Chapter 6 - THE CONFESSION UNDERGROUND
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The air in the subterranean wine cellar smelled of damp stone, aged oak, and raw, suffocating fear.
Vanessa sat bound to a heavy wooden chair in the center of the vaulted room, her fancy silk dress stained with dirt.
She looked up with frantic eyes as the heavy iron door creaked open, casting Luca’s tall shadow over her.
I walked behind Luca, carrying the black binder containing her financial records and forged powers of attorney.
Vanessa began crying immediately, her voice echoing off the curved limestone walls.
“Luca, baby, please listen to me!” she pleaded, her mascara completely smeared across her cheeks.
“My father forced me into this, he threatened to ruin me if I didn’t help him take the Taylor Street property!”
Luca pulled a wooden crate forward and sat down directly across from her, his face devoid of all emotion.
“You’ve been married to me for three years, Vanessa,” Luca spoke with chilling calm.
“Did you really believe you could sleep in my bed and conspire to butcher my blood?”
“I didn’t know he was going to hurt Anthony!” she wailed, thrashing against the rope around her wrists.
Luca leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees, his eyes boring into her soul.
“Let me tell you what actually happened, Vanessa,” Luca said quietly.
“Three years ago, you staged a car breakdown outside my private club in downtown Chicago.”
“You spent six months learning my favorite books, my dining habits, and my father’s medical schedule.”
“You made my lonely, grieving father believe you were the daughter he never had.”
“And all the while, you were feeding your father internal security codes and intercepting my uncle’s pleas for mercy.”
Vanessa stopped crying, her face suddenly twisting into an ugly, bitter sneer.
“And what if I did?” she snapped, dropping all pretense of innocence.
“Your family is nothing but a bunch of uneducated Italian thugs who got lucky with real estate!”
“My father built an empire with brains and finance, but your stubborn old father refused to sell that rat-infested diner!”
“That land is worth eighty million dollars, Luca! You were sitting on gold and letting it rot!”
I stepped forward, unable to contain my disgust at her monstrous arrogance.
“That ‘rat-infested diner’ was where Frank and Anthony worked seventy hours a week to feed this neighborhood,” I said.
Vanessa glared at me with venomous disdain.
“Shut your mouth, you pathetic maid! You are nothing in this house!”
Luca stood up slowly, towering over his wife with an aura of immense, crushing authority.
He reached down and effortlessly slipped the six-carat diamond wedding ring off her trembling finger.
“You are right about one thing, Vanessa,” Luca whispered coldly into her ear.
“We are dangerous men, and you made the fatal mistake of threatening our family.”
He tossed the diamond ring onto the concrete floor, letting it roll into the dark drainage grate.
“Claire is worth a thousand of you, because Claire understands loyalty,” Luca declared firmly.
He turned to the armed enforcers stationed at the doorway.
“Keep her here without light or food until the sun rises,” Luca commanded.
“If Arthur Sterling kills my uncle tonight, Vanessa will face the exact same fate tomorrow morning.”
Vanessa began screaming at the top of her lungs, begging for mercy as the guards stepped forward.
Luca walked out into the corridor, his face completely hardened for war.
“Claire,” he said, looking at me with new respect.
“Get Frank into the armored suburban, and bring Anthony’s letters with you.”
“Are we going to the river, sir?” I asked, my heart pounding against my ribs.
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“No,” Luca replied with a deadly grin.
“We are going to the original restaurant first, because Anthony left something there twenty years ago that Arthur couldn't find.”
