Chapter 6 - The Architect of Lies
The entire estate went into red-level lockdown. Floodlights illuminated every square inch of the grounds, guard dogs paced the high walls, and Luca’s most trusted hitmen were stationed outside our bedroom doors.
Neither of us slept.
We moved Isla’s crib directly into Luca’s master bedroom. She slept peacefully between us, completely unaware of the war brewing around her. I sat on the edge of the king-sized bed, wrapped in one of Luca’s heavy cashmere robes, watching him pace back and forth like a caged panther.
""He couldn't have breached the outer gate without an insider,"" Luca said, his eyes burning into the computer screen on his desk. ""The security codes were changed seventy-two hours ago. Only four people had the new sequence: me, Elena, my chief of security Marco, and Dante.""
""Dante,"" I said immediately. ""He hates you. He wants the Council seat.""
""Dante is ambitious, but he’s not suicidal,"" Luca muttered, his fingers flying across the keyboard, pulling up the estate’s internal communication logs. ""He knows that if he brings Walsh into this house, it's high treason. The Council would skin him alive.""
""Then who?""
Suddenly, a notification chime echoed through the silent room. An encrypted email pinged into Luca’s private inbox from an untraceable server in Zurich.
Luca clicked it open.
The screen flickered, displaying a live video feed of a dimly lit storage unit. In the center of the frame sat Connor Walsh, looking smug, wearing a tailored leather jacket, his dirty-blonde hair swept back. He was holding a glass of scotch, smirking directly into the camera.
""Hello, Luca,"" Connor’s recorded voice echoed through the high-ceilinged bedroom. ""Or should I say, hello to my lovely fiancée, Mara. I see you’ve traded up from that rat-infested studio in Rogers Park. She looks good in silk, doesn't she, Ferrante?""
I covered my mouth, nausea surging up my throat. Hearing his voice again made my skin crawl with visceral revulsion.
""Let’s cut the theatrics,"" Connor continued on the screen. ""You want your forty million back. I want to leave the country without Salvatore Ferrante’s hounds on my trail. Here is the deal: Mara brings the biometric decryption drive to the abandoned grain silos at the Calumet River tomorrow at dusk. Just her. No guards, no wire, no Luca. She verifies the transfer with her thumbprint, I give her the passcodes to unlock the syndicate’s missing offshore accounts, and everyone walks away clean.""
Connor leaned closer to the lens, his blue eyes hardening into cold venom.
""And if you try to surround the place, Luca, I release the financial records directly to the FBI. Not just the Delaware shell companies—the entire Ferrante ledger from the last twenty years. Your family won't just lose their money; you'll spend the rest of your miserable lives in ADX Florence. Bring the girl, or lose your empire. Clock is ticking.""
The screen went black.
I turned to Luca, my heart pounding in my throat. ""It’s a suicide mission. He won't let me walk out of there alive. Once I unlock the funds, he’ll kill me and blow the silos to erase the evidence.""
Luca closed the laptop with a calm, decisive snap. He walked over to me, kneeling down until he was at eye level.
""You’re right,"" Luca said, his voice deadly quiet. ""Connor doesn't plan on letting anyone leave that silo alive. But he forgot one very important detail.""
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""What's that?""
Luca reached out, gently tucking a strand of hair behind my ear, his eyes burning with an intense, intoxicating flame. ""He thinks you are still the terrified, broken girl he abandoned in an empty apartment. He has no idea that the woman walking into that silo tomorrow night belongs to the Ferrante family. And we don't negotiate with rats. We exterminate them.""
