Chapter 3 - The Twin They Buried Without a Body Was Now Working Inside the Castellano EmpireMarin refused to believe that Luca was part of the Castellano organization.
Yet the evidence was impossible to ignore.
The file showed he had grown up under a different surname.
Luke Cross.
Born twenty-one years ago.
Orphaned at three.
Placed in foster care.
Entered the military at eighteen.
Discharged honorably at twenty-one.
Then hired as a security consultant by a Castellano-owned company.
Marin looked at Rafe.
“You know him?”
“Not personally.”
“You've met him.”
Rafe nodded.
“Several times.”
“You never recognized him?”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because he was trained not to be recognized.”
Marin stared.
Someone had deliberately hidden Luca.
But why?
Rafe's uncle had wanted one child as the heir.
The other as insurance.
What happened after that?
Nico found the answer.
“The records show Luca was moved through six homes before disappearing.”
Marin shook her head.
“Disappearing?”
“His foster father died.”
“And then?”
“Luca vanished.”
Marin closed her eyes.
“Someone took him.”
Rafe nodded.
“Probably.”
“Where?”
“We're searching.”
That afternoon, a strange thing happened.
Marin received flowers.
No card.
Only a white ribbon.
She smelled roses.
Then froze.
The scent reminded her of childhood.
Her mother.
A memory surfaced.
A woman's voice.
A hallway.
A man shouting.
Two babies crying.
Then a gunshot.
Marin stumbled backward.
Rafe caught her.
“What did you remember?”
“My mother.”
“What?”
“She was alive after I was born.”
Rafe's expression changed.
“How do you know?”
“I saw her.”
“What did she say?”
Marin struggled to remember.
“She said…”
Her eyes filled.
“She said, ‘Take my daughter. Don't let him take both of them.’”
Rafe went completely still.
“Nico.”
“Yes?”
“Find every record involving Gabriel's younger brother.”
Nico left.
Marin looked at Rafe.
“You think my uncle took Luca?”
“I think we need to consider everyone.”
“Even you?”
Rafe looked offended.
“Especially me.”
She almost smiled.
“You're strange.”
“You've noticed.”
Their relationship changed after that.
Not quickly.
Not romantically.
But something began.
Trust.
Rafe never touched her without permission.
Never lied when he could answer.
And every time Marin became frightened, he moved closer without asking her to be brave.
Meanwhile the empire began to crack.
Someone was leaking information.
Shipments were intercepted.
Accounts were compromised.
Three senior men disappeared.
The Castellano organization had survived wars, prosecutions, betrayals, and rival families.
But now someone was attacking from inside.
Rafe blamed his uncle.
Until Luca appeared.
He walked into the headquarters at 11:37 p.m.
Marin recognized him immediately.
Not because she had seen his photograph.
Because he had her eyes.
Same gray-green.
Same slight tilt.
He looked at Rafe.
Then at Marin.
Nobody spoke.
Marin whispered:
“Luca?”
The man's face changed.
He had spent years learning not to react.
Yet tears appeared immediately.
“Marin.”
She crossed the room.
He stepped toward her.
They stopped inches apart.
Then hugged.
Marin cried against his shoulder.
Luca held her tightly.
“I thought you were dead.”
“So did I.”
“How did you know?”
“I saw your photograph six years ago.”
“Where?”
“Under my father's desk.”
Marin pulled away.
“Your father?”
Luca looked at Rafe.
“Gabriel.”
Rafe stared.
“You remember him?”
“Not clearly.”
“What do you remember?”
“He gave me to someone.”
“Who?”
Luca's face tightened.
“Marcus Castellano.”
Their uncle.
Marin whispered:
“Why?”
Luca looked at her.
“Because Marcus wanted me alive.”
Rafe frowned.
“For what?”
Luca shook his head.
“I don't know.”
He reached into his jacket.
He produced an old key.
“My father gave me this.”
Rafe took it.
“What does it open?”
Luca answered:
“The room beneath the old Castellano estate.”
Rafe's face changed.
“That's impossible.”
“Why?”
“Because that room was sealed twenty years ago.”
Luca said:
“My father told me that's where he hid the truth.”
That night, the three of them went to the old estate.
Beneath the cellar was a steel door.
The key worked.
Inside was a room filled with documents.
Photographs.
Bank ledgers.
And a wall covered in names.
One name was circled.
Marcus Castellano.
Another was circled beneath it.
Nell Sullivan.
Marin stared.
“My mother?”
“No,” Rafe said.
“Nell.”
The room contained letters proving Nell had worked with Marcus.
Marin's heart broke.
“She betrayed me.”
Luca shook his head.
“No.”
Everyone turned.
“How do you know?”
“Because she protected me too.”
Luca opened a drawer.
Inside was a letter addressed to him.
He handed it to Marin.
The handwriting was Nell's.
Marin read:
I lied to protect you because your uncle threatened both children. He believed one twin could inherit the empire and the other could be used to control the heir.
Marin's hands trembled.
Then she read the final sentence.
But there was one thing Marcus feared more than either child.
Your mother's bloodline.
Marin frowned.
“What does that mean?”
Rafe found another document.
A genealogy chart.
Lucia's family descended from an old Sicilian dynasty with ties to a rival organization.
Marin stared.
Her mother hadn't been ordinary.
She had been an heir.
And if that was true, then Marin and Luca were not merely the missing Castellano twins.
They were heirs to two criminal empires.
Rafe whispered:
“That explains everything.”
A sound came from outside.
Footsteps.
Luca drew his weapon.
Rafe did the same.
Marin backed away.
Then the lights went out.
A man's voice echoed through the darkness.
“Twenty-one years.”
Marcus Castellano stepped into view.
Alive.
May you like
Smiling.
“You finally found the room.”
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