Chapter 12 - The Enemy Waiting at My Diner
Luca said no.
Mara expected that.
Dana said absolutely not.
She expected that too.
Matteo used several words that were probably illegal in polite conversation.
Mara listened.
Then said, “I'm going.”
Luca slammed his hand against the table.
“No.”
Everyone stopped.
Mara looked at him.
“You don't get to become that man now.”
His face changed.
“What man?”
“The one who makes decisions for me because he's afraid.”
“I am afraid.”
The admission silenced her.
Luca stepped closer.
“I am terrified.”
His voice broke slightly.
“You think that makes me ashamed? Fine. I'm ashamed.”
Mara's anger softened.
He continued.
“I watched you bleeding on that diner floor once. I will not do it again.”
She touched his face.
“Then don't let me go alone.”
A plan formed.
The original cookbook would go with Mara.
Federal agents would surround Bellamy's.
Luca would remain one block away because Aldo knew his vehicles.
Mara would wear a wire.
The signal phrase would be:
Tea needs lemon.
At nine-fourteen that evening, Mara entered Bellamy's through the broken front door.
The restaurant had not reopened.
Plastic covered windows.
Chairs sat upside down on tables.
Only one light burned above booth seven.
Where Elena used to sit.
Aldo waited there.
Gray hair.
Black overcoat.
A pistol resting beside his hand.
Sal sat on the floor behind the counter.
His wrists were tied.
“Mara.”
Aldo smiled.
“You have Angelo's eyes.”
“Apparently everyone knew except me.”
“You should be grateful.”
“For what?”
“You escaped this family.”
“Until you sent gunmen after me.”
“That wasn't the original order.”
Mara stopped.
“The diner?”
“Elena was the target.”
“And me?”
“If they recognized you, yes.”
Cold rage spread through her.
“You ordered them to kill me.”
“I ordered them not to leave problems.”
Mara looked at Sal.
“Let him go.”
“The book.”
She placed it on a table.
Aldo opened it.
His hands trembled.
Twenty-three years of fear.
All reduced to a stained cookbook.
“You killed Thomas.”
Aldo's expression changed.
“He shouldn't have interfered.”
“That isn't an answer.”
“He thought loyalty made him brave.”
“You cut his brakes.”
Aldo looked toward her.
“Careful.”
Mara's heart hammered.
“Enzo already told us.”
Aldo's face hardened.
“My son is weak.”
“Your son finally told the truth.”
“He betrayed blood.”
“No.”
Mara looked directly at him.
“He betrayed you.”
Aldo stood.
“He would have inherited everything.”
“He didn't want it.”
“Everyone wants power.”
“That's what people without anything else tell themselves.”
Aldo raised the gun.
Outside, agents listened.
But he hadn't confessed clearly enough.
Mara needed more.
“My father died because of money?”
“Thomas wasn't your father.”
“He was more my father than you were family to Angelo.”
That struck him.
Good.
“You stood beside Angelo while stealing from him.”
Aldo's face darkened.
“He was going to destroy everything.”
“So you sold him to Marcelli.”
“I built half of what he had!”
“And still couldn't stand that it belonged to someone else.”
Aldo stepped closer.
“Your mother should have taken you and disappeared.”
“Why?”
“Because Angelo changed the trust.”
There.
Mara waited.
Aldo continued.
“He gave you voting rights.”
“How many?”
“Enough.”
“To threaten you.”
“To ruin everything.”
His voice rose.
“I spent thirty years building that company while Angelo chased guilt over some waitress and her bastard daughter.”
Mara's stomach turned.
Then Aldo realized what he had said.
His eyes dropped toward her dress.
The wire.
He grabbed Mara.
“Who is listening?”
She twisted.
The gun fired.
Glass exploded behind her.
Outside, agents moved.
Aldo dragged Mara behind the counter.
Sal threw himself sideways into Aldo's legs.
The older man fell.
Mara kicked the gun away.
Aldo struck her across the face.
She hit the floor.
He reached for the weapon.
Then Luca came through the entrance.
Too early.
Too fast.
Aldo grabbed the gun.
He fired.
Luca jerked backward.
Mara screamed.
“LUCA!”
Security hit Aldo.
Matteo tackled him.
Federal agents flooded the diner.
Mara crawled toward Luca.
Blood spread across his shirt.
No.
No.
Not again.
He looked at her.
“Mara.”
“Don't talk.”
“You said that to me once.”
“I said stop talking.”
He smiled weakly.
“Bossy.”
She pressed her hands against the wound.
“Ambulance!”
Someone shouted that it was coming.
Luca looked toward Aldo being handcuffed.
“Sal?”
“Alive.”
“You?”
“Fine.”
His eyes closed.
Mara slapped his cheek lightly.
“No.”
He opened them.
“You don't get to do that.”
“Do what?”
“Leave.”
His breathing became shallow.
“Mara—”
“No.”
Tears fell onto his shirt.
“Stay.”
Sirens screamed closer.
She leaned down.
“You promised me I would never be alone again.”
His mouth moved.
“I remember.”
“Then keep your promise.”
The paramedics rushed inside.
As they lifted Luca onto a stretcher, Mara saw Aldo pushed toward a federal vehicle.
Twenty-three years after Thomas Quinn's death, the man responsible was finally in handcuffs.
But Mara felt no victory.
She climbed into the ambulance beside her husband.
Because the man who had entered her life promising to keep her alive was now bleeding beneath her hands.
May you like
And this time, it was Mara's turn to make the promise.
“You're not dying tonight.”
