Chapter 3 - DINNER BECAME A WAR ZONE
Emma hit the floor before she understood what was happening.
Wood exploded above her.
A wineglass shattered.
Someone yelled, “DOWN!”
Dante moved faster than she expected.
He kicked the table sideways and grabbed his mother, dragging her behind it as another bullet tore through the wall.
Sal pulled a weapon.
Victor crawled toward the corner.
Emma covered her head.
Her ears rang.
The irony hit her for half a second.
Lily would have hated the chaos but never the noise.
“Emma!”
Dante’s voice.
She looked up.
He pointed toward his mother.
“Stay with her!”
Emma crawled behind the table.
The older woman’s face was pale but focused.
She signed.
“What is happening?”
Emma’s hands shook.
“Someone is shooting.”
The woman stared.
Then signed the most Italian-mother sentence possible.
“I know that. Who?”
Emma almost laughed from pure panic.
“I don’t know.”
Dante crouched near the door, gun in hand.
Sal whispered, “Two shooters minimum.”
“No,” Dante said.
“How do you know?”
“Three shot patterns.”
Another burst of gunfire answered him.
Sal nodded.
“Three.”
Dante looked toward the service entrance.
“Kitchen exit.”
Emma knew the layout.
She grabbed his sleeve.
“There’s a freezer corridor.”
He turned.
“What?”
“It leads behind the pastry station. Then there’s a delivery door.”
“Can we get her through?”
Emma looked at Mrs. Moretti.
“Can you run?”
The woman looked offended.
Emma repeated the question in sign.
Mrs. Moretti straightened.
“I gave birth to three boys. I can run.”
Emma nodded.
“She can run.”
Dante actually blinked.
“Fine.”
Sal cracked the door and fired twice.
“MOVE!”
Everything happened at once.
Dante pushed his mother ahead.
Emma grabbed her hand.
Victor stumbled behind them.
They ran through the narrow service hall as kitchen staff screamed and hid behind counters.
A cook shouted, “What the hell?”
Emma yelled, “BACK DOOR!”
They reached the freezer corridor.
Then a man appeared at the far end.
Black jacket.
Gun raised.
Emma saw him first.
“DOWN!”
Dante fired.
The man slammed into the wall.
Mrs. Moretti froze.
Emma pulled her.
“Keep moving!”
Dante stepped over the man.
His face didn’t change.
Emma hated how normal it looked to him.
They reached the loading dock.
A black SUV screeched into the alley.
Dante pushed his mother inside.
“Emma, get in.”
She stared at him.
“What?”
“Get in.”
“I work here!”
“Someone just shot at you because you were sitting in that room.”
“I wasn’t sitting. I was serving ravioli.”
“Get in the car.”
“No.”
Dante’s expression hardened.
“Emma.”
She pointed back toward the restaurant.
“My purse is in there.”
“I’ll buy you a new purse.”
“My keys are in my purse.”
“I’ll buy you a car.”
“That is not the point!”
Mrs. Moretti slapped the seat.
Emma looked at her.
She signed furiously.
“Get in before my stupid son starts another argument.”
Emma almost smiled.
Then glass shattered behind them.
Another shot.
That settled it.
Emma jumped into the SUV.
Dante climbed in after her.
The vehicle launched forward.
Sal spoke into a radio.
“Route B. No hospital. Secure property.”
Emma looked at Dante.
“You’re not taking me somewhere ‘secure.’”
“You were just attacked.”
“You were attacked.”
“You translated information somebody has killed to keep buried.”
Emma went silent.
That part landed.
Dante looked at her.
“You understand now?”
Emma stared out the window.
“No.”
“No?”
“I understand that I should’ve listened when my manager told me this table was trouble.”
Mrs. Moretti smiled.
Dante rubbed his face.
For several minutes, nobody spoke.
Then Emma’s phone buzzed.
She looked down.
A text from an unknown number.
Her stomach dropped.
Dante noticed.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
“Give me the phone.”
“No.”
“Emma.”
She read the message again.
Then slowly turned the screen toward him.
There was a photo.
A picture of Lily standing outside her apartment building.
Taken less than ten minutes ago.
Below it was one sentence.
TELL MRS. MORETTI TO GIVE US THE RED BOOK.
Emma stopped breathing.
Dante’s entire expression changed.
Not anger.
Something colder.
He took the phone from her hand.
“Who is Lily?”
Emma whispered, “My sister.”
“Where is she?”
“Home.”
Dante looked at Sal.
“Turn around.”
Sal nodded.
Emma grabbed Dante’s arm.
“What are you doing?”
“Getting your sister.”
“You don’t know where she lives.”
Dante showed Sal the phone.
Sal started typing.
Emma stared.
“You can just find people like that?”
Dante didn’t answer.
“Dante!”
He looked at her.
“They threatened your family because of mine.”
His voice was quiet.
“That makes her my responsibility.”
Emma pulled her hand away.
“No. You don’t get to decide that.”
His eyes locked on hers.
“Tonight, somebody else already did.”
The SUV turned hard at the next intersection.
Five minutes later, Emma’s phone rang.
Lily.
Emma answered immediately.
“Lily?”
Silence.
Then breathing.
A man’s voice came through.
“Tell Dante Moretti we want the book by midnight.”
Emma went numb.
Behind the voice, she heard something hit the floor.
May you like
Then Lily cried out.
And the line went dead.
