Chapter Four
1234 Words
No Safe Place
"They know you're here."
The first shot shattered the window before Elena could ask what he meant.
Glass exploded across the room. Alessandro grabbed her and dragged her behind the stone pillar as a second bullet struck the wall where her head had been moments earlier.
Elena's ears rang. Her hands shook, but she forced herself to look around instead of freezing.
Two guards had already taken cover between them and the broken window. Another was securing the hallway.
"Are you hurt?" Alessandro asked.
"No."
"Stay down."
"I'm staying down."
One of the guards crouched beside her. "Ma'am, we're moving you."
Elena glanced toward the window. The shooter had a clear line into the room.
"The corridor," she said. "Get me away from the windows."
The guard nodded. Elena kept low as he moved her toward the interior of the house, another man covering them. Once she reached the corridor, the guards closed ranks around her.
Alessandro remained behind.
"Elena!"
She turned.
"Don't go outside," she warned.
His expression tightened.
"I know."
Then a third shot cracked through the night.
This one came from the opposite side of the estate.
The security chief started toward the western corridor, but Alessandro stopped him.
"Hold."
He listened for a second, then looked toward the shattered window.
"The first two came from the east. That one came from the west."
"A diversion?"
"Most likely."
Elena understood immediately. "They want you to chase the third shot."
Alessandro looked at her.
"Exactly."
He gave the security chief a few quick orders. The eastern team would hold its position, the western team would monitor the service road, and the gates would remain locked while the cameras tracked any vehicle leaving the area.
No one rushed blindly after the gunfire.
A few moments later, the security chief returned.
a black sedan leaving the western service road. We haven't confirmed the shooter was inside."
"Don't pursue it," Alessandro said. "Keep tracking."
The security chief left.
Elena stared at Alessandro. The attack had lasted less than a minute, but the danger of it was settling into her bones now.
The shooter hadn't fired randomly.
He had known exactly which room she was in.
He had known how close to get.
And the third shot had been timed to pull attention away from the escape.
Someone had planned this.
Before she could say anything, Isabella appeared.
"Elena."
"I'm fine."
Isabella reached her anyway, checking her face and arms before stepping back.
Her hands were trembling.
Elena noticed.
"You knew this could happen."
Isabella went still.
Alessandro looked at his aunt.
"Isabella."
"Not here."
They moved into the sitting room. The noise from the security team outside had already faded, leaving Elena with the two people who seemed to possess pieces of her life she had never been given.
She remained standing.
"Tell me."
Alessandro didn't pretend not to understand.
"Your father handled the financial side of several businesses connected to my family."
"Some legitimate. Some criminal."
"Yes."
"And he found out."
"He learned how deeply the criminal side was connected to the legitimate businesses."
"So he wanted out."
"He was planning to leave with you and your mother."
Elena looked at Isabella.
"But my mother knew something else."
Isabella lowered herself into a chair.
"Your mother came to me shortly before she died."
Alessandro's expression changed.
"You never told me that."
"I wasn't certain what she meant."
"You should have."
"I was trying to protect Elena."
Elena's voice sharpened. "From what?"
Isabella met her eyes.
"She believed someone inside the De Luca organization had betrayed your father."
The words left the room silent.
"Who?"
"I don't know."
"You never asked?"
"I did. She refused to give me a name."
"Why?"
"She believed someone was listening. She told me that if anything happened to her, I was to keep you away from the De Lucas."
Elena stared at her.
"Then why did you let Alessandro bring me here?"
Isabella looked toward him.
"Because the people hunting you found you first."
Elena's stomach tightened.
Isabella continued, "Your mother didn't believe every De Luca was responsible. She believed there were people in the family she could still trust. She simply didn't know who."
"And you thought Alessandro was one of them."
"I thought Alessandro was the one most likely to protect you."
Alessandro said nothing.
Elena turned to him.
"You really searched for me?"
"Yes."
"For years?"
"Yes."
She wanted to believe him. She wanted one thing in her life to be simple, but nothing was anymore.
His phone rang.
He answered immediately.
"What happened?"
He listened.
"Alive?"
A pause.
"Keep him there. Nobody questions him until I arrive."
He ended the call.
Elena already knew.
"They caught someone."
"One of the men involved."
"I want to see him."
"No."
She stared at him.
"Someone just fired at me from outside your house. They knew where I was and knew how your security would react. If you've caught someone who might know why my parents were murdered, I'm not sitting here while you decide what I'm allowed to hear."
"You don't know what that man will do."
"I know what I'm willing to risk."
He stepped closer.
"You don't get to walk into a room with a possible killer because you're angry."
"I'm not angry."
Her voice broke.
"I'm scared."
That stopped him.
Elena swallowed.
"I'm scared because I spent my whole life believing my parents died in an accident. Tonight I found out they were murdered. Someone just tried to kill me. And everyone around me seems to know the truth except me."
Alessandro's expression softened.
"You'll hear it."
"When?"
"After I question him."
She nodded reluctantly.
"Fine."
He turned toward the door.
"Alessandro."
He stopped.
"Did you really look for me?"
"Yes."
"Why?"
He held her gaze.
"Because your father mattered to me."
Then he left.
Elena remained silent.
Isabella watched her for a moment before crossing the room to an old cabinet.
"There is one more thing."
She removed a photograph and handed it to Elena.
Her parents stood together in the picture, smiling. Behind them was a teenage Alessandro.
Elena stared at him.
"Why is he here?"
"He knew your family before that night."
She turned the photograph over.
Her breath caught.
The handwriting on the back was unmistakable.
Her mother's.
The first line was addressed directly to her.
Elena, if you are reading this, then I failed to keep you away from them.
Her fingers began to tremble.
She read the next line.
I don't know who betrayed us. I only know someone inside the De Luca circle wanted us silenced.
Elena's eyes blurred.
The shooting suddenly felt different.
Someone had found her tonight.
Someone had known she was inside the De Luca estate.
And her mother had feared that one day this exact thing might happen.
There was one final line beneath the others, written darker than the rest.
If Alessandro De Luca ever finds you, don't trust him.
Elena stopped breathing.
She looked at the teenage boy in the photograph.
Then at the door through which Alessandro had disappeared.
The man who had pulled her away from the bullets.
The man who claimed he had spent years searching for her.
The man her mother had personally warned her against.
Elena lowered the photograph slowly.
Her mother's handwriting was still there beneath her trembling fingers.
Don't trust him.
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