Chapter 7 - THE MAN WHO NEVER DIED
Emergency lights flickered red along the ferry terminal walls. Luca turned toward the voice, his gun raised, but Matteo caught his arm.
“Don’t shoot,” his brother whispered. “He wants you angry.”
A figure emerged from the shadows. Older, thinner, his hair silver at the temples—but unmistakable. Daniel Moretti stood beneath the rusted departure sign, alive after eleven years of mourning.
“You’ve grown into your position,” Daniel said.
Luca stared at the man he had buried in his mind and heart. “You let us grieve you.”
“Grief makes people obedient. You learned that well.”
“You destroyed my family.”
Daniel smiled faintly. “I built the family you inherited. I protected it.”
“By taking my wife?”
“I gave her a choice. She chose to interfere.”
Luca moved forward, but three armed men stepped out behind Daniel. Matteo shifted beside him, putting himself between Luca and the nearest gun.
“Where is Isabella?” Luca demanded.
“Alive. For now.”
“Let me see her.”
“You’ll see her when you sign the papers.”
“The papers that give you control of the trust?”
Daniel’s eyes narrowed. “Your wife told you more than I expected.”
“She told me enough to know you’re afraid of what she found.”
Daniel laughed. “I’m afraid of nothing. I’m giving you a chance to protect your daughter. Sign the transfer, and Sophie remains untouched. Refuse, and the people who took Isabella will come for the child next.”
Luca felt the threat like a hand closing around his throat. He thought of Sophie asleep under Emily’s watch, her ribbon curled in her fist.
“What do you want with her?”
“Your daughter remembers faces. She remembers voices. She saw something the night Isabella disappeared, and that makes her a liability.”
“She was three.”
“Children remember what adults dismiss. Especially when someone teaches them to remember.”
Luca understood then: Isabella had taught Sophie the glass signal not because she wanted her daughter to solve a crime, but because she feared she might never get another chance to warn her.
Daniel extended a folder. “Sign.”
Luca glanced at the first page. It transferred the trust’s authority and granted Daniel control over the shell companies. But the signature line was not the only danger. A clause at the bottom would legally name Sophie as an incapable beneficiary, allowing the guardian to remove her from Luca’s care.
“You want my daughter.”
“I want the only witness who can identify the people involved.”
Matteo’s voice shook with rage. “You told me the trust was to protect them.”
“I told you what you needed to hear.”
For the first time, Daniel’s mask slipped. He looked at Matteo with contempt. “You were always weak. You chose your brother over your father, then chose cowardice over truth.”
Matteo lowered his eyes, then suddenly lunged. He struck one guard and drove him into a pillar. Gunfire exploded through the terminal. Luca dove behind a concrete barrier and returned fire, forcing Daniel’s men to retreat.
In the chaos, Daniel disappeared through a side door.
Luca found Matteo bleeding on the floor, one hand pressed to his ribs.
“Stay with me.”
Matteo coughed. “There’s a boat. Lower dock. He’ll take her out through the river.”
Luca helped him up. Together they ran down the wet steps to the water. A black speedboat was pulling away from the dock. At its stern stood Daniel, holding a phone to his ear.
Luca fired at the engine. Sparks burst from the casing, but the boat kept moving into the dark.
Then a second boat emerged from the opposite bank, its lights off. A woman stood at the bow.
Isabella.
“LUCA!” she shouted.
He froze for one impossible second, watching her reach toward him.
Daniel turned, saw her, and raised his weapon.
Matteo shoved Luca aside.
The shot struck Matteo in the chest.
He collapsed against the railing, and Luca caught him before he fell into the river.
Isabella’s boat slammed against the dock. She jumped ashore, ran toward them, and dropped to her knees beside Matteo. Her face was thinner, her hair streaked with gray, but her eyes were the same.
“Luca,” she whispered.
He stared at her, unable to breathe. He had imagined this moment a thousand times. In every version, he held her. In none of them was his brother dying between them.
Matteo gripped Luca’s wrist. “I’m sorry.”
Luca looked at him through tears and fury. “Don’t you dare die before you tell me everything.”
Matteo’s eyes drifted toward Isabella.
“She didn’t disappear by accident,” he whispered. “But she wasn’t the only one who escaped that night.”
His fingers loosened.
May you like
Then he added one final sentence.
“Vanessa took the other child.”
