Chapter 3 - The Secret Her Father Left Behind
Emma couldn't sleep.
Every time she closed her eyes, she heard the gunshot.
She kept replaying Luca pulling her behind him.
She also kept thinking about the question that wouldn't leave her mind.
Why me?
At three in the morning, her mother's bedroom door opened.
"Emma?"
Emma immediately stood.
"Mom?"
Margaret looked pale.
"Are you all right?"
Emma rushed toward her.
"I'm fine."
"You've been pacing all night."
Emma hesitated.
Then she told her everything.
The broken car.
Luca.
The mansion.
The gunshot.
Margaret's face changed.
Not fear.
Recognition.
"Mom?"
Margaret sat down.
"What did you say his name was?"
"Luca Romano."
Margaret closed her eyes.
"That's impossible."
"What?"
"Your father knew that name."
Emma stared at her.
"My father?"
Margaret nodded.
"Years ago, Daniel worked for a company connected to the Romano family."
"What kind of work?"
"He was an accountant."
Emma frowned.
"My father was a mechanic."
"He was both."
Margaret's hands trembled.
"There were things he never told you."
"Why?"
"Because he was afraid."
Emma sat beside her.
"Afraid of who?"
Margaret looked toward the window.
"Powerful people."
Before Emma could ask more, the lights went out.
The house fell completely dark.
Margaret gasped.
Emma grabbed her phone.
A noise came from the kitchen.
Glass breaking.
Then footsteps.
Emma whispered.
"Stay here."
She moved toward the hallway.
A shadow crossed the doorway.
Before she could react, a man grabbed her.
She screamed.
Then headlights flooded through the windows.
Several doors slammed outside.
Luca's security team stormed the house.
The intruder ran.
Two guards chased him into the backyard.
Emma stood frozen.
Luca entered seconds later.
He immediately checked Margaret.
"Are you hurt?"
Margaret shook her head.
Then she looked at him.
"You look exactly like your father."
Luca stopped.
"What did you say?"
Margaret's eyes widened.
"I knew your father."
Emma looked between them.
"You knew his father?"
Luca's voice became quieter.
"Who was your father?"
Margaret swallowed.
"Giovanni Romano."
Luca stared.
That name had not been spoken inside his home for years.
His father had died when Luca was nineteen.
Officially, it had been a heart attack.
Unofficially, Luca had always believed there had been more to it.
Margaret reached beneath an old cabinet and pulled out a small wooden box.
She handed it to Emma.
"Your father told me to give this to you if anything ever happened to me."
Emma opened it.
Inside was an old photograph.
Her father stood beside a younger Giovanni Romano.
And behind them was another man.
Luca recognized him immediately.
His uncle, Victor Romano.
The man who had supposedly left Chicago twenty years ago.
Luca's face hardened.
There was also a small black flash drive.
Emma looked confused.
"What is this?"
Margaret whispered.
"Your father discovered that money was being stolen from the Romano businesses."
Luca took the drive.
"How much?"
"Millions."
Emma stared at him.
"Why didn't he tell you?"
"He tried."
Margaret looked down.
"He was killed before he could."
Silence filled the room.
Luca's eyes hardened.
"Your father's accident."
Margaret nodded.
"It wasn't an accident."
Emma felt as though the floor had disappeared beneath her.
"You knew?"
"I suspected."
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"Because you were eight years old."
Emma's eyes filled with tears.
"You let me believe my father died because a truck crossed the line."
Margaret reached for her.
"I wanted you alive."
Luca turned toward Marco.
"Get this analyzed."
Marco took the drive.
"We'll need a secure lab."
"Use the one in Geneva."
Emma looked at Luca.
"Why are you helping me?"
He stared at her.
"Because whoever killed your father may still be alive."
"And?"
"And because they shot at you."
She lowered her eyes.
"I don't want your protection."
"I know."
"Then why?"
"Because you shouldn't have to ask."
Emma looked at him.
For the first time, something changed between them.
Not trust.
Not yet.
But something close.
That night, Luca moved Emma and Margaret to a secure residence.
Emma hated it.
She hated the cameras.
The guards.
The locked gates.
The feeling that her life no longer belonged to her.
But she understood why.
The next morning, Marco arrived with the results.
"The drive contains financial records."
Luca opened the first file.
His expression slowly changed.
There were transfers.
Shell companies.
Fake invoices.
Bribes.
And one name appeared again and again.
Victor Romano.
Luca stared at the screen.
His uncle had not disappeared.
He had been building an empire in the shadows.
And Emma's father had discovered it.
But there was one final file.
A recording.
Daniel Carter appeared on screen.
Older.
Tired.
Terrified.
"If you're watching this, it means I failed."
Emma covered her mouth.
Her father's voice filled the room.
"Giovanni trusted the wrong person."
Luca leaned closer.
Daniel continued.
"The money isn't the real secret."
He paused.
"The real secret is the ledger."
The recording ended.
Emma whispered.
"What ledger?"
Luca looked at her.
"I don't know."
Marco shook his head.
"But Victor does."
A message appeared on Luca's secure phone.
One sentence.
YOU SHOULD HAVE LEFT THE GIRL ALONE.
Luca's eyes turned cold.
Emma read it over his shoulder.
Then another message appeared.
THE LEDGER IS BURIED WHERE YOUR FATHER DIED.
Luca stood.
His voice was calm.
"We're going to find it."
Emma looked at him.
"Together?"
He met her eyes.
"If you want."
She nodded.
"I want the truth."
May you like
Luca picked up his coat.
"Then we're going to war."
