Vanessa claimed Sophie injured herself on a garage door, until Luca noticed the blood, the wheelchair, and one terrified look that told him his mother was missing. / Chapter 36 / 50

Chapter 36 - The 70th Floor

We breached the access hatch of the 68th floor breathless, covered in soot, and bleeding from countless cuts. Dante and one surviving operator secured the stairwell behind us, planting claymore mines on the lower landings to cover our retreat.

"We go alone from here," Luca told Dante, his voice steady despite the blood dripping from his split knuckle. "Hold this threshold. If Antonio tries to evacuate down the fire escape, burn it."

"With my life, Don Moretti," Dante nodded, racking his shotgun.

Luca turned to me, wiping a smudge of grease from my cheek. "Ready, Sophie?"

"I didn't climb fifteen flights of an elevator shaft to turn back now," I said, checking my magazine.

We stepped into the penthouse reception area.

The contrast was jarring. The violence and grime of the lower levels evaporated into opulent silence. Soft, classical piano music drifted through the air. The floors were polished Italian marble, gleaming beneath crystal chandeliers.

And then the double oak doors at the end of the grand corridor swung open.

Standing there, waiting with a silver tray bearing two glasses of vintage champagne, was Vanessa.

She wore a backless crimson silk gown, her hair swept into immaculate waves, entirely untouched by the chaos below. Her lips were painted the color of arterial blood, curving into that same vicious, poisonous smirk that had haunted the Moretti estate for years.

"You're late, Luca," Vanessa purred, tilting her head. "And look what you dragged up with you. The stray maid still hasn't learned her place."

Luca raised his pistol, aiming dead center between her eyes. "Where is my mother, Vanessa?"

Vanessa didn't even flinch. She took a delicate sip from her flute. "Put the gun down, darling. If you kill me, the pulse monitor on my wrist flatlines. And if it flatlines, the collar around your mother’s neck detonates. You always were too blunt for this game."

My blood ran cold. I glanced at her slender wrist. A digital band glowed with a faint green light, pulsing in rhythm with her heartbeat.

"You sick, twisted bitch," I snarled, stepping forward.

"Oh, look, the little rat found its teeth," Vanessa sneered, her eyes locking onto mine with venomous contempt. "Did you really think sleeping in the master bedroom made you a queen, Sophie? You were a servant cleaning up after real nobility. And tonight, you die like one."

"Vanessa," Luca warned, his finger tightening on the trigger. "Last chance."

"He's waiting for you inside, Luca," Vanessa whispered, her smile widening into a grotesque mask of triumph. "Both of them are."