Chapter 4 - The Woman Who Was Supposed to Be Dead
The old man was taken into custody.
Dominic ordered everyone out of the room except Sadi, Rosa, and himself.
The man gave his name as Thomas Vale.
He had once worked for the Russo family.
According to him, he had spent more than twenty years hiding a truth that had nearly cost him his life.
Sadi sat across from him.
“Who was my mother?”
Thomas looked at Rosa.
Rosa was pale.
“Tell her,” Dominic demanded.
Thomas swallowed.
“Her name was Elena Bellini.”
Rosa closed her eyes.
Sadi felt something crack inside her.
“Bellini?”
Rosa nodded.
“She was my younger sister.”
Silence.
Sadi stared at her.
“You are my aunt?”
Rosa began to cry.
“Yes.”
Dominic turned toward his mother.
“You knew?”
“I suspected.”
“When?”
“Years ago.”
Dominic was furious.
“Why didn't you tell me?”
“Because I was protecting her.”
Sadi stood.
“You knew who I was?”
Rosa whispered.
“I knew who your mother was.”
“That is not the same thing.”
“No.”
Tears rolled down Rosa’s cheeks.
“But I knew you had her eyes.”
Sadi backed away.
Her whole world had been rewritten in five minutes.
Her mother was alive when she was a child.
Then she vanished.
Her identity had been changed.
She had grown up moving from home to home.
Why?
Thomas gave the answer.
“Elena tried to leave the family.”
Rosa shook her head.
“She wanted a normal life.”
“She fell in love with a man from the Moretti side,” Thomas said.
Dominic’s expression turned to stone.
Sadi stared.
“So my father was a Moretti?”
“Yes.”
The room became colder.
Dominic looked at her.
She saw the calculations in his eyes.
“Who was he?”
Thomas hesitated.
“Marco Moretti.”
Dominic’s face changed.
That name mattered.
Marco Moretti had once been one of the most feared men in Chicago.
He had disappeared twenty-two years ago.
Most believed he was dead.
“He is alive,” Thomas said.
Sadi whispered:
“My father is alive?”
“No.”
Thomas shook his head.
“He died.”
Relief and grief collided inside her.
Then Thomas revealed the real secret.
Marco had not been killed by Dominic’s family.
He had been betrayed by his own.
And before he died, he had left evidence proving someone inside the Moretti organization had been manipulating both families for years.
That evidence had vanished.
Now someone believed Sadi could lead them to it.
Dominic understood immediately.
“This was never about the diner.”
Thomas looked at him.
“No.”
“They wanted Sadi.”
“Yes.”
Dominic turned to Sadi.
“They were watching you because they believed you inherited something.”
“I don't have anything.”
“Maybe you do.”
Later that night, Sadi searched through the only possession she had carried from childhood.
An old metal locket.
She had always assumed it was sentimental.
She opened it.
Inside was a tiny folded photograph.
A symbol had been drawn on the back.
Dominic looked at it.
His face went pale.
“That mark.”
“What?”
“I've seen it.”
“Where?”
“In my father's old records.”
The symbol represented an underground account.
Not money.
Information.
Names.
Deals.
Bribes.
Evidence.
The hidden archive that could destroy both family empires.
Suddenly, the entire room made sense.
The Morettis had been searching for the archive.
The Russo family had been trying to keep it hidden.
And Sadi might be the only person who could unlock it.
Dominic stepped closer.
“You need to leave Chicago.”
Sadi shook her head.
“No.”
“This isn't negotiable.”
“I am done running.”
“You don't understand.”
“I understand perfectly.”
She pointed at him.
“You married me because you wanted to protect me.”
“Yes.”
“Then protect me by standing beside me, not sending me away.”
Dominic went silent.
Sadi's voice softened.
“I have spent my whole life feeling like a person nobody chose.”
She looked at him.
“You chose me.”
His jaw tightened.
“Don't say things you don't understand.”
“I understand more than you think.”
He touched her cheek.
The gesture was slow.
Careful.
“I chose you because you saved my mother.”
“And?”
His thumb brushed away a tear.
“And because I can't imagine this house without you anymore.”
Then he kissed her.
Not like a mafia boss claiming a possession.
Like a man admitting he had lost control of his heart.
When they separated, Sadi whispered:
“This marriage was supposed to be fake.”
Dominic answered:
“Not anymore.”
Before morning, a shot shattered the bedroom window.
Dominic pulled Sadi down.
A second bullet hit the wall.
A note had been taped to the glass.
YOU HAVE TEN DAYS.
FIND THE ARCHIVE.
OR SHE DIES.
Dominic crumpled the note.
Sadi looked at him.
“They're going to come for me.”
He nodded.
“Yes.”
May you like
She took his hand.
“Then let them.”
