Chapter 8 - The Queen's Gambit
The blinding tactical lights on the federal assault rifles painted the sterile medical room in harsh, terrifying shadows.
I screamed and shielded Mia, expecting a hail of bullets to end our lives in the underground bunker.
"FBI! Nobody move!" the lead agent roared, sweeping his weapon across the room.
Luca tried to sit up despite his massive injuries, roaring in pain and fury as agents forced him back onto the bed.
"Do not touch her!" Luca commanded, fighting against the heavy hands pinning him down.
The lead agent walked over to Luca, pulling a pair of heavy steel handcuffs from his tactical belt.
"Luca Moretti, you are under arrest for the murder of Derek Morrison," the agent declared loudly.
The words slammed into me like a physical blow, stopping the breath completely in my lungs.
"Derek is dead?" I gasped, staring at the federal agent in utter disbelief.
"His body was found in a burning car an hour ago, completely destroyed," the agent replied coldly.
They shackled Luca to a medical transport gurney, preparing to wheel the injured crime boss out of his own home.
Luca locked eyes with me as they rolled him past, his gaze fierce and completely steady.
"Call Enzo," Luca whispered urgently to me before the agents pushed him out the door.
Enzo was Luca's terrifying, silent right-hand man, the one who had stood behind him at the hospital.
I found Enzo upstairs in the main study, calmly destroying hard drives with a heavy hammer.
"Luca said to call you," I told the massive enforcer, my hands shaking violently.
Enzo stopped smashing the computers and looked at me with deep, calculating respect.
"Derek Morrison is not dead, Mrs. Moretti," Enzo stated in a low, gravelly voice.
"He faked his own death using a stolen cadaver to frame the Boss and eliminate the rival syndicate permanently."
The absolute cowardice of Derek's plan made my blood boil with a sudden, unfamiliar rage.
He was willing to let an innocent man rot in federal prison just to steal a real estate deal.
"How do we prove he is alive?" I demanded, feeling a sudden, fierce need to protect my husband.
Enzo handed me a thick, encrypted tablet displaying a live security feed.
"Derek's fake girlfriend, Brittany, is currently hiding in a cheap motel downtown."
"She knows the truth, but she will only speak to you."
I handed Mia to the head nanny, flanked by four heavily armed guards, and grabbed my coat.
I was no longer the crying woman in the hospital; I was the wife of a mafia boss, and I was going to war.
I kicked open the door to Room 204 at the motel, finding Brittany packing a cheap suitcase in a complete panic.
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She looked up at me, terrified, and pulled a small silver revolver from her purse.
"Stay back, Emma, or I swear I will shoot," Brittany sobbed hysterically.
