Chapter 3 - The House That Wasn’t Safe
Darkness transformed the safe house instantly.
One second Federica was staring at Alessandro Romano’s name on a screen.
The next, she could hear only Leo crying and the rain striking the windows.
Gabriele moved before anyone else.
“Marco.”
“On it.”
A weapon clicked.
Federica’s heart slammed against her ribs.
Gabriele caught her wrist.
“Stay behind me.”
“I can barely see you.”
“That is the point.”
Emergency lights flickered red along the floor.
Marco spoke into his radio.
No response.
His expression tightened.
“Internal comms are dead.”
Gabriele held Leo against his chest with one arm.
With the other, he opened a cabinet built invisibly into the wall.
Inside were weapons, flashlights, medical supplies, and an emergency phone.
Federica stared.
“Does every room in your life contain a gun?”
“Most.”
“That was not reassuring.”
A faint crash came from downstairs.
Marco pointed toward the rear corridor.
“Secondary shelter.”
Gabriele looked at Federica.
“Can you walk?”
“Yes.”
“That was not the question.”
“I can walk.”
She could.
Barely.
Pain burned through her ribs with each step.
They moved down a narrow corridor behind the panic room.
Federica realized the safe house had hidden passageways.
Of course it did.
Nothing about Gabriele Romano appeared to have only one exit.
Behind them, another crash.
Then footsteps.
Several.
Marco looked toward Gabriele.
“They knew the layout.”
Gabriele’s face hardened.
Federica understood what he was thinking.
Alessandro.
They reached a steel door.
Marco entered a code.
Red light.
“Locked out.”
“Manual override?” Gabriele asked.
“Basement.”
“Wonderful,” Federica whispered.
Gabriele glanced at her.
“You remain sarcastic when frightened.”
“I find it preferable to screaming.”
A voice came from the main room.
“Gabriele!”
Everyone froze.
The voice belonged to a man.
Older.
Italian accent.
Familiar to Gabriele.
“Alessandro,” he said.
Federica’s skin chilled.
His uncle called again.
“You misunderstand!”
Gabriele’s jaw tightened.
Marco whispered, “Could be bait.”
“It is.”
Alessandro’s voice became louder.
“Sterling knows where you are!”
Federica frowned.
“If he were attacking us, why warn us?”
Gabriele looked at her.
“Exactly.”
Another sound came from downstairs.
Gunfire.
Short.
Controlled.
Then shouting.
Alessandro yelled, “Gabriele, move!”
Marco opened the corridor door just enough to look.
A second later he pulled back.
“Two groups.”
“What?”
“Alessandro’s men and unknown shooters.”
Federica stared.
“So your uncle came here because somebody else is attacking?”
“Maybe,” Gabriele said.
“You sound unconvinced.”
“I survive by being unconvinced.”
A bullet struck wood in the next room.
Leo screamed.
Gabriele’s entire expression changed.
He handed the baby to Federica.
“Take him.”
She pulled Leo tightly against her.
“No.”
Gabriele stared.
“What?”
“You are about to go toward people shooting at us.”
“Yes.”
“That is an incredibly stupid plan.”
Marco looked between them.
Nobody spoke to Gabriele like that.
Apparently Federica had not received the memo.
Gabriele lowered his voice.
“There is no exit from this corridor.”
“Then create one that doesn’t involve dying.”
“I’m open to suggestions.”
Federica looked around.
Red emergency lights.
Ventilation panel.
Maintenance markings.
A narrow access hatch.
“Where does that go?”
Marco followed her gaze.
“Service ducts.”
“Large enough?”
“For you.”
“For Leo?”
“Yes.”
“For him?”
She pointed at Gabriele.
Marco almost laughed.
“No.”
“Then it’s useless.”
Gabriele looked offended.
“I appreciate your concern.”
“It’s logistical.”
“Of course.”
Federica forced herself to think.
Her specialty was not weapons.
Or escape routes.
Or men with terrifying reputations.
Her specialty was systems.
And every system had weaknesses.
“The house has a generator?”
Marco nodded.
“Basement.”
“Separate breaker for the security shutters?”
“Yes.”
“Can it be triggered remotely?”
“No.”
Federica looked at the wall control.
“Everything modern is remote if the engineer was lazy enough.”
She pulled the maintenance panel open.
Gabriele stared.
“You’re an accountant.”
“I also read manuals.”
“Why?”
“Because unlike humans, they occasionally answer questions.”
Marco grinned.
Gunfire cracked again.
Federica worked quickly.
The safe house’s systems used a building-management controller.
Old.
Probably installed ten years earlier.
She found an emergency diagnostic port.
“Laptop.”
Marco handed it over.
Gabriele said, “What are you doing?”
“Trying to stop you from being heroic.”
“I wasn’t planning to be heroic.”
“Violently suicidal, then.”
“I prefer decisive.”
“Of course you do.”
She connected the laptop.
The system responded.
Good.
Security shutters.
Fire control.
Garage doors.
Sprinklers.
Lighting.
Federica smiled.
Marco saw it.
“That smile worries me.”
“It should.”
She activated the building-wide fire suppression system.
Downstairs, alarms exploded.
Sprinklers opened.
Emergency shutters began dropping.
Someone shouted.
Federica then unlocked the west garage.
Marco understood.
“You’re dividing the attackers.”
“Yes.”
Gabriele looked impressed despite himself.
“Can you see cameras?”
“Trying.”
Three feeds returned.
Federica enlarged one.
Armed men in masks moved through the kitchen.
Another showed Alessandro’s security team taking cover near the entrance.
The third showed—
She froze.
“What?”
She pointed.
A man stood outside beside a black SUV.
Not masked.
Watching.
Marco leaned closer.
“Daniel Hargrove.”
The CFO.
The man whose authorization had rerouted Federica.
Gabriele’s expression became ice.
“So Hargrove works for Sterling.”
Federica shook her head.
“Maybe.”
“What do you mean?”
“Look at him.”
Hargrove was not participating.
He was pacing.
Nervous.
Then another vehicle arrived.
A masked attacker approached him.
Hargrove backed away.
The attacker struck him.
Federica frowned.
“He doesn’t look like their commander.”
Marco said, “Maybe he’s their prisoner.”
“Or bait.”
Gabriele looked toward the main room.
“Either way, we need answers.”
A voice suddenly came through the old intercom.
“Gabriele!”
Alessandro.
“I know you can hear me.”
Gabriele pressed the communication button.
“Give me one reason not to assume you sold us out.”
A pause.
Then Alessandro said, “Because Matteo came to me before he died.”
Gabriele went still.
Federica watched him.
“What did he say?” Gabriele demanded.
“He found something inside Romano Holdings.”
“What?”
“A second ledger.”
Federica’s attention sharpened.
“What second ledger?” she whispered.
Alessandro continued through the intercom.
“Sterling had someone inside finance.”
Gabriele looked at Federica.
“He asked me to move money secretly so he could follow the payments.”
“The North Lake transfer?” Federica asked loudly.
Silence.
Then Alessandro’s voice:
“Who is that?”
“Federica Ferrari.”
A strange pause.
“The accountant?”
Federica muttered, “Apparently that is my official title now.”
Gabriele pressed the button.
“She found the payment.”
Alessandro answered immediately.
“Then she may be the only person who can finish what Matteo started.”
The words settled heavily.
Gabriele looked at Federica.
She did not like the implication.
“At the warehouse,” she said slowly, “Sterling’s men wanted me to open accounts.”
Marco nodded.
Federica looked at the laptop.
“What if they didn’t take me only because I witnessed the kidnapping?”
Gabriele’s face changed.
“What are you thinking?”
“What if someone intentionally rerouted me because they needed an accountant?”
“Hargrove.”
“Maybe.”
She stared at the frozen camera feed.
“But if Hargrove were giving Sterling everything he wanted, why would Sterling need me?”
Nobody answered.
Federica continued.
“Maybe Hargrove discovered something.”
Marco looked at the screen.
“And they turned on him.”
“Or he tried to leave.”
Gabriele spoke into the intercom.
“Alessandro. Can you reach the west corridor?”
“Yes.”
“Bring Hargrove if he is alive.”
“You believe me now?”
“No.”
A faint, dark smile touched Gabriele’s face.
“But if you wanted Leo dead, you wouldn’t have brought men here to fight the people trying to kill him.”
Alessandro exhaled.
“Progress.”
Ten minutes later, the shooting stopped.
Three attackers escaped through the garage.
Two were captured.
One was dead.
Daniel Hargrove was dragged inside with blood running from his nose.
Alessandro Romano entered behind him.
He was sixty-two, silver-haired, beautifully dressed, and furious.
Gabriele met him in the hall.
For several seconds uncle and nephew said nothing.
Then Alessandro looked past him.
At Leo.
Safe in Federica’s arms.
His face softened.
“Thank God.”
Gabriele noticed.
He also noticed Federica noticing.
Hargrove collapsed into a chair.
Gabriele approached him.
“You rerouted her.”
Hargrove looked at Federica.
“I had to.”
Gabriele grabbed his collar.
“You sent her into an ambush.”
“No!”
“Then explain.”
Hargrove’s eyes filled with terror.
“They were already inside the system.”
“Who?”
“I don’t know his real name.”
“Try harder.”
“He called himself Gray.”
Federica went still.
She had seen that name.
Not recently.
Years of accounting records passed through her mind.
“Gray Consulting,” she whispered.
Hargrove looked at her.
“Yes.”
Gabriele turned.
“You know it?”
Federica nodded slowly.
“It appears in archived insurance records.”
Alessandro’s face drained.
“What records?”
“Matteo’s car.”
Gabriele stopped breathing.
Federica stared at him.
“The company that inspected Matteo’s vehicle after the crash was subcontracted through Gray Consulting.”
Nobody moved.
Hargrove began crying.
“I didn’t know until last month.”
Gabriele’s voice became quiet.
“Know what?”
Hargrove looked at Leo.
Then at Gabriele.
“Matteo’s crash wasn’t the first Romano death they arranged.”
Alessandro whispered, “What?”
Hargrove swallowed.
“They killed your father too.”
Gabriele’s face went completely blank.
The room seemed to shrink around them.
His father had died nine years earlier.
Heart failure.
At home.
Surrounded by family.
Or so they had believed.
Hargrove shook.
“I found payments. Doctors. Security. Insurance. Everything leads through Gray.”
“Who controls Gray?” Federica asked.
Hargrove looked at her.
“That’s what Matteo discovered.”
Gabriele stepped closer.
“Who?”
Hargrove whispered one name.
And suddenly even Alessandro Romano looked afraid.
“Evelyn Sterling.”
Victor Sterling’s wife.
A woman who had spent twenty years appearing at charity galas, museum boards, hospitals, and political fundraisers.
A woman nobody in Chicago’s criminal world considered dangerous.
Federica felt something cold move through her.
Maybe because she understood immediately.
Everyone had been watching Victor Sterling.
The loud man.
The powerful man.
The obvious enemy.
Nobody had been watching his quiet wife.
They thought she was nobody.
Exactly as they had thought of Federica.
May you like
And Federica knew better than anyone what happened when dangerous people made that mistake.
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