Chapter 8 - The Shadow Raid on Willow Creek
Arthur dropped to his knees, howling in agony as he clutched his shattered collarbone.
Daniel stepped out from the terrace shrubbery, lowering a suppressed tactical carbine with cold professional detach.
Two armed security operatives in black fatigues moved through the darkness behind him, zip-tying Arthur’s wrists behind his back with brutal efficiency.
Vanessa shrieked, pressing her back against the cake table until the six tiers of sugar wobbled precariously.
"Don't touch me! Luca, please! He forced me into this!"
"He threatened to expose my family's debts!"
"He said he would ruin me!"
Luca walked over to Arthur, who was writhing on the marble, leaving smears of dark crimson across the white stone.
Luca crouched down until his face was level with his former legal counsel.
"Where is Elena Rossi?" Luca demanded.
Arthur gritted his teeth, spit flying from his lips.
"Go to hell, Moretti."
Luca placed his thumb directly into the entry wound on Arthur’s shoulder.
Arthur’s scream ripped through the ballroom, echoing off the high ceilings like the squeal of a slaughtered animal.
"I am not asking as your client, Arthur," Luca whispered softly into the lawyer's ear.
"I am asking as Michael's brother."
"Where is the old woman?"
"In... in the basement of the carriage house!" Arthur sobbed, his arrogance completely pulverized. "She's tied to the support pillar!"
"And Michael?"
"Under the workshop floor!"
"The cistern!"
"He's in the dried-out cistern beneath the inspection pit!"
Luca stood up, wiping his bloodied hand on a silk dinner napkin from the table.
"Daniel."
"Sir?"
"Throw Vanessa into the wine cellar."
"Take her phone, her jewelry, and her shoes."
"If she makes a sound, turn off the ventilation."
"Luca, no! Please!" Vanessa screamed as two guards dragged her across the marble floor toward the kitchen passage.
Her manicured fingernails scraped uselessly against the polished floor until the service doors swung shut, cutting off her pleas.
Luca turned his gaze to me.
I was still standing by the hallway arch, trembling from head to toe, clutching my injured hand against my chest.
"Lily," Luca said.
"Yes, Mr. Moretti?"
"You know what Elena Rossi looks like."
"Yes, sir."
"You know the cadence of her voice."
"I do."
"Get in the truck."
"Sir?"
"Arthur has five mercenary guards posted at Willow Creek," Luca said, pulling a tactical jacket over his tuxedo shirt.
"They are expecting Elena’s body to be delivered by Arthur’s regular driver."
"If they see an all-out tactical assault, they will drop an incendiary charge down the cistern before my men can breach the perimeter."
"We need someone to approach the gate without raising an immediate red alert."
"You will sit in the passenger seat of Arthur’s town car."
"Daniel will drive."
"You will keep your head down and pretend to be the captive until we clear the gatehouse."
Panic seized my throat.
"Mr. Moretti, I am just a maid."
"I clean the silver."
"I set the tables."
Luca walked across the room until he was standing directly in front of me.
He reached down and gently touched the clean white gauze wrapping my right hand.
"A maid would have given Vanessa the knife."
"A maid would have taken the five thousand dollars and run."
"You stood between thirty armed men and a lie to protect the truth about my brother."
His dark eyes held no arrogance now, only an immovable, quiet respect.
"I will not let a hair on your head be harmed, Lily."
"I give you my personal oath on my father's memory."
"And once this night is over, your sister Maya will have her tuition, her apartment, and her future secured for the rest of her life."
I looked at the blood on his hands.
I looked at the open terrace door where the cold rain was blowing in.
I thought of the terrified old woman who had risked her life to bring that porcelain bride through the kitchen alley.
May you like
I nodded.
"Let's go get Michael," I said.
