Chapter 6 - Blood Recognized
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The silence that filled the study was so profound that I could hear the rain lashing against the tall glass windows.
I looked at Luca, trying to process the magnitude of the truth that had just rewritten my entire existence.
I had spent the last seven years working double shifts in greasy diners and banquet halls just to pay rent on a studio apartment.
I had scrubbed floors, swallowed insults from entitled socialites, and counted pennies to buy stale bread at the end of every month.
And all along, my real brother was the most powerful and feared man in the entire city of Chicago.
"I don't know what to say," I whispered, tears finally spilling over my eyelashes and falling onto my faded black apron.
Luca stepped toward me, closing the distance between us with slow, deliberate steps.
He did not hesitate; he wrapped his strong arms around my shoulders and pulled me tightly against his chest.
I buried my face into his shoulder, feeling the luxurious wool of his suit jacket dampen with my tears.
For the first time in twenty-two years, the crushing weight of being utterly alone in the world evaporated into the air.
"You don't have to say anything, Gianna," Luca murmured into my hair, his voice fierce with a brother's protective vow.
"You are home now, and no one will ever treat you like a servant again."
Across the room, Vanessa's breathing grew ragged, her manicured fingers clawing at the carpet.
She realized that her father's empire was crumbling right before her eyes.
Her entire marriage to Luca had been designed to keep the Moretti syndicate under the Sterling family's thumb.
Now, the very sister they thought they had eradicated was standing in the inner sanctum, holding the key to their destruction.
Suddenly, Vanessa reached into the pocket of her heavy burgundy evening gown.
Her hand emerged holding a small, silver snub-nosed revolver that she had concealed beneath the voluminous folds of silk.
"Get away from her, Luca!" Vanessa screamed, her eyes wide with unhinged panic as she leveled the barrel at Eleanor.
"This old witch has ruined everything!"
"If I pull this trigger, the only witness to my father's past dies right here, right now!"
Eleanor gasped, shrinking back into the leather cushions of the sofa.
I didn't think; my body reacted on pure instinct, moving to step between the gun and the elderly woman who had saved my life twice.
"Gianna, no!" Luca shouted, his voice thunderous.
Luca moved faster than any human being I had ever seen in my life.
Before Vanessa could align her iron sights with Eleanor's chest, Luca lunged across the rug like a panther.
His left hand clamped down over the cylinder of the revolver, preventing the hammer from striking the primer.
With his right arm, he struck Vanessa's forearm with a swift, merciless downward chop that shattered her wrist bone.
A sickening crack echoed through the study, followed instantly by a piercing shriek of agony from Vanessa.
The small silver gun clattered harmlessly against the stone hearth of the fireplace.
Luca kicked the weapon under the heavy oak desk before dragging Vanessa up by the collar of her designer dress.
"You dare draw a weapon in my house?" Luca snarled, his face twisted into an expression of sheer demonic rage.
"You dare threaten the woman who gave her own flesh to pull me out of the fire?"
The study doors were suddenly thrown open with a violent bang as Dante and three armed guards rushed in, weapons raised.
"Boss!" Dante shouted, his eyes scanning the room before locking onto the weeping, broken woman in Luca's grip.
"We heard a scream from the corridor."
Luca threw Vanessa into the middle of the floor at Dante's feet as if she were a bag of spoiled rubbish.
"Take this treacherous snake down to the secure basement cells," Luca ordered coldly.
"Strip her of her jewelry, take her phone, and make sure she doesn't swallow her own tongue."
"And Dante," Luca added, his voice dropping into a deadly register that promised slaughter.
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"Call every captain in this city."
"Tell them the Sterling family declared war twenty-six years ago, and tonight, the Morettis are going to finish it."
