Chapter 5 - THE BULLET MEANT FOR A CHILD
Sophia threw herself over Emma.
Alessandro dragged them behind the stone counter.
Vincent fired toward the garden.
Carlo’s men scattered.
Isabella fell to the floor as glass rained around her.
“Stay down!” Alessandro shouted.
The shooting stopped as suddenly as it began.
One of Carlo’s guards ran outside.
A second shot cracked through the darkness.
The guard collapsed.
Alessandro looked at Vincent.
“Sniper.”
Vincent nodded.
“North tower.”
“That tower is inside the estate grounds.”
Carlo cursed.
“One of your men?” Alessandro asked.
“Not mine.”
“Then call them off.”
“I cannot call off someone I did not bring.”
Sophia checked Emma.
The child was shaking but unharmed.
“Mama, why are they angry?”
Sophia held her face.
“They are not angry at you.”
Alessandro looked toward the tower.
The sniper had fired directly at the child.
Someone wanted Emma dead before the DNA test could confirm her identity.
“Service tunnel,” Alessandro ordered.
Vincent opened a hidden panel behind the pantry shelves.
A narrow stone passage appeared.
Sophia hesitated.
“Where does it go?”
“Old chapel,” Vincent said.
“Two hundred yards beyond the gardens.”
Alessandro handed Sophia a gun.
She stared at it.
“I don’t know how to use this.”
“You point it at anyone who tries to take her.”
“What about you?”
“I will follow.”
“No.”
He looked at her.
Sophia tightened her arms around Emma.
“You said your enemies may know about her.”
“Then you do not leave her side.”
Something passed between them.
Not trust.
Not yet.
But an agreement.
Alessandro turned to Vincent.
“Take them.”
Vincent shook his head.
“I have not earned your trust.”
“No.”
“You have not.”
“But you know the tunnels.”
Vincent nodded.
Alessandro leaned closer.
“If anything happens to them, there is nowhere on earth you can hide.”
“I understand.”
Sophia entered the passage with Emma.
Vincent followed.
The hidden door closed.
Alessandro faced Carlo.
“You knew about Elena.”
Carlo reloaded his weapon.
“Yes.”
“You watched me search for answers.”
“Yes.”
“You let me believe the bombing came from the Marino family.”
“They were useful enemies.”
Alessandro struck him across the face.
Carlo staggered.
His men raised their guns.
Carlo waved them down.
“You always were emotional where women were concerned.”
Alessandro hit him again.
“You murdered my child.”
“Your father ordered it.”
“And you carried it out.”
Isabella rose slowly.
“Carlo.”
He looked at her.
“What?”
“You told me Elena left the city.”
Carlo smiled.
“You believed what you needed to believe.”
Isabella’s hand trembled.
“I helped you move Alessandro’s schedule.”
“Yes.”
“You told me Elena would be taken away.”
“She was.”
Isabella slapped him.
Carlo laughed.
“You are offended now?”
“You built this family beside us.”
“You knew what we were.”
“I did not know you killed her.”
“You did not ask.”
A guard entered from the courtyard.
“We found the sniper’s position.”
“Who was it?” Alessandro demanded.
The guard placed a silver pendant on the counter.
The pendant carried the symbol of the Moretti women’s charity foundation.
Isabella stared at it.
“That belongs to Marissa.”
Everyone looked toward the place where Marissa had been standing.
She was gone.
Alessandro ran toward the service hallway.
A trail of blood led to an open door.
Outside, tire marks cut across the wet grass.
Marissa had escaped.
Carlo examined the pendant.
“She works for your mother.”
Isabella’s face went cold.
“She worked for someone else.”
Alessandro’s phone rang.
The caller was unknown.
He answered.
A distorted voice spoke.
“The child should have died tonight.”
Alessandro’s grip tightened.
“Who are you?”
“You already buried one daughter.”
His face went white.
The caller laughed.
“Did you truly believe Elena’s baby died in the warehouse?”
The call ended.
Isabella stared at her son.
“What did they say?”
Alessandro slowly lowered the phone.
“Elena’s child survived.”
Carlo’s expression changed.
Only slightly.
But Alessandro saw it.
“You knew.”
Carlo stepped backward.
Alessandro raised the gun.
“Where is my first daughter?”
Carlo smiled.
“Ask Vincent.”
At that moment, deep beneath the estate, Sophia reached the end of the tunnel.
Vincent opened the chapel door.
A young woman stood waiting inside.
She was eighteen years old.
She had Alessandro’s dark eyes.
May you like
And she was pointing a gun at Sophia.
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