Page 111 of The Hidden Heir

“Hey,” Stefano scowls, “what the hell?”

“You need to keep your fucking mouth shut,” Luca snaps. “You’ve done enough damage to last entire generations. Our father would’ve put a bullet in your head, and you know it.”

“Your son is upstairs, not that you care. You seem more than ready to let the Mancusos raise him, from what I can tell,” I add.

“You two really ganged up on me, didn’t you?” Stefano replies, shaking his head in dismay. “We were at war! I did what I had to in order to get my message across!”

But Luca isn’t having any of his bullshit. “Stefano, you did what you wanted. And you caused already intense strife to get even worse. On top of that, you hurt Valentina and you signed a baby boy up for a life he never asked for. You don’t deserve the Petrucci name. If we weren’t here right now, I would beat you into a pulp and send you to Sicily to spend the rest of your miserable life there, you fucking coward.”

“Maybe skip over the family drama,” Reece interjects.

“You’ve got somewhere else you need to be?” I reply with genuine disgust. “You said you wanted to help me. That was a lie.”

“Don’t worry about him, Valentina,” Luca says. “He knows what’s coming.”

“What’s coming is a bullet through your lung if you don’t do as you’re told,” Reece tells him, pressing the gun harder into his ribcage.

Caroline loses her patience and claps her hands once. “Alright, so the deal is the same. My offer stands, Luca. Marry me, and you get to keep your nephew.”

“And let you kill the only woman I’ve ever loved? You’re delusional,” Luca replies. Caroline raises her gun. My heart stops. “Even you’re not enough of a monster to kill a child, Caroline, don’t be⁠—"

POP

The bullet blows through Stefano’s head.

I scream.

Stefano collapses on the floor, dead. Truly dead this time. The sight is ghastly, and I look away, quivering in my seat as the zip ties bite into my skin. Sweat drips down my forehead, and my pulse races in horror while Mauro groans in disgust.

“Fuck,” Luca mumbles, pale-faced as he stares at Stefano’s corpse.

Reece shudders and shakes his head but sticks to his role as Caroline’s lackey. I wonder if he did it just for the money, or if there’s something else. I see the glances he steals at her. The hint of longing, of softness.

“You’re next,” Caroline tells Luca. “What’s it going to be?”

“How do you expect this to even work?” he asks her, swallowing the grief and the rage I can see coursing through him. “Do you think I’ll just keel over and do your bidding? You plan on killing my wife, Caroline. You already killed my brother.”

“Do I need to put a gun to Michael’s head to get my message across?”

Mauro sighs. “Luca, you’re done. We have you right where we want you. You’ve got no aces left up your sleeve, just an opportunity to make a new pact with us in order for you to survive. Either both families live or none lives. It’s that simple.”

“That’s your endgame, right? Your stupid, ancestral pride,” Luca scoffs. “A bunch of hooligans out of Sicily came here in the early 1900s and sought to live like kings, thinking their bloodline was fucking worth something. It’s not. We’re all fucking worthless without principles and honor!”

BOOM!

The blast reverberates across the entire mansion, the floor shuddering beneath our feet. I hear the crackling of wood, the automatic pops of assault rifles. Time slows down and speeds up at the same time.

My heart gets stuck in my throat.

The security guards rush out, guns blazing, but they’re obliterated by single shots to their heads. One by one, they drop like ragdolls, lifeless and motionless in pools of their own blood.

Luca takes advantage of the sudden shift and swerves around before Reece can react. Caroline ducks, hands over her head, briefly confused. It only takes a few seconds, but it works.

“Luca!” I cry out, terrified.

I catch glimpses of men in the hallway. Flashes of orange. Blood spraying out. Mancuso’s goons crumbling and collapsing in startling droves. Luca takes Reece down with a few punches and a kick to the groin.

“Fuck,” Reece grunts.