Chapter 9 - THE LAST TRAP
Emma hated hospital discharge instructions.
No lifting.
No sudden movements.
No driving.
No strenuous activity.
No work.
No fun.
“That last one isn’t written there,” Roman said.
“It’s implied.”
He helped her into the SUV.
Emma glared.
“I can sit down by myself.”
“I know.”
“Then stop hovering.”
“No.”
“You’ve become unbearable.”
“I was always unbearable.”
“True.”
Sophie climbed in beside Emma, carrying three stuffed rabbits and enough snacks for a cross-country road trip.
Emma smiled.
“Planning something?”
Sophie signed.
If bad men attack, we need crackers.
Roman nodded seriously.
“Excellent strategy.”
Emma stared at him.
“You encourage everything.”
“Not grape throwing.”
Sophie and Emma exchanged looks.
Roman pointed.
“I saw that.”
Home felt different when they returned.
Not safer.
But lighter.
Federal agents still came and went.
Half Roman’s security staff had been replaced.
Luca Ferretti had entered protective custody after agreeing to testify.
Antonio remained.
Diane temporarily occupied a guest suite and had somehow taken control of the kitchen.
Rosa adored her.
Roman pretended to be annoyed.
Emma knew better.
For six days, nothing happened.
Then the FBI located Vittorio.
Or thought they did.
A private hangar outside Newark.
Agents raided it.
Empty.
Only a phone remained.
On it was a video.
Vittorio DeLuca appeared older than Roman expected.
Silver hair.
Dark eyes identical to Roman’s.
He sat calmly behind a desk.
“If you are watching this, Roman, you chose strangers over blood.”
Roman watched in silence.
Emma stood beside him.
Vittorio continued.
“You gave our family to the government because a baker convinced you to become weak.”
Emma rolled her eyes.
“I’m getting blamed for everything.”
Roman almost smiled.
The video continued.
“Elena made the same mistake. She believed morality would protect her.”
Roman’s expression became stone.
“It did not.”
Sophie entered quietly behind them.
Emma noticed first.
She moved to pause the video.
Too late.
Vittorio said:
“And the child will learn what happens when daughters inherit their mothers’ disobedience.”
Sophie froze.
Roman shut off the screen.
He turned.
“Sophie.”
She stepped backward.
Roman approached slowly.
Vittorio is wrong.
Sophie stared.
Did Grandpa kill Mommy?
Roman stopped.
Emma held her breath.
This was the moment adults usually lied.
Roman did not.
I believe he ordered it.
Sophie’s face crumpled.
Why?
Because Mommy tried to stop him from hurting people.
Sophie looked toward Emma.
Like Emma?
Roman’s eyes filled.
Yes.
Sophie lowered her hands.
Then:
I hate him.
Roman knelt.
You are allowed to be angry.
I want him dead.
Roman froze.
Emma’s chest tightened.
Sophie signed harder.
He killed Mommy. Hurt Emma. Hurt you.
Roman looked toward Emma.
She said nothing.
This had to come from him.
Roman took Sophie’s hands.
For years, Papa thought hurting people who hurt us made things better.
Sophie watched.
Sometimes bad people must be stopped.
He continued.
But if we become cruel because someone else is cruel, they still control us.
Emma felt tears gather.
Roman signed.
Grandpa does not get to decide who you become.
Sophie cried.
Roman held her.
Emma knew then.
Whatever happened next, Vittorio had already lost part of the war.
The next attack came through kindness.
A message arrived from Bianca.
Not to Roman.
To Emma.
A photograph of an elderly woman sitting in a chair.
Diane.
Emma screamed.
Roman ran into the room.
“What?”
Emma showed him.
He stopped.
Diane had gone to a specialist appointment that morning under federal escort.
The escort had been hit by a delivery van.
Two agents injured.
Diane missing.
Below the photograph:
COME ALONE.
Emma’s hands shook.
Roman took the phone.
“No.”
“That’s my mother.”
“I know.”
“She’s deaf, Roman. She doesn’t even know what they’re saying to her.”
“I know.”
“Then move!”
“I am.”
He called Marco.
“Trace. Now.”
Emma grabbed her coat.
Roman blocked the door.
“No.”
“Move.”
“You are not going alone.”
“They’ll kill her.”
“They will kill you if you go.”
Emma’s eyes filled.
“That’s my mother.”
Roman’s face softened.
“I know.”
“Then understand me.”
“I do.”
He touched her shoulders.
“That’s exactly why I’m not letting fear make the plan.”
Emma breathed hard.
Roman continued.
“They expect you to run.”
“My mother—”
“Trust me.”
She stared.
That was the problem.
Trust was terrifying.
Finally she nodded.
Marco traced the image metadata to an abandoned bakery supply warehouse in Queens.
Emma almost laughed at the irony.
Roman coordinated with federal agents.
Emma insisted on going.
Roman refused.
Emma threatened to leave without him.
Roman compromised.
She would remain in an armored command vehicle nearby.
“Romantic,” she muttered.
“Extremely.”
The raid began at 9:12 p.m.
Agents entered from the north.
Roman’s people covered exits.
Marco moved through the warehouse.
Emma watched body-camera feeds.
No Diane.
No Bianca.
Then a phone rang inside the command vehicle.
Emma answered.
Bianca.
“You really cannot follow instructions.”
Emma’s skin chilled.
“Where is my mother?”
“Closer than you think.”
Emma looked around.
The driver glanced back.
Then the driver raised a gun.
Emma froze.
Bianca laughed through the phone.
“You’ve been sitting beside my man for twenty minutes.”
Emma stared at him.
The driver smiled.
“Out.”
Emma’s heart pounded.
She slowly stepped from the SUV.
Nobody nearby.
The command vehicle had been moved two blocks from the main operation.
She had not noticed.
Stupid.
The driver marched her into another building.
Inside, Diane sat tied to a chair.
Alive.
Emma rushed toward her.
The driver grabbed Emma.
Bianca stepped from the shadows.
“You’re difficult to kill.”
Emma looked at her.
“You’re difficult to like.”
Bianca slapped her.
Emma stumbled.
Pain shot through her healing side.
Diane stood despite the restraints.
Bianca turned.
“Sit down.”
Diane could not hear her.
Emma almost laughed.
Bianca shouted louder.
Emma said, “She’s deaf.”
Bianca’s face twisted.
Diane signed.
Who is the skinny angry woman?
Emma laughed.
Bianca looked furious.
“What did she say?”
“That she likes your coat.”
Diane grinned.
Emma continued signing secretly.
Roman is coming.
Diane nodded slightly.
Bianca paced.
“He chose you.”
Emma looked at her.
“This is about Roman?”
“Everything was ready.”
Bianca’s voice cracked.
“Our families would combine. We would control the ports. The politicians. Everything.”
“You love him?”
Bianca laughed.
“Love is for people without responsibilities.”
“Then why care who he kisses?”
Bianca’s eyes flashed.
“Because he humiliated me.”
Emma understood.
Not love.
Ownership.
Roman had refused to belong to Bianca’s plan.
Emma became the symbol of that refusal.
Bianca raised her gun.
“You should have stayed at the bakery.”
Emma’s pulse hammered.
“Probably.”
Diane watched.
Emma subtly signed.
When I move, down.
Bianca stepped closer.
“You think because Sophie likes you, you become family?”
Emma looked directly at her.
“No.”
She smiled.
“I become family because I love them.”
Then she threw herself sideways.
Diane dropped.
Gunshot.
Emma hit the floor.
The warehouse windows exploded inward.
Federal agents entered.
Bianca fired wildly.
The driver went down.
Roman rushed through smoke.
“Emma!”
Bianca grabbed Diane.
Gun against her head.
Roman froze.
Emma stood carefully.
Bianca screamed.
“Put it down!”
Roman lowered his weapon.
Emma’s eyes met Diane’s.
Her mother was calm.
Too calm.
Diane signed one-handed behind Bianca’s back.
Bad grip.
Emma almost smiled.
Diane had raised three children.
Worked two jobs.
Survived cancer.
And once broken a man’s nose in a grocery-store parking lot after he grabbed Emma when she was seventeen.
Bianca had chosen the wrong grandmother.
Diane slammed her heel onto Bianca’s foot and drove her head backward.
Bianca screamed.
Roman moved.
Marco tackled her.
Agents swarmed.
Emma ran to Diane.
Her mother hugged her.
Roman reached them.
He looked at Emma.
“Hurt?”
“No.”
He looked at Diane.
She signed.
Your women are exhausting.
Roman laughed.
Then his radio crackled.
“Target moving!”
Roman’s face changed.
“Who?”
Agent response:
“Vittorio DeLuca. South exit.”
Roman ran.
Emma followed until he turned.
“Stay!”
She actually listened.
Mostly because her side hurt.
Outside, Vittorio reached a car.
Roman intercepted him.
Father and son faced one another beneath warehouse lights.
Federal agents surrounded them.
Vittorio smiled.
“My son.”
Roman’s weapon remained lowered.
“You killed my wife.”
“She betrayed the family.”
“She was the best part of it.”
Vittorio’s smile disappeared.
“You turned weak.”
“No.”
Roman looked back toward the warehouse.
Emma stood with Sophie—who had arrived with Marco’s backup team after Diane was found.
Three generations.
Diane.
Emma.
Sophie.
Roman turned back.
“You taught me fear was power.”
Vittorio’s eyes narrowed.
Roman continued.
“Elena taught me something better.”
“What?”
“That a man who needs everyone afraid of him is already afraid of everyone.”
Vittorio reached for his gun.
Agents raised weapons.
Roman could have fired first.
He did not.
Vittorio stopped.
For one second father and son stared at each other.
Then Roman stepped back.
“Arrest him.”
Federal agents moved.
Vittorio screamed.
“You coward!”
Roman watched them handcuff him.
“No.”
His voice was calm.
“I’m done being your son.”
Vittorio was taken away.
Roman stood beneath the lights.
Emma approached.
He looked at her.
“It’s over?”
Roman exhaled.
“For him.”
“And for you?”
He glanced toward agents.
“I still have crimes to answer for.”
Emma took his hand.
“I know.”
“I may lose businesses.”
“I know.”
“Money.”
“I know.”
“Freedom.”
Emma swallowed.
“I know.”
Roman touched her face.
“You could leave.”
Emma smiled sadly.
“Still trying to get rid of me?”
“Never.”
“Good.”
Sophie ran toward them.
She slipped one hand into Emma’s.
One into Roman’s.
Then signed:
Home?
Roman looked at Emma.
Emma looked at Sophie.
For the first time, the word did not mean a building.
May you like
“Yes,” Emma said.
“Home.”
