Chapter 5 - The Brother No One Was Allowed to Know
The video lasted eleven seconds.
Long enough for Elena to recognize the resemblance.
Long enough for Enzo to recognize the danger.
Long enough for the message to disappear.
“Find him.”
Marco was already moving.
They traced the upload through six encrypted servers.
The signal bounced between Chicago, New York, and Naples.
Finally it stopped at a storage facility in New Jersey.
Enzo's team surrounded the building.
The operation should have taken minutes.
Instead they found it empty.
Except for a single chair.
And a bloodied shirt.
Elena nearly collapsed.
“That's his.”
Marco examined it.
“There's no blood on it.”
“What?”
“Stage blood.”
Enzo looked around.
“They wanted us to think they had him.”
A note was taped underneath the chair.
YOU ALWAYS LOOK FOR THE PERSON THEY TELL YOU TO FIND.
On the back:
LOOK AT HOME.
They returned to Moretti House.
Enzo ordered every room searched.
Every employee questioned.
Every vehicle checked.
They found nothing.
Then Elena noticed the nursery.
It had belonged to Enzo's younger cousin.
The room had remained untouched for years.
A photograph was missing from the wall.
Enzo noticed it too.
“Which one?”
“The one of my father.”
Behind the photograph was a safe.
Inside was a cassette.
Old-fashioned.
Enzo found a player.
Arthur Moretti's voice filled the room.
“If you are hearing this, I'm dead.”
Enzo froze.
Arthur continued.
“I know what they will tell you.”
“The Romanos betrayed you.”
“The Bellinis betrayed you.”
“The Russos betrayed you.”
“They are lying.”
Elena looked at Enzo.
The recording continued.
“There is a child.”
“His existence can destroy the people who built this network.”
“If I fail, protect him.”
“His mother does not know the whole truth.”
“Lucia knows enough.”
Then the recording stopped.
There was one final sentence.
“Do not trust Gabriel.”
Marco stiffened.
“My father.”
“Yes.”
“Your father suspected him.”
Marco stared at the player.
“He didn't tell me.”
“He was trying to protect you.”
Marco laughed bitterly.
“Everyone was always trying to protect someone.”
The recording contained one more clue.
A location.
A farmhouse in Pennsylvania.
They drove through the night.
They found a small house surrounded by farmland.
An old man opened the door.
He looked at Elena.
Then at Enzo.
Then at Marco.
He sighed.
“You finally came.”
“Where is Matteo?”
“He was here.”
“When?”
“Yesterday.”
“Where did he go?”
“He left voluntarily.”
Elena stared.
“Why?”
“Because he wanted to find his sister.”
Her eyes filled.
“He knows about me?”
“He knows everything.”
The old man handed her a letter.
It was from Matteo.
Dear Elena,
I have spent my life knowing I was hidden from someone.
I never knew who.
Then three days ago, I was told about you.
I found photographs.
Your mother.
Arthur Moretti.
Me.
You.
I don't know why they separated us.
But I know this:
Someone is still afraid of what our family could expose.
Don't trust the first person who tells you they are protecting you.
Elena read the final sentence twice.
I will find you.
She folded the letter.
“Where is he now?”
The old man looked at Enzo.
“With the person who has been protecting him for years.”
“Who?”
“Gabriel Bellini.”
Marco stepped forward.
“My father is dead.”
The old man shook his head.
“No.”
Silence.
“He isn't.”
The news shattered every assumption.
Gabriel Bellini had disappeared fifteen years earlier.
Everyone believed he had been killed.
But he had been alive.
And he had been protecting Matteo.
Marco looked devastated.
“Why didn't he come for me?”
The old man answered quietly.
“He believed staying away would save you.”
Marco laughed without humor.
“He sounds like every other liar in my life.”
They returned to Chicago.
Enzo's intelligence network searched Europe.
Nothing.
Then Elena received a call.
She answered.
A young man's voice spoke.
“Elena?”
Her heart stopped.
“Matteo?”
“Yes.”
“Where are you?”
“I can't tell you.”
“Please.”
“I'm close.”
“How close?”
“Close enough that I can see the Moretti tower from my window.”
Elena looked at Enzo.
Matteo continued.
“There's someone you need to meet.”
“Who?”
“Someone your mother trusted.”
“Who?”
He whispered a name.
“Marco.”
The call ended.
All three stared at each other.
Marco looked horrified.
“Why me?”
Enzo reached for his gun.
“Because someone wants us to think this is about you.”
Elena stood.
“Or because it is.”
That night, Marco disappeared.
His phone was found in the garage.
His car was still outside.
May you like
And on the driver's seat was a photograph of Gabriel Bellini.
Alive.
