Chapter 8 - THE NIGHT THE EMPIRE BURNED
Raffaele wanted to evacuate Sera.
She laughed in his face.
"I'm serious."
"So am I."
"They're coming here."
"Then leaving is exactly what they expect."
"Sera."
"Raffaele."
His eyes narrowed.
"Do not use my own tone against me."
"It's surprisingly effective."
He paced the security room.
"Luca wants Vault Seven."
"No. Alessandra wants it."
"Same difference."
"No."
Sera placed the threat beside a map.
"Luca wants power. Your mother wants control. Those aren't the same thing."
Raffaele stopped.
"Explain."
"Luca is impulsive. Alessandra isn't. She spent years building leverage. She won't burn this house."
"Why?"
"Because Vault Seven is inside."
Raffaele understood.
"The threat is distraction."
"Yes."
"From what?"
Sera looked at the estate blueprints.
Then she saw it.
The underground service tunnel.
At 11:52 p.m., the first explosion hit the east gate.
Security moved toward it.
Exactly as expected.
Alessandra entered through the tunnel with four armed men.
Sera was waiting in Domenico's library.
Alone.
Alessandra stopped.
"You really are Antonio's daughter."
"Thank you."
"That wasn't a compliment."
"I took it as one."
"Where's Raffaele?"
"Busy."
Alessandra raised her gun.
"Vault Seven."
Sera held up the silver medallion.
"Behind me."
The bookshelf opened.
Alessandra smiled.
"You have no idea what you've inherited."
"I inherited a husband with anger issues and several hotels. I'm learning."
"Move."
Sera did.
Alessandra entered the vault.
The door closed behind her.
Sera locked it.
Alessandra spun.
"Sera!"
Sera looked through the reinforced glass.
"I also inherited the security system."
Gunshots erupted outside.
Sera turned.
Luca entered.
Blood streaked his forehead.
His gun was aimed directly at her.
"That," Sera whispered, "wasn't part of the plan."
"No."
Luca approached.
"Where's Raffaele?"
A voice behind him answered.
"Here."
Raffaele fired.
Luca dove.
The bullet struck the bookshelf.
Luca returned fire.
Raffaele moved behind the desk.
Sera crawled toward the wall.
Then smoke began entering the room.
Alessandra had triggered something inside the vault.
Fire.
"Sera!" Raffaele shouted.
Flames spread behind the steel door.
The archive.
Alessandra was burning it.
Sera ran to the controls.
"No."
Luca grabbed her.
He pressed a gun beneath her chin.
Everything stopped.
Raffaele emerged slowly.
"Let her go."
Luca smiled.
"Drop it."
Raffaele lowered his weapon.
"Kick it away."
He did.
Sera's eyes stayed on Raffaele.
Luca whispered, "Look at him."
She did.
"The great Raffaele Ferrara."
Luca laughed.
"Ready to surrender an empire for the girl he couldn't even see."
Raffaele looked only at Sera.
"Yes."
Luca's smile vanished.
"What?"
"Take it."
Raffaele spread his hands.
"Company. Money. Everything."
Sera's eyes filled.
"Raffaele—"
"Quiet."
Not harsh.
Terrified.
He looked at Luca.
"Let her walk out and it's yours."
Luca stared.
"You'd surrender?"
"For her?"
Raffaele's voice was steady.
"Without hesitation."
Sera moved.
Fast.
She drove her heel into Luca's foot and slammed her head backward into his face.
Raffaele lunged.
The gun fired.
Sera screamed.
Luca collapsed.
Raffaele stood over him.
Blood spread across Luca's chest.
Then Raffaele fell.
"Raffaele!"
Sera caught him.
The bullet had struck his shoulder.
Again.
"You have got to stop doing this."
He grimaced.
"I'll put it on my schedule."
Smoke filled the room.
Security arrived.
They pulled Alessandra from the burning vault.
Most of the physical archive was destroyed.
But Sera smiled through the smoke.
Alessandra saw it.
"Why are you smiling?"
Sera held up a tiny drive.
"Because my father taught me something."
"What?"
"Never keep only one copy."
Alessandra's face collapsed.
Every document had already been encrypted and distributed to three attorneys.
The empire of secrets she had killed for was useless as leverage.
Police took her away before sunrise.
Luca survived.
He would spend the rest of his life answering questions from prosecutors.
At dawn, Raffaele and Sera stood outside the damaged estate.
Smoke rose into the pale sky.
Raffaele's arm was bandaged.
Sera leaned against him.
"Your family is exhausting."
"Our family."
She looked at him.
"That was suspiciously sentimental."
"Don't tell anyone."
"Your reputation?"
"Destroyed."
She smiled.
Raffaele kissed her forehead.
Behind them, Domenico's library burned.
Ahead of them, the first sunlight reached the driveway.
May you like
For the first time, neither knew what came next.
And for the first time, that didn't frighten them.
