Chapter 5 - The Man Who Had Been Dead for Seven Years

The footsteps stopped outside the room.

Matteo raised his gun.

Alina held Leo.

Vivian stood behind them.

The door opened.

A man entered.

Older.

Gray at the temples.

A thin scar ran along his jaw.

Matteo's face turned white.

"Father."

Alina felt a cold wave move through her.

Anton DeLuca smiled.

"I wondered when you'd finally figure it out."

Matteo's gun rose.

"You should be dead."

"I was."

"Who's body was buried?"

"Someone who owed me a favor."

Alina stared at him.

"So you faked your death."

Anton looked at her.

"No. I disappeared."

"Because Sofia found out?"

His smile vanished.

"Your sister was clever."

"She is alive?"

"Was."

Alina's heart broke.

"Where is she?"

Anton stepped forward.

"Not where you think."

Matteo's finger tightened against the trigger.

"What did you do to her?"

"I didn't kill her."

"Then where is she?"

Anton looked at Alina.

"Your sister is the reason you're still alive."

Alina froze.

"What?"

"She made a deal."

"What deal?"

"She gave me something I wanted."

"Leo?"

"No."

Alina's blood chilled.

"Then what?"

Anton smiled.

"You."

Matteo looked at him sharply.

"Explain."

"When Sofia discovered the operation, she threatened to expose everything. I couldn't allow that. So I offered her a bargain. She disappeared, and you lived."

Alina shook her head.

"No."

"Yes."

"You expect me to believe she sacrificed herself for me?"

"She did."

"Where is she?"

Anton did not answer.

Matteo fired.

The shot struck the wall beside Anton's head.

Guards rushed into the room.

Anton disappeared through a side corridor.

"Get him!"

Matteo handed Leo to Alina.

"Stay here."

She grabbed his arm.

"No."

"I have to go."

"I'm coming."

"Alina."

"I am done standing in rooms while men decide my life."

He stared at her.

Something passed between them.

Then he nodded.

They ran.

The chase ended in a hidden tunnel beneath the church.

Anton had escaped.

But he left something behind.

A small video recorder.

Matteo picked it up.

Sofia's face appeared on the screen.

She looked thinner than Alina remembered.

But alive.

Alina fell to her knees.

"Sofia."

Her sister looked directly into the camera.

"Alina, if you're watching this, Anton has found you."

She paused.

"I need you to understand something."

Tears filled Alina's eyes.

"I didn't abandon you."

The video continued.

"I was trying to keep you alive."

Sofia revealed the truth.

Their mother had discovered Anton's trafficking operation.

She had helped dozens of women escape.

One of those women was Clara.

Clara became pregnant.

Her son was Leo.

But Anton wanted the baby because Clara possessed evidence against him.

Sofia helped Clara escape.

Matteo married Clara to protect her.

Then Clara died.

Sofia took Leo.

Their mother hid records.

Then she died under suspicious circumstances.

Sofia became the final witness.

But before she vanished, she learned something even worse.

Anton had a partner.

Someone inside the DeLuca family.

Someone who had access to every safe house.

Every bank account.

Every escape route.

Every person they tried to protect.

Sofia looked into the camera.

"Her name is Isabella."

Alina looked at Matteo.

His expression collapsed.

"No."

Sofia continued.

"Before you blame her, listen."

The video shifted.

Isabella appeared.

She was younger.

Terrified.

Anton stood behind her.

He was holding a gun.

"I forced your mother to cooperate," Sofia said. "She had no choice."

Alina's heart broke.

Matteo lowered his head.

Sofia spoke again.

"Your father threatened to kill you."

Matteo stared at the screen.

"For years, he used that threat to control everyone."

The video ended.

Alina wiped her tears.

"My mother knew."

"Yes."

"She knew you."

"Yes."

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"Because Sofia never wanted you pulled into this."

Alina turned.

"You knew she was alive."

"I suspected."

"When?"

"Three months ago."

She stared at him.

He looked ashamed.

"I found a coded message."

"And you hid it."

"I didn't know if it was real."

"You could have told me."

"Yes."

"Why didn't you?"

Matteo looked at her.

"Because I was afraid you'd leave."

The honesty stunned her.

He stepped closer.

"I don't know when it happened."

"What?"

"The moment you stopped being a responsibility and became the person I couldn't imagine losing."

Alina's breathing caught.

"This isn't the time."

"I know."

"Then don't say things like that."

"I tried not to."

Leo made a sleepy little sound in her arms.

Matteo looked at him.

Then at her.

"Our lives are already tangled."

Alina looked away.

"That doesn't mean we belong together."

"No."

His voice softened.

"It means we choose whether we do."

For a moment, everything else disappeared.

Then a phone rang.

Vivian answered it.

Her face changed.

"There's been an attack at the estate."

Matteo immediately straightened.

"Who?"

Vivian looked at Alina.

"Isabella."

Matteo went pale.

"Is she alive?"

"Yes."

"Leo?"

"He's safe."

Alina suddenly remembered the blanket.

The USB drive.

She pulled it out.

"Wait."

Matteo turned.

She looked at the drive.

"Sofia said the final evidence would be hidden where Anton would never look."

Matteo frowned.

"Where?"

Alina touched Leo's blanket.

"With the baby."

The stitched silver moon opened.

Inside the lining was a folded paper.

An address.

A storage facility.

And beneath it, one sentence.

The truth is in Locker 114.

Matteo stared.

Anton had been searching for years.

He had missed it.

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Because Sofia had hidden the evidence in the one place nobody would suspect.

With the child.