Chapter 5 - The Betrayal That Came From Inside the Family
Alessandro did not sleep.
Neither did I.
He spent the entire night in the security room, studying his father's recording.
By morning, his men had discovered something worse.
The fifth name on the list had not been erased.
Someone had deliberately burned only the section containing it.
Alessandro stared at the damaged frame.
“Can you recover it?”
Gabriel shook his head.
“Not electronically.”
“Then physically.”
They scanned old backup drives, paper archives, photographs, anything that could contain the missing identity.
I sat outside with Emma.
She was coloring.
Every few minutes she looked toward the security room.
“Daddy Wolf sad.”
“He's trying to solve something.”
“Can I make him happy?”
I smiled.
“Maybe.”
She picked up a crayon.
“What makes him happy?”
I looked through the doorway.
“Probably you.”
She jumped up.
“No running,” I warned.
She slowed down.
Then walked very dramatically.
When she entered the room, Alessandro looked up.
She held out a drawing.
“This for you.”
He took it.
“What is it?”
“Family.”
His face changed.
The drawing was simple.
Three stick figures stood beneath a crooked yellow sun.
Emma.
Me.
And Alessandro.
He stared at it for a long time.
Then Emma added:
“That's you.”
She pointed to him.
“I have wolf hair.”
Alessandro looked down.
“You do.”
Emma giggled.
Then she pointed toward the fourth corner.
“And that's the bad man.”
Alessandro's eyes narrowed.
“You drew someone?”
“Yes.”
“Who?”
She pointed to a stick figure hidden behind a house.
“He watches.”
My blood ran cold.
“When did you see him?”
“Yesterday.”
Alessandro stood.
“Where?”
Emma pointed toward the garden.
“Behind the tree.”
Security rushed outside.
They found nothing.
But beside the tree was a cigarette.
Still warm.
Alessandro picked it up.
“French brand.”
Gabriel shook his head.
“No local supplier.”
“Someone came close.”
He looked at Emma.
“And watched her.”
His voice became deadly quiet.
That afternoon, the recovered financial records revealed a series of payments.
All went through a shell company.
The name was Moretti Domestic Services.
An internal company.
The account holder was Luca Romano.
Alessandro ordered Luca brought in.
He was dragged into the interrogation room.
His face was bruised.
He looked exhausted.
“You've been framing me.”
Alessandro tossed the documents onto the table.
Luca stared.
“I didn't do this.”
“Your account received the money.”
“I don't control the account.”
“Your credentials accessed my terminal.”
“Someone cloned them.”
“Your phone received the call.”
“Someone spoofed it.”
Alessandro leaned forward.
“Do you expect me to believe everything is someone else?”
Luca stared at him.
“No.”
“Then tell me why.”
Luca was silent.
“Tell me why I found your name in my father's file.”
That broke him.
Luca looked up.
“What?”
“My father's list.”
Luca's face turned pale.
“I wasn't the fifth name.”
Alessandro froze.
“You know what I'm talking about?”
“I know who was.”
“Who?”
Luca whispered:
“Your father.”
Alessandro stared.
“What?”
“The fifth name was your father.”
“That makes no sense.”
“He was investigating his own family.”
Luca swallowed.
“He believed someone was controlling him.”
Alessandro sat down slowly.
“Who?”
Luca looked toward the mirror.
“Not in this room.”
Alessandro stood.
“What are you afraid of?”
Luca shook his head.
“I'm afraid of the person who can hear us.”
The lights went out.
Gunfire exploded.
Someone screamed.
Alessandro shoved me against the wall.
“Down!”
A bullet tore through the mirror.
Guards returned fire.
The room filled with smoke.
When the lights came back, Luca was bleeding.
But he was alive.
He pointed toward the ventilation shaft.
“He came through there.”
Alessandro looked.
A tiny camera was hidden behind the grate.
Gabriel removed it.
Luca looked at me.
“That's why they knew.”
“What?”
“They've been listening to the entire mansion.”
My stomach dropped.
“How long?”
“Since before you arrived.”
Alessandro stared at the camera.
Then at me.
Then Emma.
His face became stone.
“Find every device.”
The search took hours.
They found microphones in hallways, cameras in the laundry room, one beneath the cottage floorboards.
But the final discovery came from Emma's room.
Behind the painting above her bed was a transmitter.
Alessandro held it.
He looked like he wanted to burn the entire world.
“This was installed today.”
I stepped closer.
“Then whoever did it is still inside.”
He nodded.
“And they want us to know that.”
That evening, Luca asked to speak privately.
Alessandro allowed it.
Luca sat across from us.
“I was ordered to leak small pieces of information.”
“By whom?”
“My sister.”
I frowned.
Alessandro went still.
“Your sister died.”
Luca looked at him.
“No.”
“What?”
“She disappeared.”
Luca's voice shook.
“They told us she was killed.”
“When?”
“Fifteen years ago.”
The same year Alessandro's mother supposedly died.
I looked at Alessandro.
He understood.
Luca reached into his pocket.
He removed an old photograph.
A young woman stood beside Alessandro's mother.
Behind them was a little girl.
And around the little girl's wrist was a bracelet.
I looked at Emma.
She wore the exact same bracelet.
My breath stopped.
I grabbed Emma's wrist.
Alessandro looked at the bracelet.
“Where did she get that?”
I stared.
“She was wearing it when she was born.”
Silence.
Luca whispered:
“Then your daughter isn't just being used.”
Alessandro's gaze lifted.
“What are you saying?”
Luca pointed at Emma.
“I think your enemies chose her because they know something about her family.”
I held Emma close.
“What family?”
May you like
Luca looked at Alessandro.
“The Morettis.”
