Chapter 14 - THE LAST DOOR
I ran before anyone could stop me.
Smoke covered the east lawn.
Ravenwood’s windows shattered outward.
Elena ran beside me.
“Emma was with Luca!”
Tony shouted behind us.
“Fire department’s coming!”
The nursery wing burned.
I entered through the kitchen.
Heat punched me in the face.
“Emma!”
No answer.
Elena coughed.
I pushed her back.
“Stay outside.”
“She’s my daughter!”
“And she needs one of us alive.”
She hated me for saying it.
But she stopped.
I moved through smoke.
The old servants’ passages.
If Luca had Emma, he would use them.
I reached the hidden room behind the nursery.
Empty.
Then I heard knocking.
Three small knocks.
Pause.
Three more.
“Emma?”
“Uncle Dom!”
I followed the sound.
A door I had never noticed sat behind a burned wooden panel.
Forbidden door.
Locked from the other side.
“Emma!”
“Daddy’s sleeping!”
My blood froze.
I kicked the door.
Nothing.
Again.
Wood cracked.
Again.
The lock broke.
Inside, Luca lay on the floor.
Blood darkened his shirt.
Emma sat beside him.
She had tied one of her socks around his arm.
“Daddy got hurt.”
Luca opened his eyes.
“Kid’s bossy.”
Relief hit me so hard I nearly fell.
I lifted Emma.
Then helped Luca stand.
Smoke thickened.
We moved toward the tunnel.
The ceiling groaned.
Luca shoved me forward.
A beam crashed between us.
“Luca!”
“Go!”
“No!”
“Dom, take my daughter!”
Emma screamed.
I handed her through a gap in the beam.
Then crawled back.
Luca laughed weakly.
“You never listen.”
“Family tradition.”
Together we pushed the beam enough for him to crawl beneath.
We reached the greenhouse exit seconds before the tunnel filled with smoke.
Elena ran to us.
She held Emma.
Then Luca.
Then all three of them collapsed into one another.
I looked back toward Ravenwood.
Half my family home was burning.
Vivien approached.
Her wedding dress was stained with soot.
“Harlan escaped.”
Of course.
“How?”
“Claire helped him.”
I stared.
“She betrayed us?”
Vivien shook her head.
“No. He took her hostage.”
My phone rang.
Harlan.
“Beautiful wedding,” he said.
“You’re finished.”
“No.”
“You’re on every recording.”
“And you think that matters?”
“Yes.”
He laughed.
“Then check the live news.”
Tony handed me his phone.
Every network was reporting the same thing.
RAVENWOOD MAFIA COMPOUND EXPLOSION — MULTIPLE FEDERAL AGENTS INJURED
Then another headline appeared.
SENATOR HARLAN CLAIMS ATTEMPTED ASSASSINATION BY MORETTI CRIME FAMILY
Harlan had gotten ahead of the story.
He always had.
“Where are you?” I asked.
“Where your father’s story began.”
The line went dead.
Luca looked at me.
“I know where.”
“Where?”
He stared toward the distant city skyline.
“The old Moretti restaurant.”
Our grandfather’s first business.
Closed for twenty years.
I checked my gun.
Vivien caught my arm.
“You’re not going alone.”
“Yes, I am.”
“No.”
“You’re still wearing a wedding dress.”
She tore off the train.
“Problem solved.”
Despite everything, I smiled.
Then Emma called after me.
“Uncle Dom.”
I turned.
She held out her torn rabbit.
“For luck.”
I took it.
“Thank you.”
She looked very serious.
“Bring Aunt Vivien back too.”
Vivien froze.
So did I.
Then Emma added, “She says bad words, but I like her.”
Vivien laughed through tears.
We left for the restaurant.
And when we arrived, Claire was tied to a chair beneath the old Moretti sign.
Harlan stood behind her.
Gun in hand.
But he wasn’t alone.
Marco stood beside him.
Untied.
May you like
Smiling.
And holding the detonator connected to the recordings we had sent to the federal prosecutor.
