Chapter 5 - The Brother Who Was Buried Twice
The first thing Luca noticed was the empty chair.
The second was the blood.
Vanessa had disappeared during the gunfight, leaving behind a broken chair and a torn piece of her dress.
Richard was gone too.
Luca ordered his men to search the entire warehouse.
He found a small device beneath the table.
A recording unit.
The red light was still blinking.
He picked it up.
A familiar voice filled the room.
His father's voice.
“If either boy survives, keep them apart. One will inherit my empire. The other will destroy it.”
Luca listened again.
Then came another voice.
Elena's.
“What about the girl?”
His father answered:
“She will belong to whichever son survives.”
The recording ended.
Luca stood motionless.
His family hadn't merely hidden a child.
They had built an entire future around a lie.
***
At the mansion, Emily found a locked drawer in Elena's bedroom.
Inside were dozens of letters.
Every one was addressed to Gabriel.
The first was dated thirteen years earlier.
My dearest son,
I have been told you are dead. I do not believe it. I hear your footsteps in every hallway. I see your face in your brother's reflection.
If you are alive, please forgive me.
I was too afraid to save you.
Emily read the final letter.
It was written only three days earlier.
Gabriel,
Your brother is finally asking questions. If you come home, come before the birthday cake is served.
The kitchen door will remain unlocked.
Emily's hands trembled.
She looked toward the kitchen.
Someone had left a small black envelope on the counter.
Inside was a key.
And a handwritten message.
THE BOY IN THE PHOTOGRAPH IS NOT THE ONE WHO DIED.
***
Luca returned to the mansion at dawn.
He found Emily waiting in the study.
She placed the letters on his desk.
“Your mother wrote these.”
He read several pages.
His expression changed.
“She knew he was alive.”
Emily nodded.
“I think she was trying to bring him home.”
Luca examined the final letter.
“Why didn't she tell me?”
“Maybe she didn't know who she could trust.”
He looked at Emily.
“And you?”
She lowered her eyes.
“I have something to tell you too.”
Luca waited.
Emily reached into her pocket and removed an old hospital photograph.
It showed a young nurse holding a newborn baby.
The nurse was Emily.
Luca stared.
“You worked at the hospital?”
“For six months. I was nineteen.”
“Why?”
“My mother was a nurse there. I needed money.”
He studied the photograph.
The baby had a small scar above his left eyebrow.
Gabriel.
Emily's voice trembled.
“I held him the night he disappeared.”
Luca stood.
“Why didn't you tell me?”
“Because your father threatened my family. He told my mother that if she spoke, my younger brother would never come home from school.”
Luca's jaw tightened.
“Where is your brother now?”
Emily looked away.
“He died five years ago.”
Luca said nothing.
“I stayed silent for too long,” she continued. “I know that. But I won't stay silent anymore.”
She handed him another photograph.
This one showed a man standing outside the mansion's garden gate.
He looked exactly like Luca.
Except for the scar.
On the back were four words.
HE NEVER LEFT YOU.
***
That afternoon, Luca visited the old family cemetery.
He stood before the grave marked GABRIEL MORETTI.
The stone had been erected thirteen years earlier.
There was no body beneath it.
Luca ran his fingers over the inscription.
Then he noticed something.
A fresh white flower rested at the base of the grave.
Someone had been there recently.
Behind the gravestone was a small metal box.
Inside lay a child's drawing.
Two boys standing beside a swimming pool.
A woman watched them from the garden.
Beneath the drawing, someone had written:
I REMEMBER YOU, LUCA.
A phone rang behind him.
Luca turned.
An unfamiliar number.
He answered.
“Who is this?”
A man's voice replied.
“Stop looking for me.”
Luca's heart began pounding.
“Gabriel?”
A long silence.
Then:
“You should have let me stay dead.”
“Where are you?”
“Far away from you.”
“Mother wants to see you.”
The man laughed bitterly.
“Your mother had thirteen years to look for me.”
Luca gripped the phone.
“I'm going to find you.”
“Then ask Vanessa what happened on the night I died.”
The call ended.
Luca stared at the screen.
A message appeared.
Attached was a photograph of Vanessa holding a newborn baby.
But standing behind her was a second woman.
Elena Moretti.
And in Elena's arms was a child wearing a hospital bracelet.
May you like
The name on it was not Gabriel.
It was LUCA.
