Chapter 5 - The Brother She Was Told to FearMaggie stared at the page.
Theo.
Sebastian's younger brother.
The man who had been helping them.
The man who had brought them documents.
The man who had warned Sebastian about the surveillance.
Could he be the traitor?
She didn't want to believe it.
Sebastian noticed immediately.
“What happened?”
She showed him the page.
He stared.
Then looked toward the door.
“No.”
“You're sure?”
“I know my brother.”
“Do you?”
His expression changed.
She immediately regretted the question.
But Sebastian didn't get angry.
“I know what you're asking.”
“Do you believe him?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because Theo has had a hundred chances to betray me.”
“And?”
“He never did.”
Maggie looked at the paper.
“Maybe he waited.”
Sebastian sighed.
“We investigate.”
They didn't confront Theo.
They watched him.
For two weeks.
No suspicious movements.
No unusual transactions.
No secret meetings.
Then Maggie noticed something.
Theo always wore an old silver watch.
The same watch appeared in a photograph from the Moretti archives.
She asked him.
“Where did you get it?”
Theo froze.
“My father.”
“When?”
“Before he died.”
“Did he know my father?”
Theo's expression changed.
“Yes.”
“How well?”
“Very.”
Maggie looked at Sebastian.
Theo sighed.
“Your father saved my life.”
“How?”
“When I was seventeen.”
He told them the story.
Theo had been kidnapped.
Adrian Moretti rescued him.
Then he disappeared.
Maggie realized.
The Moretti and Rinaldi families had been connected long before the war.
Someone had deliberately destroyed that connection.
She asked:
“Who?”
Theo answered:
“My mother.”
Sebastian froze.
Their mother.
She had been dead too.
Theo continued:
“She believed Adrian Moretti wanted to take control.”
“Was she wrong?”
“Yes.”
Maggie looked at the letter.
“Then who betrayed them?”
Theo shook his head.
“I don't know.”
Maggie finally understood the significance of the red book.
It wasn't about money.
It was about identity.
A list of names.
People who had infiltrated the families.
People who had remained hidden.
At the bottom was one name.
Malcolm Veseri.
Sebastian looked at Maggie.
“We have him.”
“No.”
She shook her head.
“Not enough.”
“Why?”
“Because Malcolm isn't the person controlling everything.”
She pointed to a note.
Beside Malcolm's name:
The Shepherd.
Sebastian frowned.
“Who is that?”
“My father used that name.”
“Who is it?”
“I don't know.”
Then Maggie remembered.
A childhood memory.
Her father kneeling in front of her.
“Never trust the woman who feeds the sheep.”
She had never understood.
Now she did.
The Shepherd was a woman.
Someone inside their circle.
Sebastian ordered a full audit.
Every female associate.
Every executive.
Every family connection.
Then the answer appeared.
Selena Veseri.
She wasn't Malcolm's pawn.
She was The Shepherd.
Maggie confronted her.
Selena didn't deny it.
“I wanted the Rinaldis and Morettis to destroy each other.”
“Why?”
“My father believed your families killed his brother.”
“That's not true.”
“I know now.”
“Then why continue?”
Selena's eyes filled.
“Because by the time I learned the truth, I had already become what he made me.”
Maggie stared.
“Where is Malcolm?”
“Gone.”
“Where?”
“His final move.”
“What move?”
“He wants Sebastian.”
Maggie's stomach dropped.
“Why?”
“To make you choose.”
“Choose what?”
Selena smiled sadly.
“Your family.”
“Or your husband.”
That night, Sebastian was kidnapped.
Maggie received the message.
One hour. No police.
She stared at the screen.
Then picked up her coat.
Theo stopped her.
“You're not going alone.”
“I have to.”
“No.”
She looked at him.
“They took my husband.”
Theo stepped aside.
“You're right.”
Maggie left.
For the first time, she wasn't the shy woman sitting quietly at the end of the table.
May you like
She was a Moretti.
And someone had taken the man she loved.
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