Chapter 5 - THE BROTHER HE COULDN'T SAVE
Luca had been seventeen.
Alessandro had been twenty-one.
Their father controlled the family business.
Luca hated it.
He wanted to leave.
One night, he disappeared.
Their father blamed Alessandro.
Alessandro searched for years.
Then he discovered Luca had been working with Daniel Reyes.
Not as a criminal.
As an informant.
Luca had been trying to expose their father.
He vanished after sending one final message.
If anything happens to me, protect the child.
Nobody knew what child he meant.
Until Mia.
I stared at Alessandro.
“You think Luca knew Daniel had a child?”
“I think he knew everything.”
“Then why didn't Daniel tell me?”
“Maybe he couldn't.”
That night, Alessandro received a message.
A location.
An abandoned warehouse.
And one photograph.
Luca.
Older.
Alive.
I stared at the image.
“No.”
Alessandro nodded.
“He's alive.”
We drove there before dawn.
The warehouse was empty.
Except for an old tape recorder.
Alessandro pressed play.
A man's voice filled the darkness.
“Alessandro.”
He froze.
“I'm sorry.”
It was Luca.
“I knew you would eventually find this.”
The recording explained everything.
Daniel had hidden his fortune to protect his daughter.
Luca had helped him.
But someone inside Alessandro's organization betrayed them.
The money wasn't the real secret.
The money was leverage.
The real secret was a list of officials who had been bought for years.
And one name appeared repeatedly.
Senator Victor Hale.
Then the recording ended.
Alessandro stared into the darkness.
“We've been looking at the wrong enemy.”
A gunshot shattered the window.
Glass exploded.
Alessandro pulled me down.
Mia screamed.
He shielded us with his body.
Another shot.
Then silence.
Security arrived minutes later.
Nobody was there.
But someone had left a message painted across the warehouse wall.
RETURN THE HEIR.
Alessandro looked at Mia.
Then at me.
His expression changed.
“No.”
May you like
He whispered.
“They don't want her alive.”
