Chapter 6 - The Child They Thought Would Break the Wolf
The next morning, Alessandro ordered a DNA test.
I refused at first.
Not because I feared the result.
Because I feared what would happen if it confirmed something none of us understood.
Emma was three.
She deserved a childhood, not a war over bloodlines.
But Alessandro did not force me.
He simply said:
“I want truth.”
So did I.
The sample was taken discreetly.
While we waited, Eleanor told us everything she knew.
Years earlier, Alessandro's father had discovered a trafficking network using several legitimate Moretti businesses as cover.
He tried to destroy it.
Someone inside his organization betrayed him.
His wife, Elena, discovered the betrayal.
She attempted to expose it.
Then both disappeared.
Alessandro had been told they were dead.
But Eleanor had always doubted the story.
“The person behind it was patient,” she said.
“Who?”
“I don't know.”
“Then why target Emma?”
Eleanor looked at the child.
“Because whoever runs this operation believes blood matters.”
I frowned.
“How?”
“Your daughter may possess information no one else knows.”
“That is impossible.”
“Not information she remembers.”
She touched Bunny.
“Evidence.”
The microSD card contained more files.
One was an old photograph.
Elena Moretti stood beside a woman I recognized.
My mother.
I froze.
“No.”
Alessandro looked at me.
“You know her?”
“That is my mother.”
Eleanor stared.
“You said your mother died before Emma was born.”
“She did.”
“Then why is she in this photo?”
I couldn't breathe.
I remembered my childhood.
The locked box my mother had kept.
The warnings never to open it.
The blue rabbit she had told me to keep.
The bracelet.
I had always thought those were simply sentimental things.
Maybe they weren't.
That night, I called my aunt.
She answered on the third ring.
“Why are you calling?”
I heard fear in her voice.
“Aunt Claire, I need to know something.”
Silence.
“About Mom.”
Another silence.
Then:
“Don't ask.”
My heart began racing.
“Why?”
“Because you found them.”
“Found who?”
“Alessandro.”
I stared at him.
He was standing across the room.
My aunt continued.
“He has no idea what he is.”
“What does that mean?”
“Your mother worked for his family.”
“I know.”
“No.”
Her voice broke.
“She protected him.”
Alessandro came closer.
I put the phone on speaker.
“Who is he?”
My aunt whispered:
“Elena's son.”
Alessandro went pale.
“What?”
My aunt began crying.
“You were supposed to meet years ago.”
“Who stopped it?”
“Your father.”
I felt as if the floor disappeared.
“My father knew?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“He was part of the organization that took Elena.”
Alessandro's face became deadly.
“Where is he?”
My aunt disconnected.
I looked at Alessandro.
His expression terrified me.
Not anger.
Something deeper.
Betrayal.
“Your father,” I whispered.
He shook his head.
“My father died eighteen years ago.”
“Then someone else used his name.”
Before we could continue, Gabriel entered.
“Boss.”
“What?”
“The DNA result.”
Alessandro took the envelope.
He opened it.
Read.
Read again.
Then looked at me.
“What?”
His voice was barely audible.
“Emma is not my daughter.”
Relief and confusion collided inside me.
Then he continued.
“But she is related to my family.”
“How?”
He gave the report to me.
The phrase was highlighted.
PATERNAL RELATIONSHIP CONSISTENT WITH A HALF-SIBLING OF A DESCENDANT OF ELENA MORETTI.
I couldn't understand.
Eleanor did.
“Your mother.”
I looked at her.
“She was Elena's sister.”
I stared.
My mother had never mentioned any sister.
Alessandro looked at Emma.
“She isn't connected to my blood through me.”
He swallowed.
“She is connected through Elena.”
Emma walked into the room.
“Daddy Wolf?”
Alessandro immediately crouched.
“What?”
She held Bunny.
“I found secret.”
Everyone froze.
“Where?”
She pulled open the rabbit's ear.
A tiny folded piece of paper fell out.
Alessandro picked it up.
It contained a handwritten sentence.
THE FIFTH NAME IS NOT A PERSON. IT IS A PLACE.
Below it was an address.
Alessandro recognized it.
“The old Moretti chapel.”
Eleanor's eyes widened.
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because that place was sealed after the fire.”
Alessandro stood.
“We're going.”
I stepped forward.
“I'll come.”
“No.”
“It's about my daughter.”
“Exactly.”
“You can't leave me here.”
He stared at me.
“I won't.”
His answer surprised me.
He took my hand.
“Then you stay beside me.”
We drove to the chapel at midnight.
The building stood abandoned beneath a storm-black sky.
The front doors were chained.
Alessandro cut the lock.
Inside, the air smelled of ash.
At the altar was a stone carving.
A wolf.
Beneath it, a small rabbit.
Emma pointed.
“Bunny.”
Alessandro knelt.
There was a hidden compartment.
Inside was a ledger.
Names.
Payments.
Dates.
And one final entry:
PROJECT LITTLE WOLF.
Beside it was my mother's name.
Then Emma's.
Then Alessandro's.
He stared at the page.
“They've been planning this for years.”
I whispered:
“Since before Emma was born.”
“No.”
He looked at me.
“Since before you met me.”
A sound came from behind us.
Clapping.
Slow.
Deliberate.
A man's voice emerged from the darkness.
“Finally.”
Alessandro drew his weapon.
A figure stepped into the moonlight.
Luca.
But Luca had been left at the mansion.
The man smiled.
“You never noticed how easy it was to pretend to be your loyal soldier.”
Alessandro's gun rose.
The man removed his disguise.
It was not Luca.
It was Gabriel.
Alessandro froze.
“The security chief.”
May you like
Gabriel smiled.
“The Wolf really can be taught.”
