Chapter 4 - THE BROTHER WHO NEVER DIED
For a moment, Luca wondered whether grief had finally driven him insane.
“Which brother?” he asked.
Vincent's expression tightened.
“Your father had twins. You were the one he raised. The other boy was taken away before dawn.”
“Taken by whom?”
“Isabella.”
Rachel stepped between Vincent and the cribs.
“That's impossible. Isabella had no children.”
Vincent laughed bitterly.
“That's what Salvatore wanted everyone to believe.”
Luca's fingers curled.
“Where is my brother?”
“Alive, as far as I know. Your father sent money through intermediaries for years. He paid for private schools, medical care, and a new identity.”
“And Elena knew?”
“She discovered the truth when she found an old letter in Salvatore's office. That's why she began asking questions about the hospital records.”
Luca's mind raced.
His father had built an entire life around a secret twin. Elena had uncovered it. Vanessa had helped erase the evidence. And now someone was trying to silence anyone who remembered.
“Why did my father separate us?”
Vincent lowered the pistol slightly.
“Because a prophecy isn't what he feared. He feared a choice.”
Luca's patience snapped.
“Speak plainly.”
“Your father believed one son would inherit the empire and the other would destroy it. He wanted to control both outcomes. He raised you to lead the family and gave your brother to Isabella, who disappeared with him.”
Rachel stared at Vincent.
“You're saying the child in the hospital record wasn't Sophie?”
“No. It was the brother's birth record, altered years later to conceal the truth.”
Luca looked at the photograph again.
The babies had been identical.
But one wore a blue ribbon around his wrist.
The other wore a red one.
“Which one am I?”
Vincent hesitated.
“The blue ribbon.”
“And my brother?”
“Red.”
Before Luca could ask another question, a sharp crack echoed from downstairs.
Vincent spun toward the hall.
A second armed man rushed through the doorway and fired.
Vincent fell against the crib.
Luca tackled the attacker. They crashed into a cabinet, sending old photographs scattering across the floor. Luca struck the man's wrist until the pistol dropped, then pinned him against the wall.
“Who sent you?”
The attacker spat blood.
“You should've stayed buried with your father.”
Luca hit him once more.
“Who sent you?”
The man smiled.
“Ask your bride.”
Then he bit down on something hidden between his teeth.
Within seconds, he collapsed.
Rachel knelt beside him, but it was too late.
Vincent was still alive.
He gripped Luca's sleeve.
“Find the second bear.”
“Vanessa took the key.”
“Not the key.” Vincent coughed. “The other thing.”
“What other thing?”
Vincent's eyes flicked toward the cribs.
“Your father hid the truth in the only place no one would think to look.”
His hand fell limp.
Luca stared at the man who had guarded his family for thirty years.
Then he heard Sophie screaming downstairs.
He raced to her bedroom.
The window was open.
Emma lay unconscious beside the bed.
Sophie's teddy bear was missing.
On the pillow lay a small card.
Bring the original hospital record to Pier Nine at midnight. Come alone, or your daughter dies.
Luca's security chief rushed into the room.
“Boss, we found a vehicle leaving the property. It belongs to Vanessa Sterling.”
Luca looked at the clock.
11:16 p.m.
He had forty-four minutes.
Rachel seized his arm.
“Don't go alone. That's what they want.”
“They have my daughter.”
“And they want the hospital record. If you hand it over, they'll destroy the only proof of what happened to Elena.”
Luca looked at the empty bed.
For the first time in his life, the empire meant nothing.
He would burn every building he owned if it brought Sophie home.
He turned to his security chief.
“Get the boats ready. Nobody fires unless I give the order.”
Then he faced Rachel.
“You're coming with me.”
They reached Pier Nine at 11:58 p.m.
A single floodlight illuminated a black sedan.
Vanessa stood beside it, holding Sophie by the shoulder.
The little girl was crying.
Luca took one step forward.
“Let her go.”
Vanessa raised a pistol.
“Give me the record.”
He held up the folded hospital document.
“First, tell me where Elena is.”
Vanessa's face twisted.
“I don't know where she is now.”
“Now?”
She closed her eyes.
Then she said the words that changed everything.
“I drove the car that night.”
Luca stopped.
Vanessa continued, her voice breaking.
“I wasn't trying to kill Elena. I was trying to stop her from reaching you with the truth.”
Sophie screamed for her father.
Vanessa tightened her grip.
Luca lowered the record.
“Let my daughter go, and I'll listen.”
Vanessa looked at the water.
“Your father told me Elena was planning to destroy the family. He said she had stolen something that belonged to him.”
“What?”
“The names of everyone who had been paying him for years.”
Rachel whispered, “The black ledger.”
Vanessa nodded.
“Elena had it. But when the car crashed, she wasn't the only woman inside.”
Luca stared at her.
“Who was the other woman?”
Vanessa looked directly at him.
“Your mother.”
Before he could react, a gunshot rang out from the darkness.
Vanessa dropped the pistol.
Sophie screamed.
And a woman emerged from behind the shipping containers, holding a weapon with both hands.
She looked exactly like Elena.
May you like
But she pointed the gun at Luca.
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