Chapter 11 - The House Under Fire
The front windows exploded.
Marco dragged Luca behind a stone wall.
Gabriel hit the floor.
Security returned fire from the entry hall.
Rachel and Emma were at a secure medical apartment five blocks away.
That was the only reason Luca could breathe.
“Back exit!” Marco shouted.
“No.”
“Luca—”
“My uncle.”
Marco stared.
“You still care?”
“No.”
Luca looked toward Gabriel.
“But Emma doesn’t need to grow up knowing her father left a man to be slaughtered in his own house.”
Gabriel heard him.
Something unreadable crossed his face.
Luca moved through the kitchen.
A gunman entered.
Luca slammed him into the counter.
His wounded shoulder screamed.
Marco fired past Luca.
“Two more!”
They pushed toward the rear hall.
Gabriel followed.
“I know another way.”
Luca looked at him.
“Of course you do.”
Gabriel opened a hidden service door.
They entered a narrow passage leading to the garage.
Halfway down, Luca’s heartbeat jumped.
Not again.
He leaned against the wall.
Marco noticed.
“Luca.”
“Keep moving.”
“Your face is gray.”
“That’s fashionable.”
Gabriel stared at him.
“What’s wrong?”
Luca laughed once.
“You sold my medical diagnosis and didn’t read it?”
Gabriel’s expression shifted.
For the first time, guilt appeared.
Real guilt.
“Luca…”
“Don’t.”
They reached the garage.
A black sedan waited.
Marco opened the door.
A shot rang out.
Gabriel jerked.
Blood spread across his shirt.
Luca caught him.
“Gabriel.”
The shooter appeared behind a pillar.
Marco fired.
The man dropped.
Gabriel sank to the floor.
“Go.”
Luca pressed a hand against the wound.
“Shut up.”
“Luca.”
“Shut up.”
Gabriel’s breathing weakened.
“I was wrong.”
Luca stared at him.
The words seemed impossible coming from Gabriel Bellini.
“I thought if you loved something, someone would use it.”
“They did.”
“Yes.”
Gabriel smiled faintly.
“But you went anyway.”
Luca said nothing.
“You chose her.”
“Yes.”
“Your father would have called that foolish.”
Luca swallowed.
“What do you call it?”
Gabriel looked at him.
“Braver than anything I taught you.”
His eyes closed.
Luca’s hand pressed harder against the wound.
“Gabriel.”
Nothing.
“Gabriel!”
Marco checked his pulse.
“He’s alive.”
“Get him to Bennett.”
They rushed him into the car.
Then Luca’s phone rang.
Rachel.
He answered.
Her voice was shaking.
“Luca.”
“What happened?”
“We’re not alone.”
His blood went cold.
“What?”
“The fire alarm went off.”
“Rachel, listen to me—”
“Security took Emma downstairs.”
“No.”
“I thought they were yours.”
Luca looked at Marco.
“Who?”
Rachel started crying.
“They said Marco sent them.”
Marco’s face emptied.
“I didn’t.”
Luca’s voice dropped.
“Rachel, where is Emma?”
A pause.
Then the answer.
“I don’t know.”
For the second time in one night—
May you like
their daughter had disappeared.
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