Chapter 23 - A Waitress Returns to Table Eight
Elena returned to Aurelia restaurant wearing the same gray hoodie she had once used to disappear.
Tasha nearly dropped a tray.
“No.”
Elena smiled.
“Hello.”
“No.”
“Tasha—”
“You cannot vanish, become mafia royalty, get on television, survive three assassination attempts, and then walk in here dressed like you need Saturday brunch tips.”
“Four attempts.”
“That is not better.”
Elena hugged her.
Tasha squeezed her tightly.
Then slapped her arm.
“Ow.”
“You deserved it.”
Elena needed the restaurant for a reason.
Table eight.
The place Adrian had first mocked her in an ancient dialect.
The place everything changed.
She sat there publicly.
Alone.
A message was posted through channels Luca monitored:
If you want Elena Caruso, stop shooting at workers.
Table Eight.
Midnight.
Adrian thought the idea was insane.
Naturally, he was in the kitchen with six armed men.
Dominic controlled surveillance.
Federal agents waited in unmarked vehicles.
At 12:07, a man entered.
Not Luca.
Teenager.
Maybe nineteen.
He placed an envelope on Elena’s table.
“Mr. Varga says open it.”
Elena didn’t touch it.
“Sit.”
The boy hesitated.
“Sit.”
He did.
“What’s your name?”
“Nico.”
“You work for Luca?”
“He pays.”
“Why?”
Nico looked away.
Elena recognized the posture.
Broke.
Proud.
Scared.
She remembered being Claire Morgan.
“How much?”
“Five grand.”
“To deliver paper?”
“Yeah.”
“You believe that?”
His expression shifted.
Elena reached beneath the table and grabbed his ankle.
A wire ran inside his pant leg.
She ripped it free.
Nico panicked.
“I didn’t know!”
Adrian stormed from the kitchen.
“Bomb!”
Everyone moved.
Dominic’s technician grabbed the envelope.
Inside was a compact explosive triggered remotely.
Nico began crying.
“I swear I didn’t know.”
Elena looked through the window.
Across the street, a motorcycle accelerated away.
Luca.
He had intended to kill a nineteen-year-old courier along with Elena.
That changed something.
Not anger.
Clarity.
She looked at Nico.
“Where did you meet him?”
“Garage in Brooklyn.”
“Address.”
The garage was abandoned by the time they arrived.
But Luca had made one mistake.
Nico had seen a map on the wall.
A coastline.
Long Island.
And a handwritten circle around the Bellandi estate.
Adrian’s face darkened.
“My house.”
“Your mother’s grave,” Dominic said.
Adrian froze.
His mother was buried in the private cemetery beyond the eastern terrace.
They raced there.
Too late.
The grave had been opened.
The coffin remained.
But on top sat a black box.
Adrian moved toward it.
Elena stopped him.
Bomb squad cleared it.
No explosives.
Inside rested his mother’s rosary.
And a note.
YOUR DEBT TO CARUSO ENDS AT DAWN.
Adrian stared at the rosary.
His composure finally cracked.
Luca wasn’t targeting Elena anymore.
He was targeting Adrian’s deepest loyalty.
Elena stepped closer.
“You saved my family because your mother asked you to.”
“Yes.”
“Now let me save yours.”
He looked at her.
“Elena—”
“No arguments.”
Dominic received a call.
His expression sharpened.
“We traced Luca’s motorcycle.”
“Where?”
“North Shore marina.”
Adrian loaded his weapon.
Elena stopped him.
“You told me not to become Luca.”
His jaw tightened.
“So?”
“So we bring him back breathing.”
Adrian looked toward his mother’s disturbed grave.
“That may be difficult.”
Elena took his hand.
“Then do it for me.”
He closed his eyes briefly.
When he opened them, the rage was controlled.
“Breathing.”
“Good.”
“Possibly uncomfortable.”
“Adrian.”
“No promises.”
They headed toward the marina.
May you like
This time, Elena wasn’t being protected by Adrian Bellandi.
They were walking into danger side by side.
