Chapter 5 - A House Under SiegeBy three in the afternoon, Lorenzo had transformed the mansion into a fortress.
Metal shutters covered the lower windows. Security teams checked entrances. Cameras were reviewed. Vehicles were moved beneath the underground garage.
Nora watched everything from Room 4B.
She wanted to leave.
She also knew there was nowhere to go.
The blizzard had buried the road.
Her room was inside the estate.
And the man who had apparently helped arrange a scheme to frame her was now locked in a guest bedroom downstairs.
Giovanni noticed her fear.
“Safe,” he whispered.
Nora smiled sadly.
“You’re trying to reassure me?”
One tap.
She adjusted his blanket.
“You’re the one everyone is trying to kill.”
Giovanni gave her the closest thing he could manage to a shrug.
Nora laughed despite herself.
The door opened.
Lorenzo entered carrying a tray.
Nora stared.
“What’s that?”
“Food.”
“I can see that.”
“For you.”
She blinked.
Lorenzo placed the tray beside her.
Soup, bread, grilled chicken, sliced apples.
“You haven’t eaten since breakfast.”
“How do you know?”
“I asked.”
“That’s unsettling.”
“You’re pregnant.”
“I’m aware.”
“You nearly fainted downstairs.”
“I was tired.”
“Nora.”
Something in his voice stopped her argument.
She sat.
“Thank you.”
Lorenzo looked toward his father.
“Doctor says he should rest.”
Giovanni tapped twice.
Nora smiled.
“He disagrees.”
“I gathered that.”
Lorenzo pulled a chair closer.
For several minutes, none of them spoke.
The quiet felt surprisingly comfortable.
Then Nora asked, “Why were you never here?”
Lorenzo looked toward the window.
“You ask dangerous questions.”
“I scrub toilets for a living. Danger has lost some mystery.”
Giovanni’s eyes brightened.
Lorenzo noticed.
“You enjoy her insulting me?”
One tap.
Nora covered a laugh.
Lorenzo shook his head.
“My mother died when I was nineteen.”
Nora grew still.
“After that, my father and I became… difficult.”
Giovanni looked away.
“I wanted legitimacy. He believed power was the only thing protecting this family.”
Lorenzo leaned back.
“When his stroke happened, I inherited an empire I had spent years arguing against.”
“So you left him here.”
The words came out softer than accusation.
Lorenzo nodded.
“I told myself he had nurses. Staff. Doctors.”
“People you paid.”
“Yes.”
“Money isn’t the same as attention.”
“I know that now.”
Giovanni slowly reached toward his son.
Lorenzo took his hand.
No speeches followed.
None were needed.
Nora watched them and suddenly thought about her own daughter.
Would Lily have a father?
Would Brody fight for custody?
The thought made her stomach twist.
Lorenzo noticed.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
“You’re bad at lying.”
“So are you.”
He almost smiled.
“I’m worried about Brody.”
Lorenzo’s expression sharpened.
“He won’t touch you.”
“You can’t promise that.”
“Yes, I can.”
Nora stared.
“That sounds disturbingly mafia-like.”
Giovanni’s shoulders shook.
Lorenzo sighed.
“My father is enjoying this too much.”
The lights went out.
Darkness swallowed the room.
Nora gasped.
Lorenzo stood instantly.
“Stay here.”
Emergency lights came on seconds later, bathing the corridor in red.
Marco’s voice sounded through Lorenzo’s radio.
“Generator failed.”
“That doesn’t happen.”
“I know.”
A crash echoed somewhere downstairs.
Lorenzo drew a pistol from beneath his jacket.
Nora froze.
Until then, the criminal world surrounding the Morettis had felt like rumor.
Now it was real.
Lorenzo saw her expression.
“I’m sorry.”
“For what?”
“For bringing this near you.”
“You didn’t. Brody did.”
He looked at her for a moment.
Then left.
Nora locked the door.
Giovanni reached for her hand.
“I’m okay,” she whispered.
A second crash sounded.
Then shouting.
Nora’s heart pounded.
Ten minutes passed.
Then fifteen.
The room grew colder without electricity.
Nora added wood to the fireplace.
Someone knocked.
Three times.
“Lorenzo?”
No answer.
Nora approached carefully.
“Who is it?”
“Elise.”
Nora relaxed slightly.
She opened the door.
Elise stood outside, trembling.
“Security told us to move everyone downstairs.”
“Giovanni can’t use the stairs.”
“There’s a service elevator on backup power.”
Nora hesitated.
Something felt wrong.
“Elise, where is Marco?”
“Downstairs.”
“Which guard sent you?”
Elise’s eyes shifted.
That was enough.
Nora slammed the door.
A hand caught it.
Elise screamed.
A man in black shoved through.
Nora stumbled backward.
Giovanni struck the wheelchair arm.
The intruder grabbed Nora.
She bit his hand.
He cursed.
Nora drove her elbow into his ribs and twisted away.
“Run!” Elise screamed.
The man shoved Elise into the wall.
Nora grabbed the fireplace poker.
“Stay away from him.”
The intruder laughed.
“You’re going to stop me?”
Nora held the poker with both hands.
“I’ve had a terrible year.”
He stepped forward.
“That was your warning.”
He lunged.
Nora swung.
The poker struck his forearm.
He yelled.
Giovanni suddenly rolled his wheelchair forward.
The metal footrest slammed into the intruder’s knee.
He fell.
Nora stared.
“Giovanni!”
The old man looked almost proud.
Footsteps thundered down the hall.
Lorenzo appeared.
Two guards followed.
Within seconds, the intruder was restrained.
Lorenzo rushed toward Nora.
“Are you hurt?”
“No.”
“The baby?”
“She’s kicking.”
His hands hovered near her shoulders without touching.
“You’re shaking.”
“So are you.”
He looked down.
She was right.
His hands were trembling.
Not from fear for himself.
For her.
Lorenzo pulled her into his arms.
Nora stiffened in surprise.
Then slowly relaxed.
It lasted only seconds.
But Giovanni saw it.
So did Elise.
So did Marco when he entered.
Nobody commented.
The captured attacker carried no identification.
But his phone contained one recently received message.
Marco handed it to Lorenzo.
The message read:
THE SIGNATURE OR THE OLD MAN DIES.
Lorenzo’s expression hardened.
“Trace it.”
Marco nodded.
Then another message appeared.
This one included a photograph.
Nora stared.
It showed her former apartment building.
Beneath the photograph were five words.
WE KNOW WHERE THE BABY GOES.
Nora stopped breathing.
Lorenzo read it.
May you like
His face changed instantly.
Whoever was coming after Giovanni had just made the mistake of threatening Nora’s unborn child.
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