.
He answered in Italian, turned away, and walked downstairs.
Elena hurried back to Adriano.
But the security room was empty.
She called him.
No answer.
A servant said he had gone to the garage.
Elena ran.
The garage doors were open.
One black car was gone.
Adriano’s phone sat on the concrete floor.
Beside it lay a broken gold cuff link.
And a trail of blood.
Elena stopped breathing.
Rocco appeared behind her.
“What happened?”
She looked at him.
Marco’s warning echoed in her mind.
Do not trust Rocco.
Rocco stared at the blood.
Then at Elena.
“Where is Adriano?”
She slowly backed away.
May you like
For the first time since entering Falcone territory, Elena did not know who was protecting whom.
And somewhere beyond the gates, Adriano Falcone had vanished.
