Chapter 12 - THREE SECONDS
“Elena!”
We ran.
Emma was standing on the driver’s seat.
The car moved slowly at first.
Then gravity took over.
“Elena, don’t!”
She ran after it.
I caught her before she fell beneath the rear wheel.
Luca sprinted toward the passenger side.
The cliff was eighty yards away.
Sixty.
Forty.
He grabbed the door.
Locked.
Thirty.
Tony fired at the rear tire.
Missed.
Twenty.
Emma pressed both hands against the steering wheel.
“Daddy!”
Luca jumped onto the hood.
I had never seen him move that fast.
Ten yards.
He smashed the passenger window with his elbow.
Reached inside.
Pulled the emergency brake.
The car spun sideways.
Its rear wheels slid over the cliff edge.
For one impossible second, it balanced.
Luca pulled Emma through the broken window.
Tony and I grabbed them.
The car disappeared backward over the cliff.
We heard it hit trees far below.
Elena collapsed around Emma.
Marco sat on the gravel twenty yards away, still tied.
He looked amused.
“You Morettis always make everything theatrical.”
Vivien slapped him.
He looked up at her.
“Hello, sweetheart.”
She slapped him again.
Harder.
“Good.”
Luca pulled Marco to his feet.
“Time to talk.”
We brought him into the greenhouse.
Marco looked around at all of us.
Me.
Luca.
Vivien.
Elena.
Tony.
Emma.
“Family reunion.”
I placed a chair in front of him.
“What is Harlan planning Saturday?”
Marco smiled.
“To win.”
I stepped closer.
“How?”
“The wedding gives him everyone in one location.”
“So?”
“So he’s not coming to negotiate.”
Vivien stared at her father.
“What is he doing?”
Marco looked almost proud.
“He plans to kill every loose end.”
Silence.
The guest list had four hundred names.
Politicians.
Businessmen.
My employees.
Elena looked at me.
“Four hundred people.”
Marco nodded.
“He’ll blame the Moretti organization. Terrorism. Gas explosion. Whatever story survives.”
“How?”
“Bomb beneath the chapel.”
My blood froze.
Luca swore.
“The vault.”
Marco smiled.
“The vault sits beneath the foundation. Harlan’s men planted charges months ago.”
Tony checked his watch.
“We evacuate.”
“No,” Marco said.
We looked at him.
“If you cancel, Harlan moves everything. He disappears. Claire dies. Evidence disappears.”
I leaned close.
“And if we continue?”
“You replace the explosives.”
Tony nodded slowly.
“Dummy charges.”
“Then lock every exit once Harlan’s people arrive.”
Vivien stared at Marco.
“You knew all of this?”
“Yes.”
“And you still sent me into Dominic’s life?”
Marco looked at her without warmth.
“You were useful.”
Something inside her face broke.
I hated him for that more than I expected.
Vivien whispered, “Did you ever care about me?”
Marco smiled.
“You sound like your mother.”
She stepped backward.
I caught her hand.
She didn’t pull away.
Marco saw it.
“So it’s true.”
I looked at him.
“What?”
“You love her.”
I didn’t answer.
He laughed.
“That is unfortunate.”
Then Emma walked toward Marco holding the torn rabbit.
She looked at him.
“You’re mean.”
Marco blinked.
It might have been the first honest judgment he’d heard in years.
Emma held up the rabbit.
“And you broke Bunny.”
Marco stared.
“No, I didn’t.”
Emma frowned.
“Aunt Claire did.”
She reached into the rabbit’s torn ear.
Then pulled out a second tiny metal chip.
Everyone froze.
Luca whispered, “There were two.”
Marco’s face lost all color.
Emma looked at me.
“Uncle Dom?”
“Yes?”
“I found the other secret.”
May you like
And Marco whispered the words that told us the second chip was far more dangerous than the first.
“That one has the murder recordings.”
