Chapter 4 - The Truth Beneath the Chapel
Ruggero Romano looked exactly as he had at my birthday dinner.
Perfectly composed.
Silver-haired.
Grandfatherly.
Monstrous.
Alessandro stood beside me, his body slightly in front of mine, as though he could block a bullet with willpower alone. Maso and the rest of the team waited outside the chapel, positioned where Ruggero could not see them.
Camila’s face was pale. Her wrists were bruised. But she was alive.
That mattered.
For now.
“You brought the ring?” Ruggero asked.
I held it up.
His smile widened.
“Your father was always sentimental about craftsmanship.”
“You killed him,” I said.
Ruggero sighed, almost sadly. “Your father made choices.”
“You had him murdered.”
“I had him removed before he could destroy a family that fed thousands of people.”
“Your family?” Alessandro’s voice was low and lethal. “You mean the empire you were selling to Detroit?”
Ruggero’s eyes hardened.
“You were always too emotional, Alessandro. Your father had the courage to rule. You inherited only his name.”
Alessandro took one step forward.
Ruggero pressed a gun against Camila’s temple.
“Careful.”
My heart pounded so violently I thought everyone could hear it.
Ruggero looked at me.
“You have your father’s intelligence. He designed the record system so cleverly that even my accountants could not read it without the key. Tell me how to access the accounts.”
“No.”
Camila made a small sound.
Ruggero’s finger tightened on the trigger.
Alessandro whispered, “Adriana, do not.”
I looked at Camila.
Then at the old man who had built an empire out of fear.
“You think I don’t understand what you are?” I said. “You want me to become frightened enough to obey.”
Ruggero smiled. “Fear is the foundation of loyalty.”
“No,” I said. “Fear is the foundation of silence.”
I dropped the ring onto the marble floor.
Ruggero blinked.
The tiny gold band rolled across the chapel, stopping near his polished shoe.
“You want it?” I continued. “Take it.”
He stared at me, confused.
Then I smiled.
“My father knew you would eventually find the ring.”
The confidence in my voice was real because it had to be.
“The microfilm was never the only copy.”
Ruggero’s expression changed.
Behind him, one of the old chapel screens flickered to life.
Maso had activated the system from outside.
The images from the microfilm appeared across the wall: account numbers, photographs, audio recordings, names. Ruggero’s meetings. Ruggero’s payments. Ruggero’s crimes.
Then my father’s voice filled the chapel.
“If Ruggero Romano hears this recording, it means he has proven exactly why no one should ever trust him with power.”
Ruggero’s face twisted.
He fired.
Alessandro moved before I could scream.
The shot hit him in the shoulder.
Everything exploded into motion.
Maso’s team entered through the side doors. Ruggero’s men fired back. Camila threw herself sideways with the chair, escaping the line of fire. I ran toward her, dropping behind the altar as bullets shattered old stained glass above us.
“Can you move?” I asked.
“Yes.”
I cut the ropes around her wrists using the small blade from my jeweler’s tool roll.
Camila grabbed my hand.
“I’m sorry,” she said, crying. “I never wanted to hurt you.”
“I know.”
Across the chapel, Alessandro fought through the pain, his men forcing Ruggero toward the back exit. But Ruggero was faster than he looked. He seized a gun from the floor and pointed it at Alessandro.
For one impossible second, everything stopped.
Ruggero’s finger moved.
I stepped in front of Alessandro.
The gunshot never came.
Camila had grabbed a fallen candle stand and struck Ruggero across the arm. The gun clattered away. Maso tackled him to the floor.
Ruggero fought, snarling now, stripped of every gentlemanly mask.
“This is what you are!” he screamed at Alessandro. “You cannot escape blood!”
Alessandro stood over him, one hand pressed against his bleeding shoulder.
“No,” he said. “But I can stop passing it on.”
Police sirens sounded outside.
Not police Ruggero controlled.
Federal agents.
Maso had sent the files hours earlier. The chapel, the docks, the warehouses, and the entire Romano network were now under investigation.
Ruggero looked at me as agents dragged him away.
“You destroyed your husband too,” he said.
I looked toward Alessandro.
His white shirt was soaked with blood, but his eyes were clear.
“No,” I replied. “He destroyed himself when he let you become him.”
Ruggero’s smile finally disappeared.
At the hospital, Alessandro refused pain medication until Leah threatened to personally sedate him.
“You were shot,” she said. “You do not get extra points for looking dramatic.”
“I am fine.”
“You are a terrible liar.”
I sat beside his bed, my hands wrapped around his.
When Leah left, Alessandro looked at me.
“I’m sorry.”
“For getting shot?”
“For all of it.”
I swallowed hard.
“I’m still angry.”
“You should be.”
“I don’t know what happens to us now.”
His thumb brushed my knuckles.
“For once,” he said, “you get to decide.”
May you like
And that was when I realized the real test of love was not whether he could fight for me.
It was whether he could finally let me choose him.
