Chapter 5 - THE MAN AT THE GARDEN GATE
Alessandro threw himself into the confessional.
The bell crashed through the wooden roof where he had been standing.
Stone fragments exploded across the chapel.
Father Gabriel cried out as Alessandro covered him with his body.
Dust filled the air.
For several seconds, the only sound was the bell rolling across the floor.
Then footsteps ran outside.
Alessandro went after them.
A man vaulted the garden wall.
Alessandro fired, but the shot struck stone.
The figure disappeared into the trees beyond the estate.
Guards arrived moments later.
“Find him,” Alessandro ordered. “Alive.”
He returned to Father Gabriel.
The priest’s breathing was shallow. Blood soaked the side of his cassock.
Doctor Caruso was summoned from the cottage and stabilized him inside the chapel.
Alessandro waited until Gabriel could speak.
“Why were you meeting Sophia?”
The priest swallowed.
“Lucia Rossi came to me twenty-seven years ago.”
“Sophia’s mother.”
“She was terrified. She carried documents your mother had given her. Records of stolen money, weapons shipments and names.”
“Why didn’t she go to the police?”
“Half the police in the district belonged to your family. The other half belonged to men who wanted your family dead.”
“What happened to Lucia?”
“She disappeared.”
“Dead?”
“I believed so.”
“You believed?”
Father Gabriel turned his head toward the cracked altar.
“Three years ago, Sophia came to me. She said her mother had died in a nursing home under another name.”
Alessandro’s eyes narrowed.
“Lucia survived.”
“Yes.”
“She allowed me to believe she was dead?”
“She did what Emilia asked. She stayed hidden until she could pass the truth to someone strong enough to survive it.”
“Why Sophia?”
“She was the only person Lucia trusted.”
“And Sophia came here as a housekeeper.”
“To find the original ledger. Copies could be dismissed as forgeries. The original carried signatures, seals and account codes.”
“Where is it?”
Father Gabriel looked toward the chapel floor.
“Lucia believed Emilia hid it beneath this building.”
The lullaby returned to Alessandro.
Beneath the stone where angels sleep.
“Why did Carlo attack you?”
“Because Sophia found more than the ledger.”
“What?”
Gabriel closed his eyes.
“I don’t know. She refused to tell me until Emma was safe.”
A guard entered.
“Sir, the intruder reached the east road. We found a motorcycle, but he abandoned it.”
“Any identification?”
“No. But there was blood on the handlebar. Your shot may have hit him.”
Alessandro looked toward the garden.
He needed answers from Sophia.
When he returned to the cottage, Emma was sitting beside her mother’s bed, carefully placing small paper flowers on the blanket.
Sophia was awake.
Weak, but aware.
She looked at Alessandro’s dusty suit.
“What happened?”
“Someone tried to kill Father Gabriel.”
Her face changed.
“Is he alive?”
“For now.”
Emma looked up.
“Is the angel house broken?”
Alessandro crouched beside her.
“A little.”
“Can I fix it?”
“Not today.”
She seemed disappointed.
Sophia reached for Alessandro’s wrist.
“Take Emma away from here.”
“No.”
“Please.”
“I can protect her.”
“You cannot protect her from people you refuse to see.”
His gaze hardened.
“I see them now.”
“Do you?”
Sophia nodded toward the mansion.
“You still have Carlo’s men at the gates. Vittorio’s nephew controls your harbor security. Your accountant reports to the same council that stole from your mother’s charity. You are surrounded by men who smile when you enter a room because they are waiting for the day you do not leave it.”
Emma placed a paper flower on Alessandro’s knee.
“For you.”
He picked it up.
It had been folded from a torn pharmacy receipt.
On the back was a name.
Dr. Elias Voss.
Alessandro showed it to Sophia.
Her hand trembled.
“Where did you get this medicine?”
“Carlo brought it.”
“Who is Voss?”
“A physician who worked for your uncle.”
“Where?”
“At St. Catherine’s Home.”
The nursing home where Lucia Rossi had died.
Alessandro stood.
“I’m going there.”
Sophia tightened her grip.
“No. That is what they want.”
“Then what do they want?”
“For you to leave Emma unguarded.”
The cottage window exploded.
Alessandro moved faster than thought.
He pulled Emma from the chair and covered her with his body as a bullet struck the wall above the bed.
Guards shouted outside.
Another shot came through the broken window.
Sophia rolled from the mattress.
Alessandro fired toward the garden gate.
A man stood between the iron bars, rifle raised.
Alessandro saw the muzzle flash.
Pain tore across his shoulder.
He did not fall.
He lifted Emma and carried her behind the stone fireplace while returning fire.
The rifleman disappeared.
Alessandro looked down.
Blood spread across his shirt.
Emma stared at it.
“You hurt.”
“It’s nothing.”
Her face crumpled.
“Your shirt dirty again.”
The words nearly broke him.
Sophia crawled toward them.
“Emma, stay down.”
The child reached for Alessandro’s wound with both hands.
“I wash it.”
“No.”
“I make clean.”
Alessandro caught her wrists gently.
“This stain is not your job.”
Outside, gunfire erupted near the garden wall.
Alessandro pressed a hand over his shoulder.
“Listen to me, Emma. You never have to clean what grown men destroy.”
She stared at him as if trying to understand.
Then the cottage door opened.
Carlo Rinaldi stepped inside with a pistol drawn.
“Boss!”
Alessandro raised his weapon toward him.
Carlo stopped.
For the first time in twenty-two years, the two men faced each other as enemies.
Carlo looked at the blood.
“You’re injured.”
“So is the man who ran.”
“I’ll find him.”
“You were removed from duty.”
“I heard gunfire.”
“How?”
Carlo’s eyes shifted toward the broken window.
Alessandro saw the answer before he spoke.
The cottage had no alarm connected to the main security system.
No radio call had been made.
Yet Carlo had arrived within seconds.
Alessandro kept the pistol aimed at his chest.
“Take off your ring.”
Carlo’s expression did not change.
“What?”
“The council ring. Remove it.”
Slowly, Carlo pulled the gold ring from his finger.
Black stone.
Wolf’s head.
May you like
There was blood beneath the band.
Fresh blood.
