Chapter 4 - THE SECRET SALVATORE TOOK TO HIS GRAVE
“You think Salvatore Castellano was my father?”
The question sounded ridiculous.
Luca didn’t answer.
That made it terrifying.
We were inside his waterfront house, surrounded by security cameras, locked gates, and men who spoke into earpieces.
Emma was upstairs with Mrs. Chen.
I stood across from Luca.
“Answer me.”
“No.”
Relief hit me.
Then he continued.
“But for years, I thought he might be.”
“What?”
“My father met your mother before I was born. They were close. After his death, I found photographs.”
“And?”
“And I investigated.”
Of course he did.
“What did you find?”
“Your father was Daniel Carter.”
The name belonged to the man on my birth certificate.
“He died when I was two.”
“Yes.”
“So why did Salvatore have my photograph?”
“Because he promised your mother he would protect you.”
“From Sloane?”
“From whoever killed your father.”
My heart stopped.
“My father died in a car accident.”
“No.”
One word.
Another piece of my childhood destroyed.
“The brakes were cut.”
I sat down.
Luca remained standing, perhaps because he understood that touching me would be a mistake.
“Did my mother know?”
“Yes.”
“And she never told me.”
“She wanted you outside this world.”
I laughed shakily.
“That worked beautifully.”
Luca finally crouched in front of me.
“You need sleep.”
“I need truth.”
“You need both.”
“I hate when you do that.”
“What?”
“Act like you’re in charge of me.”
His eyes held mine.
“I’m trying very hard not to be.”
Something changed between us.
For one dangerous second, I noticed how close he was.
Then Emma ran into the room.
“Mommy!”
She climbed into my lap.
Behind her, Mrs. Chen apologized.
“She escaped.”
Luca’s expression softened.
Emma studied him.
“Do you have pancakes?”
He blinked.
“What?”
“Pancakes.”
“I have a chef.”
“That’s not what I asked.”
I covered my mouth.
Luca Castellano surrendered.
Twenty minutes later, the most feared man in Seattle was standing in a multimillion-dollar kitchen burning pancakes for my three-year-old.
“You’re terrible at this,” I said.
He flipped one.
It landed half outside the pan.
Emma laughed so hard she hiccupped.
Luca looked offended.
“I run six restaurants.”
“Apparently you don’t cook in them.”
His eyes met mine.
For the first time, I saw him smile.
A real smile.
It changed his entire face.
And that frightened me in a completely different way.
The moment ended when Dante entered.
“We decrypted part of the drive.”
Luca’s smile vanished.
The files showed payments made through Sloane shell companies.
Judges.
Police officers.
Union officials.
Politicians.
Then one recurring payment caught my attention.
J. MARTINEZ.
Jake.
Monthly transfers began four years ago.
Before he met me.
I felt sick.
“He was planted in my life.”
Luca nodded.
“Probably.”
Everything Jake had ever said became contaminated.
Our first date.
Our apartment.
Emma’s birth.
“Was Emma part of it?”
Luca’s voice hardened.
“No child is part of a conspiracy.”
“But did Jake ever love her?”
He couldn’t answer that.
Dante enlarged another file.
A photograph appeared.
Jake meeting Victor Sloane.
Then another.
Jake entering my mother’s old house.
And another.
Jake holding the stuffed rabbit.
My stomach twisted.
“He knew where the key was.”
“Yes.”
“Then why leave it?”
Luca studied the image.
“Because he wanted you to find the box.”
I looked at him.
“Why?”
A new file opened automatically.
Video.
My mother appeared on screen.
Older.
Ill.
Alive only weeks before her death.
She stared directly into the camera.
“Ava, if Luca Castellano is with you when you see this, then Salvatore’s son kept his promise.”
Luca went completely still.
My mother continued.
“But Luca, if you are watching, there is something your father never knew.”
She held up a document.
“The man who ordered Daniel Carter’s murder was not Victor Sloane.”
A pause.
“It was someone inside the Castellano family.”
The screen went black.
Behind us came the sound of breaking glass.
Then a gunshot.
Luca threw himself over Emma and me.
Dante drew his weapon.
May you like
Another shot shattered the window.
And from somewhere beyond the gates, a sniper had just proven my dead mother right.
