Chapter 4 - The Man Without the WolfWe thought Vittorio was the end.
He wasn't.
He was only the door.
The real enemy had been standing behind it.
For weeks, federal investigators dismantled the financial network Vittorio had created.
Bank accounts were frozen.
Companies were seized.
Associates disappeared.
But the mysterious second man remained untouched.
No name.
No photograph.
No symbol.
No fingerprints.
Only one message.
It appeared on Alessandro's private phone at 2:13 a.m.
VITTORIO WAS OLD. I AM PATIENT.
Alessandro stared at it.
I watched him from across the room.
“Who could send that?”
“I don't know.”
“Who has access to your phone?”
“No one.”
“Then he knows your systems.”
Alessandro looked toward Emma.
She was asleep beside the fireplace.
“He knows our routines.”
The realization frightened me.
We had escaped the mansion.
But the danger had followed us.
Three days later, Emma disappeared.
Not from the school.
From a grocery store.
We had gone out with security.
There were cameras everywhere.
One moment Emma held my hand.
The next, the lights went out.
Seven seconds.
When they returned, she was gone.
I screamed.
Alessandro appeared from the next aisle.
He saw my empty hand.
His face changed.
Security locked the building.
Police arrived.
Nothing.
Then a phone rang.
Alessandro answered.
A man's voice spoke.
“You should have taken Vittorio's advice.”
“Who are you?”
“Someone your brother trusted.”
Alessandro's eyes became cold.
“Where is my niece?”
“Safe.”
“If you touch her—”
“You will do exactly what Vittorio taught you.”
The call ended.
I collapsed.
But then I remembered something.
Emma had a habit.
Whenever she was frightened, she sang.
The same lullaby.
I closed my eyes.
There.
Faintly.
From somewhere behind the loading area.
Singing.
We followed the sound.
A delivery truck stood with its engine running.
Inside was Emma.
Unharmed.
Beside her sat an old man.
He raised both hands.
“I didn't take her.”
“Then why is she here?”
“She followed me.”
Emma looked up.
“He knows Papa's song.”
The man's name was Daniel Rinaldi.
Thomas's uncle.
And he had been searching for us for seven years.
He gave Alessandro a final piece of evidence.
A photograph.
Thomas standing beside a man I had never seen.
The man wore no wolf ring.
Daniel pointed at him.
“That is the man who killed your brother.”
Alessandro stared.
“Who is he?”
May you like
Daniel's answer silenced everyone.
“Your father.”
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