Chapter 4 - The Bodyguard With a Hidden Allegiance
Valentine turned slowly.
Luca stared at him.
For nine years, Luca had stood at his side.
He had taken bullets meant for him.
He had slept outside his bedroom during threats.
He had driven him through hostile territory without ever asking questions.
Now his weapon was pointed directly at Valentine's back.
Elena stepped behind Valentine.
Margaret whispered, "I tried to stop him."
Luca's expression did not change.
"Margaret, you talk too much."
Valentine's voice was calm.
"Lower the gun."
"No."
"Why?"
"Because this has gone too far."
"How long?"
Luca smiled sadly.
"Long enough."
Elena suddenly recognized him.
"My father knew you."
Luca's eyes moved toward her.
"Yes."
"You were there the night he disappeared."
Silence.
Valentine stared.
"You killed Michael Bell?"
"I delivered him to the people who wanted him."
"Who?"
Luca didn't answer.
Valentine took one step forward.
"Who?"
Luca raised his gun.
"Don't."
Valentine stopped.
Elena's face was wet with tears.
"My father trusted you."
"Your father trusted the wrong people."
"Did you kill him?"
"No."
"Then where is he?"
Luca looked at her.
"Dead."
Elena made a broken sound.
Valentine's eyes hardened.
"Who ordered it?"
Luca hesitated.
That hesitation told Valentine there was another name.
"The person you still refuse to suspect," Luca said.
"Who?"
Luca smiled.
"Your father."
Valentine froze.
"My father?"
"Yes."
It sounded impossible.
But Luca continued.
"Your father knew there was corruption inside the family. He believed the only way to save the Moretti organization was to sacrifice the people closest to him."
Margaret shook her head.
"That's a lie."
Luca looked at her.
"You've known this for years."
"No."
"Then ask yourself why Isabella died."
Valentine's chest tightened.
"Enough."
Luca took a breath.
"Your father discovered your mother was planning to expose the organization. He ordered her silenced."
Valentine felt as though the floor had shifted.
"My father loved her."
"He loved power more."
Margaret shouted, "He didn't order her death!"
Luca's expression changed.
"You still don't understand."
Then another voice came from the chapel doorway.
"He didn't."
Everyone turned.
A man stood there.
Valentine's uncle, Gabriel Moretti.
He was supposed to have died eleven years earlier.
Valentine stared.
"Uncle Gabriel?"
Gabriel smiled.
"Hello, Valentino."
Valentine's entire childhood seemed to rush back.
Gabriel had been the charismatic younger brother of Valentine's father, the man who used to take him fishing, teach him cards, and tell him stories.
Until the day he disappeared.
Everyone had believed he had been murdered.
Valentine lowered his weapon.
"You're alive."
"Obviously."
Gabriel walked toward him.
Luca lowered his gun.
"You are the one behind this," Valentine said.
Gabriel shook his head.
"No."
"Then explain."
Gabriel looked at Elena.
"Your father found me."
She stared.
"Michael?"
"Yes."
"What happened?"
"He discovered your mother had been poisoned."
Elena covered her mouth.
Gabriel continued.
"Isabella knew she was dying. She also knew the people responsible had infiltrated every layer of the family. She trusted only a handful of people."
"My mother never trusted you," Valentine said.
Gabriel smiled.
"Because your mother knew I was not innocent."
That stunned him.
"What did you do?"
"I built the organization that became the Moretti empire's darker side."
Valentine's jaw tightened.
"So you were part of it."
"Yes."
"But you didn't kill Isabella."
"No."
"Then who did?"
Gabriel looked at Luca.
Luca removed his jacket.
On his left shoulder was a scar.
Elena recognized it.
"My father told me about that scar."
Luca's face went still.
"You were there."
"I was."
"Where?"
"The night Michael disappeared."
Gabriel interrupted.
"There's something you both need to understand. Michael wasn't killed by the Morettis."
"Who killed him?"
"A woman named Celeste Varga."
Valentine had heard the name.
Everyone in the city had.
Celeste was known as a fixer, financier, and broker who specialized in making powerful people's problems disappear.
She had worked with judges, executives, politicians, and criminal families.
Gabriel spoke quietly.
"Celeste built a network inside the Moretti organization. She wanted access to our shipping routes and financial accounts. Isabella discovered her."
"And Michael?"
"He was helping Isabella."
Elena whispered, "So why did he disappear?"
"Because Celeste kidnapped him."
Valentine looked at Luca.
"And you?"
"I was assigned to rescue him."
"What happened?"
Luca closed his eyes.
"I was too late."
Silence.
Gabriel stepped closer.
"Your mother knew she was next."
"Then why didn't she run?"
"Because she believed you would be killed if she disappeared."
Valentine looked at the floor.
His mother had not stayed because she was weak.
She had stayed because she thought she was protecting him.
Elena suddenly remembered something.
"The bracelet."
Everyone looked at her.
"What about it?"
"My father said the bracelet contained the proof."
Gabriel's face changed.
"What proof?"
Elena stared at him.
"A name."
Gabriel stepped forward.
"Where is it?"
"I don't know."
Valentine remembered the note.
THE BRACELET REMEMBERS.
He turned toward the fireplace.
His mother had once shown him how the bracelet clasp worked.
He rushed to the study.
The emerald bracelet was not there.
But the old fireplace had a loose brick.
Valentine pulled it free.
Inside was a small metal capsule.
He opened it.
A microchip.
And one handwritten name.
CELESTE VARGA.
Beneath it was another line.
SHE HAS ONE OF US.
Elena stared at the message.
"One of who?"
Gabriel's face was grim.
"Someone inside this house."
Valentine looked around.
Then he realized what was missing.
Margaret.
She had disappeared during the confusion.
Luca turned pale.
"She knows."
Valentine's voice hardened.
"Find her."
Twenty minutes later, the security team discovered that the eastern garage door had been forced open.
A vehicle was missing.
Inside the garage was one thing Margaret had left behind.
A photograph of Elena as a little girl.
May you like
On the back were four words.
SHE WAS NEVER THE TARGET.
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