Chapter 14 - THREE MINUTES
Smoke entered through vents in the ceiling.
The emergency purge had ignited the archive chambers surrounding the vault.
Paper records burned first.
Then chemicals stored beneath the floors caught fire.
The temperature rose immediately.
Alessandro lifted Daniel.
Don Ricci took Emma.
Clara grabbed the blue rabbit and the case containing the account seals.
Vittorio lay restrained near the console.
His wounded leg left blood across the floor.
“Do not leave me.”
No one answered him.
“Alessandro!”
The vault doors continued closing.
Marco remained on the ground.
His hand pressed against the wound in his neck.
He was alive.
Barely.
Alessandro handed Daniel to two guards.
Then he returned for Marco.
Don Ricci stared at him.
“He betrayed you.”
“He also lowered the gun.”
Alessandro lifted Marco’s arm over his shoulder.
Clara looked toward Vittorio.
The old man struggled against the restraints.
“What about him?”
Don Ricci’s expression was cold.
“Let the Circle keep one of its founders.”
Clara looked at Emma.
The child was watching.
“No.”
She approached Vittorio.
He smiled in relief.
“I knew you were weak.”
Clara cut the restraints around his wrists.
“Do not mistake mercy for weakness.”
She left the rope around his ankles.
“You crawl.”
Vittorio’s smile vanished.
The first vault door dropped.
Alessandro and the guards pushed Daniel beneath it.
Don Ricci carried Emma through.
Clara dragged the account case behind her.
Marco groaned as Alessandro pulled him forward.
Vittorio crawled after them.
The second steel door began descending.
“Faster!” Don Ricci shouted.
Clara reached the opening.
Her injured shoulder failed.
The account case fell behind her.
She turned back.
Flames entered the chamber.
The black envelopes scattered across the floor.
Alessandro grabbed her wrist.
“Leave them.”
“We need proof.”
“We copied the authorization when Emma sang the wrong note.”
Clara stared at him.
“The computer sent everything to Don Ricci’s servers.”
Daniel had planned the emergency cipher well.
Clara released the case.
Alessandro pulled her beneath the door.
Marco’s foot caught.
He screamed.
Two guards dragged him free as the steel struck the floor.
Vittorio remained on the other side.
His face appeared beneath the narrowing gap.
“Help me!”
Clara stopped.
Vittorio reached toward her.
The door lowered.
Alessandro seized the metal edge with both hands.
The guards joined him.
They held it several inches above the floor.
“Move!” Alessandro shouted.
Vittorio crawled.
His injured leg dragged behind him.
The flames reached his jacket.
Clara grabbed his hands.
He used her grip to pull himself through.
For one instant, she saw gratitude.
Then Vittorio yanked her toward the gap.
He tried to force her back under the descending door so he could escape faster.
Alessandro caught Clara around the waist.
Don Ricci kicked Vittorio’s shoulder.
The old man rolled through alone.
The steel door slammed down.
Clara stared at him in disbelief.
“You tried to leave me inside.”
Vittorio coughed through the smoke.
“I survived.”
“That is all your family understands.”
They reached the main service tunnel.
The eastern exit had collapsed.
Marco struggled to speak.
“River.”
Alessandro looked at him.
“There is a drainage channel.”
“Where?”
Marco pointed toward a rusted maintenance door.
A combination lock blocked it.
Vittorio laughed weakly.
“Only a Romano knows the code.”
Don Ricci aimed his pistol at him.
“Then begin remembering.”
Vittorio smiled.
“Carry me outside first.”
Smoke thickened.
Emma coughed against Don Ricci’s chest.
Clara stepped toward Vittorio.
“You ordered her death.”
“I ordered many deaths.”
“Then one code should be easy to remember.”
He looked at her.
“What will you give me?”
Clara knelt.
“The chance to live long enough to watch Vivian testify against you.”
His expression changed.
“She would never.”
“She already gave us the location of this mill.”
Vittorio’s confidence cracked.
Clara continued.
“She told us you planned to replace her.”
“She betrayed me?”
“She learned from you.”
Vittorio looked toward the lock.
“Seven.”
Alessandro entered the first number.
“Three.”
The second.
“Eight.”
The third.
Vittorio coughed.
“I forget the rest.”
Don Ricci pressed the pistol against his wounded leg.
Vittorio screamed.
“Two!”
Alessandro entered it.
“One!”
The lock flashed green.
The door opened.
Cold air rushed into the tunnel.
They descended into a drainage channel filled with knee-deep water.
Flames rolled across the ceiling behind them.
The tunnel narrowed.
Daniel lost consciousness.
Clara helped the guards carry him.
Emma held Don Ricci’s neck.
“Mr. Bunny is wet.”
Clara almost laughed from exhaustion.
“He has had a difficult night.”
“So did Mommy.”
“Yes.”
“So did Daddy.”
Clara looked at Daniel’s pale face.
“Yes.”
The tunnel ended at an iron grate.
Alessandro kicked it.
The rusted hinges held.
He kicked again.
Nothing.
Smoke filled the drainage channel.
Marco pulled away from the guard supporting him.
He approached the grate.
“You will bleed out,” Alessandro said.
Marco placed both hands against the metal.
“I know.”
“Then save your strength.”
“I spent fourteen years destroying what you built.”
Marco looked at him.
“Let me move one door.”
Alessandro joined him.
Together, they pushed.
The grate shifted.
Don Ricci added his weight.
Clara set the rabbit between her teeth and pushed with her good arm.
The hinges cracked.
The grate fell outward.
Rain struck their faces.
They emerged beside the river as the silk mill burned behind them.
Emergency vehicles approached in the distance.
Clara fell to her knees beside Daniel.
His pulse was faint.
Marco collapsed several feet away.
Alessandro knelt between the two wounded men.
Only one ambulance had reached the riverbank.
The medic looked from Daniel to Marco.
“I can take one first.”
Clara gripped Daniel’s hand.
Alessandro looked at Marco.
Marco understood.
“Take Bennett.”
The medic moved toward Daniel.
Alessandro crouched beside his former security chief.
“You may die.”
Marco gave a weak smile.
“I began dying the night I betrayed Luca.”
Alessandro’s face tightened.
“You were there?”
Marco’s eyes filled with regret.
“I placed the device in his helicopter.”
The rain seemed to stop.
Alessandro did not move.
Marco coughed blood.
“Vivian ordered it.”
Alessandro leaned closer.
“She was twenty-two.”
“She wanted the marriage alliance.”
“Luca opposed it.”
“So she removed him.”
Alessandro’s expression became terrifyingly calm.
“Why tell me now?”
“Because she lied when she said Vittorio ordered it.”
Marco’s breathing weakened.
“She wanted you alone.”
His eyes closed.
The medic checked him.
“He still has a pulse.”
A second ambulance arrived.
Both men were loaded inside.
Vittorio was placed under armed guard.
Don Ricci carried Emma toward Clara.
The child reached for her.
Clara held her close.
The silk mill roof collapsed behind them.
A phone rang inside Alessandro’s pocket.
He answered.
His face became still.
“What happened?” Clara asked.
He lowered the phone.
“Vivian escaped from the clinic.”
“Where would she go?”
Alessandro looked at the blue rabbit.
“To finish what she began.”
A message appeared on Clara’s phone.
It contained a photograph of Villa Moretti’s nursery.
The room was empty except for a chair beneath the chandelier.
May you like
Vivian had written one sentence.
BRING EMMA HOME, OR DANIEL DIES BEFORE SURGERY.
