Chapter 3 - The Bullet Meant for Me
The safehouse was a mansion disguised as an ordinary townhouse.
It had three floors, six bedrooms, a library, two security rooms, and enough locked doors to make me feel like I'd accidentally joined a secret government program.
My mother was brought there at midnight.
When she saw Alessandro, she went completely still.
“You.”
He nodded.
“Hello, Mrs. Marquez.”
My mother stared at him.
“You grew up.”
His face softened.
“So did you.”
I looked between them.
“You two know each other.”
My mother didn't answer.
Alessandro did.
“She saved my life.”
My mother looked at me.
“Lena, go upstairs.”
“No.”
She sighed.
“You've always been stubborn.”
“I learned from you.”
Alessandro almost smiled.
That was the first time I noticed something strange.
He was different around my mother.
Less powerful.
Less guarded.
Almost like a son.
My mother eventually told me the truth.
She had worked for Alessandro's father as an accountant and emergency medical assistant.
The Romano family was involved in crimes she hated.
But she had stayed because Alessandro's father had helped her after my father died.
Then she discovered financial records connecting several politicians to a trafficking network.
She tried to expose it.
Someone found out.
Her life was threatened.
She disappeared.
But before leaving, she copied the records and hid them.
“Where?” I asked.
She looked at me.
“I don't remember.”
I knew instantly she was lying.
Alessandro knew too.
But he didn't pressure her.
Instead, he said, “You should rest.”
My mother looked at him.
“Are they still looking?”
“Yes.”
“Then you know where it ends.”
Alessandro's jaw tightened.
“I won't let them reach her.”
My mother nodded.
“See that you don't.”
He left.
I watched him go.
“Mom.”
“What?”
“You trust him.”
“I trust the boy he used to be.”
“Not the man?”
She looked at me.
“That depends on what he chooses to become.”
Before I could ask more, an alarm sounded.
Red lights flashed.
Doors locked.
Victor shouted through the hall.
“Everybody down!”
A shot cracked through the glass.
Alessandro appeared instantly.
He grabbed me and pushed me behind a marble column.
Another shot.
The window exploded.
“Stay down.”
“Where is my mother?”
“Safe.”
“Victor!”
“She's with him.”
More gunshots.
Alessandro moved toward the window.
I grabbed his sleeve.
“Don't.”
He looked down at my hand.
Then at me.
“Lena.”
“Please.”
He didn't answer.
He stepped outside.
I heard shouting.
Then another gunshot.
Silence.
I couldn't breathe.
Victor rushed into the room.
“Where's Alessandro?”
“Outside.”
His face changed.
He ran.
I followed.
Alessandro was on the ground.
Blood spread across his shirt.
I screamed.
“No.”
Victor shouted for the doctor.
I ran to him.
“Alessandro.”
His eyes opened.
He tried to sit up.
“Stay back.”
“You're bleeding.”
“I'm fine.”
“You've been shot!”
He smiled faintly.
“Only once.”
“That's supposed to make me feel better?”
His eyes stayed on mine.
“You're safe.”
“Because you got shot.”
“Yes.”
I grabbed his hand.
“Don't do that again.”
He looked surprised.
“Do what?”
“Save me.”
“Can't promise that.”
“You're impossible.”
“So I've been told.”
The doctor arrived.
The bullet had entered his upper shoulder and passed through.
He would survive.
I stayed beside him anyway.
At three in the morning, he woke.
I was sitting in the chair.
“You stayed.”
“You were shot.”
“I noticed.”
“Go back to sleep.”
“I can't.”
“Why?”
“Because you look angry.”
“I am.”
“At me?”
“At myself.”
“Why?”
“Because I believed the warning was only about my mother.”
Alessandro studied me.
“I knew they'd come.”
“But you didn't know when.”
“No.”
“Who are they?”
He was silent.
Then he said, “A man named Salvatore De Luca.”
My mother gasped from the doorway.
“Salvatore?”
Alessandro looked at her.
“You know him.”
“Yes.”
Her face changed.
“Where is he?”
“Alive.”
My mother sat down.
“I thought he was dead.”
“He wants the ledger.”
She looked at me.
“He'll never stop.”
“Why?” I asked.
My mother hesitated.
“Because the ledger doesn't only contain financial records.”
“What else?”
“Names.”
“Whose names?”
“Everyone.”
Politicians.
Judges.
Police chiefs.
Businessmen.
Men powerful enough to destroy families with one phone call.
Alessandro said quietly, “And one name matters more than the rest.”
“What name?”
He looked at me.
“Mine.”
I frowned.
“What?”
“My father used me as collateral in a deal.”
Silence.
“My life was traded.”
“For what?”
“My father's empire.”
I stared.
“My uncle wanted control.”
Alessandro's voice became flat.
“He arranged a contract that would transfer everything to him if I died.”
My mother's eyes filled.
“He was nineteen.”
Alessandro looked toward the floor.
“That's why she saved me.”
My mother nodded.
“I couldn't stop your father.”
“You stopped my uncle.”
“For a while.”
The room went silent.
Then Alessandro looked at me.
“Your mother hid the ledger because it can destroy Salvatore.”
“Then why hasn't he found it?”
“Because he thinks your mother gave it to you.”
I froze.
“She didn't.”
“No.”
“But he thinks so.”
“Yes.”
“What happens if he finds out she doesn't have it?”
Alessandro looked at me.
“He'll assume you do.”
My phone vibrated.
UNKNOWN NUMBER.
A photograph appeared.
Alessandro and me.
Taken outside the safehouse.
Below it were three words.
WE SEE YOU.
I showed him.
His face hardened.
“Victor.”
Victor appeared immediately.
“Get everyone upstairs.”
“Why?”
“Now.”
I looked at Alessandro.
“What?”
He stood despite the pain.
“We're moving.”
“Where?”
“My house.”
“No.”
He looked at me.
“There is nowhere safer.”
I shook my head.
“The man hunting us knows your locations.”
He nodded.
“Then we'll make him think he has one more.”
I didn't understand.
But when the convoy left the safehouse, I realized something.
There were three cars.
One carried my mother.
One carried Victor.
And one carried Alessandro and me.
By the time we reached his estate, I understood.
May you like
We weren't hiding.
We were setting a trap.
