Chapter 2 - The Man Wearing His Father's Ring
For several seconds, nobody moved.
Luca stared at the stranger's hand.
The gold wedding ring was unmistakable. A tiny black diamond sat in its center, surrounded by two engraved initials: A.M.
His father had worn that ring for thirty-two years.
Luca had personally placed it inside Antonio's coffin before the funeral.
“How?” Luca finally asked.
The stranger glanced at the guests.
“Not here.”
Luca drew his gun.
“Wrong answer.”
Two of his guards immediately blocked the ballroom exits. The musicians stopped playing. Guests began whispering, and Vanessa clutched the edge of the nearest table.
The stranger didn't flinch.
“My name is Gabriel Rossi. I was your father's driver, closest friend, and the man who was supposed to die beside him six years ago.”
Luca studied his face.
“Gabriel Rossi died in the same explosion as my father.”
“That's what the police report says.”
“Then you're supposed to be dead.”
Gabriel nodded.
“I spent six years making sure everyone believed that.”
Vanessa suddenly approached.
“Luca, please. We need to get him out of here. He's clearly disturbed.”
Gabriel looked at her.
“You always did have a talent for making innocent people disappear.”
Luca turned.
“What does she have to do with this?”
Gabriel placed the photograph on the table again.
“October 3. Your father discovered that someone inside the Moretti family had been selling information to our enemies. He planned to expose the traitor at a private meeting that night.”
“Who?”
Gabriel looked toward Elena.
“Your mother knows.”
Luca turned to his mother.
“Is that true?”
Elena's eyes were fixed on the ring.
“I thought you were dead,” she whispered.
Gabriel softened.
“I know.”
“You let me bury him.”
“I had no choice.”
“You let my son spend six years believing his father was in the ground!”
Her voice broke.
Gabriel lowered his head.
“I was trying to keep him alive.”
Luca grabbed Gabriel by the collar.
“You have five seconds to explain why you've been hiding.”
Gabriel looked directly into his eyes.
“Because the man who ordered your father's murder is sitting in this room.”
Luca released him.
His gaze moved across the guests.
His uncle, Richard Moretti, stood near the fireplace, holding a glass of whiskey.
Richard had managed the family's legal and financial affairs since Antonio's death. He had been the one who organized the funeral, handled the inheritance, and helped Luca take control of the organization.
“Who?” Luca demanded.
Gabriel pointed.
“Your uncle.”
Richard's glass slipped from his fingers.
It shattered against the marble floor.
“That's ridiculous,” he said. “This man is a fraud.”
Luca didn't move.
“Uncle Richard, is there something you'd like to tell me?”
Richard laughed nervously.
“Your father trusted me. I raised you after he died. And this is how you repay me?”
Gabriel reached into his coat.
Every guard raised a weapon.
“Easy,” he said, removing a second photograph.
It showed Richard standing beside a black sedan outside an abandoned warehouse.
The date printed on the back was October 3, six years earlier.
Richard stared at it.
“That proves nothing.”
“No,” Gabriel replied. “But the man in the passenger seat might.”
Luca took the photograph.
The passenger was Vanessa's father, Edward Hart.
Edward had died from an apparent heart attack three months after Antonio's funeral.
Luca looked at Vanessa.
“Did you know your father met my uncle that night?”
Vanessa shook her head.
“I swear I didn't.”
Gabriel interrupted.
“She knew enough to hire Daniel.”
Luca's expression hardened.
“Explain.”
“Daniel wasn't just a watchmaker. He was Antonio's personal locksmith. Your father designed that watch with a hidden compartment. The backward movement was a warning mechanism. When the hands moved in reverse, it meant the original movement had been tampered with.”
“Why would someone tamper with it?”
“Because the watch contains a second message. One your father didn't trust anyone else to carry.”
Luca opened the watch.
The hands were still.
He looked at the tiny compartment.
“Where is the rest?”
Gabriel glanced at Vanessa.
“Ask your fiancée.”
Vanessa began crying.
“Luca, I can explain.”
He stepped toward her.
“Then explain.”
She looked at Richard, who gave her a barely noticeable shake of his head.
That small movement told Luca more than any confession could.
“Take Richard upstairs,” Luca ordered his guards. “And nobody leaves.”
Richard suddenly straightened.
“You cannot detain me in my own family home!”
“Watch me.”
Two guards seized him.
As they dragged him away, Richard shouted, “You have no idea what your father did!”
Luca turned back.
“What did he do?”
Richard stopped at the staircase.
“He didn't just betray the family, Luca. He betrayed the woman you are about to marry.”
Vanessa collapsed into a chair.
Gabriel approached Luca.
“We need to leave. Now.”
“Why?”
“Because Daniel is missing.”
Luca's phone vibrated.
A message appeared from an unknown number.
It contained a photograph of Daniel tied to a chair in a dark room.
Beneath it were seven words:
Bring the watch. Come alone. Your father is waiting.
Luca read it twice.
Then the phone rang.
He answered.
A familiar voice came through the speaker.
“Hello, son.”
Luca stopped breathing.
It was his father's voice.
“Dad?”
A quiet laugh followed.
“You've grown into a dangerous man, Luca.”
Luca gripped the phone.
“Where are you?”
“Come find me.”
May you like
The call ended.
And for the first time in six years, the most feared man in Chicago began to cry.
