Chapter 3 - The Blood Beneath the Oven
Giana had always believed kitchens were honest.
Ingredients could be measured.
Heat could be controlled.
Mistakes could be corrected.
People were different.
People lied.
People betrayed.
People disappeared.
Her mother had taught her that before she was old enough to understand it.
Now she sat inside an abandoned boathouse with her wrists tied and a gun pointed at her stomach.
Stahl had left three men guarding her.
He had underestimated her.
Again.
She studied the room.
One window.
Two doors.
Three guards.
A toolbox.
A propane heater.
A rusted chain.
And one knife lying just out of reach.
She waited.
One guard checked his phone.
Another smoked.
The third paced.
Giana breathed slowly.
Her son kicked.
She whispered,
"Easy, little man."
One guard laughed.
"Talking to the baby?"
"Yes."
"Why?"
"Because he is smarter than all three of you."
The smoker laughed.
The other two glared.
Good.
Anger made people careless.
The pacing guard stepped closer.
"You think you're tough?"
"No."
Giana smiled.
"I know I'm tough."
He slapped her.
Her cheek burned.
She didn't move.
Because behind him, the propane heater flickered.
And beside the heater was the chain.
She waited another thirty seconds.
Then kicked the heater.
It toppled.
Gas hissed.
The guards panicked.
Giana threw herself sideways.
The chain snapped against the knife.
She caught it.
One guard lunged.
She slashed his hand.
He screamed.
Another fired.
The bullet struck the wall.
Giana crawled behind a barrel.
She was terrified.
Not for herself.
For her baby.
Then the door exploded inward.
Luca.
He moved like death.
His men flooded the room.
Three seconds later, the guards were down.
Luca ran to Giana.
"Are you hurt?"
She stared at him.
"You're late."
He stopped.
Then laughed once.
A broken, relieved laugh.
"I thought I lost you."
He cut her restraints.
His hands trembled.
She noticed.
"Luca."
He knelt.
His forehead touched hers.
"I’m sorry."
"You'd better be."
He put both hands over her belly.
The baby kicked.
Luca closed his eyes.
"He remembers me."
Giana almost smiled.
"He never forgot you."
Luca looked at the room.
"Where's Stahl?"
"Gone."
"Where?"
"I don't know."
"What happened?"
"He wanted the ledger."
Luca's face hardened.
"Did he hurt you?"
"Yes."
Luca stood.
Giana grabbed his wrist.
"Don't."
He looked at her.
"Don't go chasing him."
"He hurt you."
"And you think killing him solves this?"
Luca said nothing.
Giana continued.
"This is bigger than Stahl."
"What?"
"Your father."
Luca froze.
She told him everything.
The secret her father had left behind.
The hidden accounts.
The missing port records.
The names.
The fact that someone inside the Fontana organization had been feeding information to Stahl for years.
When she finished, Luca stared at her.
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"Because I wasn't sure who I could trust."
"You should have trusted me."
"I wanted to."
The words cut him.
Then Giana took a flash drive from inside her apron.
Luca stared.
"You had it?"
"Of course."
"The ledger."
"No."
She held it up.
"The evidence your father hid inside my family's records."
Luca took it.
He looked at her.
"Where did you get this?"
"My bakery."
"What?"
"The old brick oven."
She smiled sadly.
"My family hid things where no enemy would ever look."
Luca stared at the drive.
Then at her.
He remembered his father.
A warning from twenty years ago.
Never underestimate the Gallos.
They smile while they sharpen the knife.
Luca pulled Giana close.
"We leave Miami."
"No."
"We go somewhere safe."
"No."
"I am not asking."
She pushed him away.
"You promised me you would stop deciding everything for me."
He stared.
She softened.
"Luca, I don't want a cage."
"I want you alive."
"I want us alive."
He understood.
For the first time, they were standing on the same side.
Not king and wife.
Not protector and protected.
Partners.
Luca nodded.
"Then we finish this together."
Behind them, one of the injured guards laughed.
"You think you won?"
Luca turned.
The guard smiled.
"Stahl already has what he wanted."
"What?"
"The ledger."
Giana looked at Luca.
The drive remained in his hand.
But the guard pointed toward the floor.
A second drive lay beneath the table.
Giana's stomach dropped.
A decoy.
She had been carrying the wrong one.
May you like
Stahl had the real ledger.
And he was already running.
