Chapter 6 - The Betrayal Inside the House
They returned to the safe house before sunrise.
The archive had changed everything.
They knew Stahl's network was larger than expected.
They knew Marco was alive.
They knew someone close to Luca had betrayed him.
But they didn't know who.
Everyone became suspicious.
Leo, Luca's oldest lieutenant.
Elena.
Marco.
Even Giana's surviving cousins.
Luca refused to accuse anyone without proof.
Giana admired that.
The old Luca would have ordered executions.
The new Luca investigated.
For two days, nothing happened.
Then Giana noticed a detail.
The kitchen window had been opened.
She closed it.
Ten minutes later, she found a tiny device beneath the sink.
A microphone.
She showed Luca.
He went pale.
"This was installed today."
"How do you know?"
"Because I checked the room yesterday."
Someone had been inside.
Luca called everyone.
Leo arrived first.
Then Elena.
Then Marco.
Each denied knowing anything.
Giana watched their faces.
The traitor wasn't frightened.
The traitor was calm.
That narrowed it down.
Her eyes landed on Marco.
He noticed.
"You suspect me?"
"I don't know."
"Good."
He smiled.
"If you ever stop questioning people, you die."
Luca's phone rang.
A bank alert.
Someone had accessed the Carter-Gallo trust.
Giana realized the password.
The baby's due date.
"How would they know that?"
Luca looked at her.
"Someone heard you say it."
The room went silent.
Then Elena whispered,
"Or someone has been inside your apartment."
Giana's face changed.
Her old bakery.
The ovens.
Her mother's recipe book.
The hiding places.
She ran downstairs.
Inside the flour storage cabinet was a small envelope.
Someone had left it.
Giana opened it.
A photo fell out.
Her mother.
Alive.
Taken yesterday.
On the back:
COME ALONE.
Giana's hands shook.
Luca grabbed the photo.
"Absolutely not."
"My mother is alive."
"Or Stahl wants you to think she is."
"I know her face."
"We're going together."
The address led to an old hotel.
Room 311.
Giana entered.
Her mother was tied to a chair.
Alive.
Weak.
Luca rushed forward.
A gun clicked behind him.
Someone said,
"Hello, cousin."
Giana turned.
Her cousin Rafael stood there.
She stared.
"You?"
Rafael smiled.
"You always were smarter than I expected."
Luca raised his hands.
"Let her go."
Rafael laughed.
"You Fontanas ruined everything."
Giana stepped forward.
"No."
She looked at him.
"Stahl ruined everything."
Rafael shook his head.
"He paid well."
Her mother looked at Giana.
"Don't trust him."
Rafael grabbed her shoulder.
"You're coming with me."
Giana elbowed him.
He grunted.
Luca attacked.
The room exploded into chaos.
Rafael escaped through the window.
But he left something behind.
A phone.
Luca checked it.
Hundreds of messages.
All from Stahl.
Then one message stood apart.
Tomorrow.
The message was scheduled.
Destination attached.
An address.
The hospital where Giana would deliver the baby.
Giana froze.
"He knows."
Luca looked at her stomach.
"We have to move."
Her mother grabbed her hand.
"Not just you."
"What?"
"He wants your son."
The world went silent.
Stahl didn't want revenge.
He wanted the child.
Giana's fear became rage.
"No one takes my son."
Luca stepped beside her.
May you like
"They won't."
For the first time, neither of them knew whether they could keep that promise.
