Chapter 5 - The Bullet That Changed Everything
Lorenzo moved before anyone else.
He grabbed Clara and pulled her behind a stone pillar.
Guards surrounded Rosie.
Victor disappeared through a side door.
Another shot cracked through the glass.
Someone screamed.
Lorenzo looked around.
Rosie was safe.
Clara was safe.
Then he saw blood.
Not theirs.
Victor stood near the greenhouse exit, one hand pressed against his shoulder.
He had been shot.
"Victor!"
Lorenzo ran after him.
But the older man stumbled into the trees.
Within seconds, he was gone.
The shooter had vanished too.
Matteo arrived.
"Boss!"
"Find the shooter."
"What about Victor?"
"Find him too."
Clara clutched Rosie against her chest.
The child was crying.
Lorenzo returned to them.
He crouched.
"Rosie."
She reached for him.
"Daddy."
The word stopped him.
It was the first time she had called him that.
He lifted her carefully.
"I've got you."
Rosie buried her face against his neck.
Clara watched them.
Something in her broke open.
Not pain.
Something warmer.
Something she had spent years denying herself.
That night, Rosie slept between them.
Lorenzo sat beside the bed.
Clara stood by the window.
"He called you Daddy."
"I heard."
"She doesn't know what it means."
"She knows."
Clara smiled sadly.
"She has been waiting."
"For me?"
"Maybe."
Lorenzo looked at the child.
"I missed everything."
"You can still be there for what's left."
He looked at Clara.
"I want all of it."
She didn't answer.
"Clara."
"I don't know if I can trust you."
"You shouldn't trust me because I ask."
"What should I trust?"
He looked at Rosie.
"That I'll show you."
A knock came.
Matteo entered with a file.
"We found Victor."
"Alive?"
"Yes."
"Where?"
"At the old church."
Lorenzo stood.
Matteo added:
"He wants to speak to Clara."
Lorenzo's eyes hardened.
"No."
Clara surprised him.
"Yes."
He turned.
"Clara."
"If Victor knows what happened to my father, I need to know."
"I'm coming with you."
"I know."
They went together.
Victor was sitting in an empty pew.
His shoulder had been bandaged.
He looked exhausted.
"I don't have much time," he said.
Lorenzo sat opposite him.
"Start talking."
Victor looked at Clara.
"Your father wasn't killed by the Vitalis family."
"Then who killed him?"
"People inside your father's company."
Clara froze.
Victor continued.
"He discovered they were laundering money through shell companies. He threatened to expose them."
"Why did you get involved?"
"Because he came to me."
Victor looked at Lorenzo.
"He asked me to protect his family."
Clara's eyes filled.
"My father knew you?"
"He trusted me."
"Then why did you disappear?"
Victor looked ashamed.
"Because I made a mistake."
"What mistake?"
"I trusted someone else."
"Who?"
Victor hesitated.
Then whispered:
"Your mother's brother."
Clara's breath caught.
"My uncle Daniel?"
Victor nodded.
"Daniel arranged the attack. He wanted your father's company."
Lorenzo frowned.
"And Rosie?"
Victor looked at him.
"Daniel discovered Clara was pregnant."
The room went silent.
"He believed the child carried evidence."
"What evidence?" Lorenzo asked.
Victor looked at Clara.
"Your father left something with you."
"I don't have anything."
Victor shook his head.
"You do."
He pointed toward her necklace.
Clara touched it.
"This?"
"Your father gave it to you before he died."
Lorenzo noticed the tiny silver pendant.
Victor whispered:
"Open it."
Clara's fingers trembled.
The pendant clicked.
Inside was a micro-SD card.
And a photograph.
The photograph showed Clara's father standing beside Daniel.
On the back was a handwritten sentence.
Trust no one who says the Vitalis family is your enemy.
Lorenzo stared at it.
Then his phone rang.
A guard shouted through the line.
"Boss! The estate has been breached."
Lorenzo stood.
"Where's Rosie?"
Silence.
May you like
Then:
"She's gone."
