Chapter 4 - THE BURNING THREAT
The phone slipped from my trembling fingers and clattered onto the hardwood floor. Luca was beside me in an instant. He picked up the phone, reading the screen. His eyes narrowed. He didn't need me to translate the Italian. He understood the universal language of a threat. “Dominic is at your mother’s restaurant,” Luca stated, his voice devoid of panic, replaced by a chilling calm. I nodded, my throat too tight to speak. Vanessa gasped, looking over Luca's shoulder at the screen. “That’s Leo! He took him! Dominic took my son!” She collapsed to her knees, clutching Luca's suit jacket. “Please, Luca, you have to pay him! He’ll kill my baby!” Marco stepped forward, his face pale but resolute. “Luca, if you pay Dominic, you validate his extortion. He won't stop with ten thousand. He’ll drain you.” “I don’t care about the money,” Luca said softly. He looked at me. “Emma. Where is the restaurant?” “West Side,” I choked out. “Belmont Avenue.” Luca pulled his phone from his pocket and pressed a single button on his speed dial. “Carlo. Bring the cars to the front. We have a situation on Belmont.” He hung up and turned to Vanessa. “Get up.” She scrambled to her feet, her red gown tangled around her legs. “You're going to save him?” she sobbed. “I am going to retrieve the boy,” Luca corrected coldly. “But make no mistake, Vanessa. When this night is over, you are leaving this house, and you are never coming back.” Vanessa flinched as if struck. Luca turned to Marco. “Lock down the estate. Nobody enters or leaves until I return.” Then he looked at me. “Come with me.” “Sir?” I whispered. “Dominic thinks you’re just a maid. He texted you to use you as a pawn. We are going to show him you are not alone.” Ten minutes later, we were in the back of an armored black SUV, speeding through the rainy streets of Chicago. Two other SUVs followed closely behind. I clutched my hands in my lap, praying my mother was safe. She worked late on Thursdays, doing the inventory. “Emma,” Luca said quietly from the seat beside me. I looked at him. “Why did you speak up tonight?” he asked. “You knew it would cost you your job.” “Because Marco is a good man,” I said honestly. “And I know what it’s like to be punished for a mistake you didn't make.” Luca studied my face in the dim streetlights. “Your mother’s debt to Dominic. How much is it?” I swallowed hard. “Ten thousand dollars.” Luca’s eyes darkened. “Vanessa didn’t orchestrate the ten-thousand-dollar overage to pay Dominic for the boy.” I frowned, confused. “What do you mean?” “I mean Vanessa doesn’t care about the boy,” Luca said, his voice laced with disgust. “She orchestrated the overage because Dominic demanded it to cover your mother’s debt.” My heart stopped. “Why would she care about my mother’s debt?” Luca reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a folded piece of paper. He had taken it from Vanessa’s purse before we left. He handed it to me. It was a birth certificate. The mother’s name was listed as Vanessa Bellini. The father’s name wasn’t Dominic Vane. It was Marco Santori.
