Chapter 9: The Empty vault?

The silence inside the vault was deafening. The stone door had sealed with a final, mechanical thud, cutting off the sounds of the sirens and the gunshots. I was alone in the belly of the earth.

I didn't move for a long time. I just stood there in the dark, my hand still resting on the cold glass of the scanner. The green light had faded, leaving only a tiny, blinking amber bulb near the floor. It was just enough to see the small locker that had hissed open.

My heart was hammering against my ribs. I reached out, my fingers trembling, and pulled the small velvet-lined tray toward me. It was light.

When I looked down, my stomach dropped. The tray was empty.

There was no "Lion’s Heart." No walnut-sized diamond. Just an indentation in the velvet where something heavy had once rested. I felt a surge of cold panic. If the diamond wasn't here, I was a dead woman. Luca had risked everything, his reputation, his men, his marriage, to get me to this room. If I walked out with empty hands, he would have no reason to keep me alive.

"Please," I whispered, my voice cracking. "Dad, please tell me you didn't leave me with nothing."

I pulled the tray all the way out, desperate. As I did, I felt a slight resistance. I tugged harder, and the velvet lining shifted. It wasn't glued down. I jammed my fingernail into the edge and flipped it over.

Underneath the velvet, tucked into a shallow wooden slot, was a single brass key and a folded piece of yellowed paper.

I grabbed the paper and opened it. My father’s handwriting was messy, the letters slanted and rushed. It was the same handwriting from the birthday cards he used to leave on the kitchen table before our world fell apart.

Bellina, it read. If you are reading this, the dragon has finally caught up to you. I’m sorry I couldn't be there to fight him off. The stone is safe, but it isn't in a bank. A king doesn't hide his crown in another man’s house. He hides it where he feels most at home. Remember the song about the garden under the floorboards? Go there. Don't trust the man standing outside this door. He is a Moretti, and for a Moretti, people are just things to be used. I love you. Stay hidden.

I stared at the words. The garden under the floorboards. It was a reference to my grandmother’s old house in the countryside. She used to tell me stories about a secret garden she kept under the porch, away from the winter frost. It was the only place I ever felt truly safe as a child.

A sudden, sharp realization hit me. My father hadn't put the diamond in the bank because he knew the bank could be bought, robbed, or pressured. He put the map in the bank. He made sure I was the only one who could get it.

I heard a muffled explosion from somewhere far above. The vibration shook the walls of the vault.

I looked at the brass key. It was old and heavy, the kind of key that belonged to a cellar or a trunk. I looked at the note. Don't trust the man standing outside this door.

I thought about Luca. I thought about the way he had looked at me in the car, and the way he had shoved me into this room to protect me from the Vanchis. Was he protecting me, or was he protecting his trophy?

If I gave him this key, I was useless. He would take it, find the house, and I would be nothing more than a witness he didn't need anymore. But if I kept it... if I was the only one who knew what the "garden" meant... he had to keep me. He had to listen to me.

I didn't have time to think. I folded the note and shoved it, along with the key, deep into the hidden pocket of my dress, the same one where I had tucked the USB drive. I smoothed the fabric just as a heavy grinding sound echoed through the room.

The vault door was being forced.

There was a loud clack of metal hitting stone, and the door swung open. Smoke and the smell of gunpowder flooded the small space. I shielded my eyes as a bright flashlight blinded me.

"Isabella!"

It was Luca. He looked like he had stepped out of a nightmare. His expensive suit jacket was gone, his white shirt was torn at the shoulder, and there was a smear of blood across his cheekbone. He was holding a handgun, his eyes darting around the room like a predator looking for a kill.

He reached me in two long strides, grabbing my shoulders so hard it bruised. He pulled me toward him, his eyes scanning my face, my neck, my arms.

"Are you hit? Did you get hit?" his voice was a raw, frantic growl.

"No," I gasped, my heart racing. "I'm okay."

He let out a breath that sounded like a snarl. For a split second, his forehead dropped against mine. I could feel the heat radiating off him, the scent of cedar and sharp gunpowder filling my lungs. He wasn't looking for the diamond yet. He was checking if I was breathing.

Then, the moment passed. He pulled back, his gaze snapping to the open locker.

"Where is it?" he demanded.

I pointed to the empty velvet tray on the floor. I made sure my hand was shaking, which wasn't hard to do. "It... it wasn't there, Luca. The locker was empty."

Luca froze. He pushed past me and grabbed the tray. He threw it against the wall in a fit of rage. The sound of the wood splintering made me jump.

"That bastard!" Luca shouted. His voice echoed off the marble, sounding like a clap of thunder. "He played us! He used you as a distraction to lead me into a goddamn trap!"

"Luca, we have to go," Enzo’s voice crackled over the radio on Luca's belt. "The Vanchis have the main elevators. We’re pinned. I’ve got the service tunnel open, but we have two minutes before they find the back way."

Luca looked at the empty locker, then at me. The anger in his eyes was terrifying. He looked like he wanted to burn the entire building down with me inside it.

"He left you with nothing," Luca hissed, stepping toward me. "He let you walk into a war zone with an empty hand."

"I didn't know!" I cried, playing the part of the confused, betrayed daughter. "I thought it would be there! I thought he cared about me!"

Luca grabbed my arm, his grip cold and tight. "Clearly, he didn't. Move. Now."

He dragged me out of the vault and into the hallway. The white marble was covered in glass shards and shell casings. Two of Luca’s men were slumped against the wall, motionless. I tried not to look at them.

We didn't go toward the elevators. Luca led me down a narrow maintenance stairwell. We ran down three flights, my boots clattering on the metal steps. Every sound made me think a Vanchi hitman was right behind us.

"In here," Luca ordered, shoving open a heavy gray door.

We were in a dark, narrow tunnel that smelled of damp earth and old pipes. It was a service crawlspace that led away from the bank's foundation. We had to crouch to move through it. Luca stayed in front of me, his gun raised, his movements silent and lethal.

"Enzo, we're in the tunnel," Luca whispered into his radio. "Where's the extraction?"

"Alleyway behind the dry cleaners," Enzo replied. "I’ve got a gray truck. No armor, low profile. The SUVs are all being tracked. Move fast, Boss. They’re flooding the streets."

We crawled for what felt like miles. My knees were scraped, and my dress was ruined, but I didn't care. All I could think about was the weight of the key in my pocket. It felt like it was burning a hole through the fabric.

Finally, we reached a small ladder. Luca climbed up first, kicked a grate open, and disappeared into the light. A second later, his hand reached back down for me.

He hauled me up into a narrow, trash-filled alley. The air was cold and smelled of city exhaust. A beat-up, rusted gray pickup truck was idling ten feet away. Enzo was in the driver’s seat, his hat pulled low over his eyes.

Luca shoved me into the middle seat and climbed in after me, slamming the door. Before I could even sit back, Enzo floored it. The truck fishtailed out of the alley and onto the main road.

Luca didn't look back. He sat in the cramped cab, his chest heaving, his eyes fixed on the road ahead. He looked more dangerous than I had ever seen him. The silence in the truck was suffocating.

"What's the move, Boss?" Enzo asked quietly.

"The North End house," Luca said. His voice was a low, vibration. "The one no one knows about. We’re going to ground."

"And the diamond?"

Luca looked at me. His gaze was like a knife. "There is no diamond. Romano lied to everyone. He used his own daughter as a decoy."

I looked away, staring out the cracked windshield. I felt a pang of guilt, but I pushed it down. Luca was a predator. If I told him the truth, he would take the key and I would be back in a gilded cage, or even worse.

But as the truck sped toward the outskirts of the city, away from the mansions and the guards, I realized I was in a new kind of trouble. I was trapped in a tiny house with a man who thought I was useless. A man who was angry, humiliated, and armed and I had what could change his mood.

I reached into my pocket and felt the cold brass of the key. I had the map. I had the power. But as I looked at Luca’s profile in the dim light of the truck, I wondered if I was smart enough to play the king at his own game.

"Don't worry, Isabella," Luca said, his voice dropping to a whisper that only I could hear. "I don't throw away my things just because they don't work. We’re going to stay in that house until I figure out what else your father was hiding. And believe me... I always find what I’m looking for."

I shivered. He didn't know about the key yet, but he knew I was a Romano. And Romanos always had a secret.