Chapter 3 - THE MAN WHO CALLED HIM BROTHER
Marco's hand moved toward his gun.
Rocco moved faster.
He slammed into Marco before the weapon cleared his jacket.
The two men crashed against the table.
Glasses shattered.
A chair overturned.
Someone screamed.
I dropped behind the sideboard.
Jack grabbed the judge and pulled him away from the struggle.
Enzo Rinaldi's guards drew their weapons.
For one terrifying second, I thought the room would become a battlefield.
“NO ONE FIRES!” Jack roared.
His voice cut through the chaos.
Rocco pinned Marco against the floor.
A second Moretti guard secured the weapon.
Victor tried to run.
Bianca stepped into his path.
He shoved her aside.
I saw him reach the service door.
“Victor!” I shouted.
He looked back.
And that was enough.
One of the guards caught him before he reached the stairs.
The alarm continued screaming.
Smoke wasn't coming from the kitchen.
There was no fire.
Only the sound of a trap that had failed.
Jack approached Marco.
His expression was unreadable.
“Tell me she's lying.”
Marco stared at him.
“Jack—”
“Tell me.”
Marco's jaw tightened.
For a moment, I thought he might confess.
Instead, he laughed.
“You always did trust the wrong people.”
Jack stood very still.
Rocco tightened his grip.
Marco looked at me.
“You should have stayed invisible.”
I felt cold.
Jack followed his gaze.
Then turned toward me.
“What's your name?”
“Lily Bennett.”
He nodded.
“Lily, come here.”
I hesitated.
The room was full of armed men.
I had just accused the most trusted man in the Moretti organization of attempted murder.
But Jack's voice was steady.
I approached slowly.
“Tell me exactly what you heard.”
So I did.
Every word.
The signing.
The alarm.
The east corridor.
The emergency clause.
The plan to blame Enzo.
When I finished, nobody spoke.
Enzo Rinaldi looked at Marco.
Then at Jack.
“You brought me here to die too?”
Marco smiled bitterly.
“Only if necessary.”
Enzo's face darkened.
Jack turned toward the judge.
“Is the emergency clause valid?”
The judge swallowed.
“Not without proper execution and ratification.”
Jack looked at the broken pen.
Then at me.
I suddenly understood how close I'd come to dying.
The pen hadn't saved Jack by itself.
The spilled coffee hadn't stopped the conspiracy.
What stopped it was the moment I made everyone look at the man they trusted.
Jack approached.
“You knew what would happen?”
I nodded.
“And you stayed?”
I thought of my son.
My broken shoe.
My rent.
The job I might never have again.
“I didn't know how to leave without someone dying.”
Jack studied me.
Then he said something I would remember for the rest of my life.
“You were the only person in this room who acted before it was too late.”
Behind him, Marco laughed.
“Don't be sentimental, Jack.”
Jack turned.
His expression hardened.
“Take him away.”
Rocco escorted Marco toward the door.
But Marco stopped beside me.
He leaned close enough that only I could hear.
“You have a son, don't you?”
My blood turned cold.
He smiled.
“Little boys are easy to find.”
May you like
Then Rocco dragged him away.
And I knew the night wasn't over.
