Chapter 17 - The Last Tunnel
An explosion tore through the carriage house.
Federal vehicles stopped short. Men poured out with rifles.
My mother ran toward the tree line.
"Vittoria!"
I chased her.
She reached an old stone well near the garden and pulled a hidden latch beneath the rim.
A section of earth opened beside it.
Another tunnel.
Of course.
She disappeared underground.
I followed before anyone could stop me.
The passage was narrow and steep. Emergency bulbs glowed along the walls.
"Adrian!" Grace shouted somewhere behind me.
I kept going.
The tunnel ended in a room beneath the family mausoleum.
My mother stood beside a steel cabinet, stuffing passports and cash into a bag.
"Still cleaning up?" I asked.
She turned, gun in hand.
"Still chasing approval from dead people?"
I stopped.
"Put it down."
"You brought federal agents onto Rossi property."
"You kidnapped my wife and son."
"Because you were weak enough to choose her over your blood."
Footsteps echoed behind me.
Grace appeared at the entrance.
Alone.
I stared at her.
"Where's Noah?"
"With Marco and six armed federal agents. I do learn occasionally."
My mother laughed.
"You see? She mocks you even now."
Grace stepped beside me.
"No, Vittoria. I love him enough to argue with him. There's a difference."
My mother's face hardened.
"You poisoned him against his family."
"You did that when you chained me to a bed."
Vittoria raised the gun.
I moved in front of Grace.
Grace shoved me sideways.
The shot hit the wall.
I lunged.
My mother fired again.
Pain burned across my upper arm.
I hit her wrist. The gun dropped.
Grace kicked it away.
Vittoria clawed at my face, then reached for a knife inside her sleeve.
Grace caught her wrist.
For one second the two women stood inches apart.
My mother hissed, "You ruined my son."
Grace answered, "No. I reminded him he had a choice."
Federal agents flooded the tunnel.
Vittoria went still.
An agent ordered her to her knees.
She looked at me instead.
"If you let them take me, you are no son of mine."
I held my bleeding arm.
"That's the first thing you've said all day that sounds like freedom."
They put her in cuffs.
As agents searched the steel cabinet, one called my name.
Inside was a thick blue file marked with Noah's birth date.
I opened it.
The first page was a custody petition.
The second was a forged death certificate.
Grace Rossi.
May you like
Cause of death: postpartum hemorrhage.
Dated for tomorrow.
