Chapter 7 - THE NIGHT LUCA LOST HIS EMPIRE
Matteo moved first.
By morning, half of Luca’s businesses were frozen.
Three captains defected.
Two warehouses burned.
Someone leaked financial records to federal investigators.
Seattle news stations showed Luca’s photograph every hour.
His empire was collapsing.
And somehow, in the middle of it, he remembered Emma’s prescription.
I found the medication beside her breakfast.
Paid for.
Six months supplied.
I carried it into his office.
“You did this?”
He looked exhausted.
“Yes.”
“I told you I don’t take charity.”
“And I told you it wasn’t charity.”
“Then what is it?”
His eyes met mine.
“The promise I made.”
I swallowed.
“You promised she’d never go hungry.”
“I meant more than food.”
Something inside me broke open.
I walked around the desk.
“You might lose everything.”
“Buildings can be rebuilt.”
“Your businesses?”
“Rebuilt.”
“Your money?”
“Earned again.”
“And if Matteo wins?”
Luca stood.
“He doesn’t get you.”
The words silenced me.
“Or Emma,” he added.
I should have been frightened by how much I wanted to believe him.
Instead, I kissed him.
This time neither of us stopped.
But romance did not save us.
Evidence did.
The final encrypted section of my mother’s drive opened that afternoon.
There was no ledger.
Not exactly.
There were recordings.
Twenty-six years of them.
Bank transfers.
Conversations.
Names.
And one audio file dated the night Salvatore died.
Matteo’s voice was unmistakable.
“You should have let Carter’s death stay buried.”
Salvatore answered.
“Katherine knows.”
“Then Katherine dies too.”
“No.”
A struggle.
Then Matteo:
“You always were weak where that woman was concerned.”
The recording ended with a gunshot.
Luca sat completely still.
I reached for him.
He pulled away.
Not cruelly.
“I need a minute.”
So I gave him one.
Then his phone rang.
Matteo.
Luca answered.
His uncle sounded amused.
“You found the recording.”
“Yes.”
“Then you know your father chose Katherine over his own blood.”
“No,” Luca said quietly. “He chose right over you.”
Matteo’s tone changed.
“You sound like her.”
His next words froze us.
“I have Emma.”
I ran upstairs.
Empty bed.
Open window.
Mrs. Chen unconscious on the floor.
I screamed my daughter’s name.
Luca caught me before I fell.
The phone remained connected.
Matteo spoke.
“Bring me Katherine’s drive by midnight.”
I grabbed the phone.
“If you touch her—”
“Ava.”
Matteo sounded almost gentle.
“Your daughter is perfectly safe.”
Emma’s frightened voice came through the speaker.
“Mommy?”
Every cell in my body shattered.
“I’m here, baby.”
“Mommy, I want to go home.”
“You will.”
Matteo returned.
“Midnight. Pier Forty-Seven.”
The call ended.
Luca looked at me.
“No.”
“What?”
“You’re not going.”
“That is my daughter.”
“And that’s exactly why Matteo wants you emotional.”
“I am going.”
“No.”
I stepped close enough that he had to look directly at me.
“You carried me out of a diner because I couldn’t stand.”
My voice shook.
“But I am standing now.”
He said nothing.
“And I am going to get my daughter.”
Something changed in his face.
May you like
Then he nodded.
“Then we do it together.”
