Chapter 5 - SKELETONS IN THE ROSE GARDEN: The Maid's True Identity Changes the Entire Game
“Wait!”
The scream came from the safe room.
Sophia stepped out into the bloody study, her hands raised. She was shaking, but her eyes were fierce, filled with a desperate, maternal courage.
“Vinnie, stop!” she cried. “If you kill him, you will never get the ledger. You will never get the fifty million.”
Vincenzo paused, his gun still pointed at Alessandro’s head. He slowly turned his gaze to Sophia, a cold, mocking smile spreading across his lips.
“Sophia,” Vincenzo purred. “The beautiful, runaway princess. You think I need you to find the ledger? I’ve already searched your cottage. I’ve searched your room. I know it’s here somewhere.”
“It’s not in the cottage,” Sophia said, her voice growing stronger as she stepped further into the room, shielding Emma who was still hiding behind the steel door. “And it’s not in the mansion. I buried it. I buried it in the rose garden, under the white rose bush. The one right outside my window. Only I know the exact spot. If you kill Alessandro, I will never tell you. I’ll let you dig up the entire estate, and by the time you find it, the police will be here.”
Vincenzo’s eyes narrowed. He looked at Sophia, calculating the risk. Fifty million dollars was enough to buy entire police departments, to secure his position as the undisputed king of the East River.
“You’re lying,” Vincenzo said.
“Try me,” Sophia challenged. “Shoot him. Shoot him and see if you ever smell a single dollar of that money. You’ll just be a traitor who killed his boss and got nothing to show for it.”
Alessandro groaned, trying to push himself up, but the wound in his side was bleeding heavily. “Sophia... no... don't...”
“Shut up, Alessandro,” Vincenzo snapped, kicking him in the ribs. Alessandro gasped in pain, collapsing back onto the floor.
Vincenzo looked back at Sophia. “Fine. We go to the garden. You dig it up. If you’re lying to me, I will make you watch while I put a bullet in your daughter’s head, and then I’ll throw you both into the holes I’ve already dug for you.”
Vincenzo grabbed Sophia by the arm, dragging her toward the door. He pointed his gun at one of his remaining men. “Grab the kid. And drag Alessandro outside. I want him to watch his empire burn before he dies.”
Minutes later, they were in the cold, dark rose garden.
The moon was high, casting a silver light over the manicured hedges and the blooming white roses. The air was freezing, and Alessandro could see his own breath rising in ragged plumes as he was dragged across the gravel by two of Vincenzo’s men. They dumped him onto the wet grass near the white rose bush.
Sophia was handed a shovel.
“Start digging,” Vincenzo ordered, standing over her with his gun pointed at Emma, who was being held by a massive, scarred enforcer.
Sophia took the shovel. Her hands were shaking, her fever still making her weak, but she drove the metal blade into the damp earth. She began to throw dirt to the side, her breath coming in ragged gasps.
Alessandro watched her, his heart breaking. He had spent his entire life believing that strength was found in violence, in fear, in the weight of a gun. But as he watched this young mother dig into the freezing dirt to save her child and a man who had done nothing but ignore her for three years, he realized he had been wrong.
Real strength was the quiet courage of a mother protecting her cub.
And he would be damned if he let her die for it.
Slowly, agonizingly, Alessandro’s hand drifted toward his boot.
Vincenzo’s men had taken his waist gun, but they had missed the small, backup snub-nosed revolver tucked into his ankle holster. His coat was covered in blood and mud, hiding his movement.
“Here,” Sophia gasped, her shovel hitting something hard.
Vincenzo leaned forward, his eyes greedy, his guard dropping for a fraction of a second. “What is it? Pull it out!”
Sophia reached into the hole and pulled out a small, waterproof metal box.
“Is this it?” Vincenzo breathed, stepping closer.
“Yes,” Sophia whispered.
May you like
But as Vincenzo reached for the box, Sophia didn't hand it to him.
With a sudden, explosive burst of energy, she swung the heavy metal box upward, striking Vincenzo directly in the face.
