Chapter 8 - The Diamonds
I stared at the empty vault in pure, suffocating horror.
"What diamonds?" I asked, looking desperately at Dante.
"My family lost all their wealth years ago."
Dante folded the note and put it in his pocket, his jaw clenched tight.
"Your father did not lose his wealth, Elena," Dante explained quickly as we ran back up the stairs.
"He converted thirty million dollars into untraceable blood diamonds and hid them before he died."
"Victoria has been trying to find them for three years to pay off her own secret debts to the Commission."
We burst out of the mansion and jumped back into the armored SUV.
"Do you know where the diamonds are?" I asked as he started the engine.
"I found them the day after your father died," Dante confessed, merging onto the dark highway.
"I kept them hidden in my private safe at the Moretti compound to ensure Victoria could never use them to buy power."
We drove furiously through the city, arriving at Dante's massive, heavily guarded estate.
Dante's loyal men opened the gates immediately, recognizing their boss's vehicle.
We ran into his private study, and he spun the dial on a hidden wall safe behind a large painting.
He pulled out a heavy black velvet bag that clinked loudly with the sound of loose gems.
"This is the only thing keeping your sister from executing my son," Dante said, handing me the bag.
We drove to the abandoned shipping docks on the edge of Lake Michigan.
The freezing wind howled through the rusted metal shipping containers.
Victoria was standing at the end of the pier, surrounded by a dozen heavily armed mercenaries.
Leo was sitting in the back of a running speedboat, wrapped in a blanket and crying softly for me.
"Let him go, Victoria!" I screamed, holding up the heavy velvet bag.
"I have everything you want!"
Victoria smiled, signaling her men to lower their weapons slightly.
"Throw the bag on the ground and step away," Victoria ordered.
Dante stepped in front of me, shielding my body with his own.
"You let the boy walk to his mother first," Dante negotiated, his voice echoing over the crashing waves.
Victoria rolled her eyes and gestured to one of her guards.
The guard lifted Leo from the boat and set him gently on the wooden pier.
Leo saw me and immediately started running toward us on his short, unsteady legs.
I fell to my knees and caught him, burying my face in his soft hair, sobbing with pure relief.
I had my son back.
"Now give me the diamonds," Victoria demanded impatiently.
Dante tossed the black velvet bag onto the wet wooden planks.
Victoria eagerly knelt down and opened the bag to inspect her prize.
May you like
Her smile instantly vanished.
"These are completely fake," Victoria shrieked, dropping a handful of cheap glass beads onto the pier.
