Chapter 5 - The Father Who Was Supposed to Be DeadAlessandro's father had supposedly died twelve years earlier.
Heart failure.
Private funeral.
Closed coffin.
No autopsy.
Daniel revealed the truth.
The Moretti patriarch had faked his death to escape a federal investigation.
Vittorio had helped him.
The man without the wolf had been the real architect.
He had used Vittorio as his public shield.
He had manipulated Alessandro and Matteo since childhood.
And now he wanted Emma.
Because Emma was the last uncontested bloodline.
Alessandro refused to believe it.
Until the photograph was analyzed.
It was authentic.
The date was real.
The man standing beside Thomas was alive.
And he had been sending money through companies connected to the laundry network.
I watched Alessandro break for the first time.
Not loudly.
Quietly.
He sat alone in the classroom for an hour.
Then he asked me:
“Do you hate my family?”
I answered honestly.
“I hate what they did.”
“What about me?”
I looked at him.
“You are not your father.”
“But I carry his name.”
“So did Thomas.”
That answer saved something inside him.
Daniel told us where the old man lived.
A remote property in Connecticut.
We went there at dawn.
No army.
No convoy.
Just Alessandro, Gabriel, Daniel, me and Emma.
The house was empty.
Except for one room.
A nursery.
Inside were photographs.
Emma.
Me.
Thomas.
Alessandro.
Every stage of our lives had been monitored.
Someone had been watching us since Emma's birth.
On the wall hung a single photograph of Emma washing Alessandro's shirt.
I felt sick.
The laundry-room scene had been recorded.
The bullet.
The cottage.
Everything.
Someone had wanted Alessandro emotionally attached to Emma.
But why?
Because they wanted to use her as leverage.
Then we found the final message.
BRING THE GIRL TO THE OLD HARBOR.
Alessandro stared at it.
“We're not taking her.”
I shook my head.
“No.”
Emma looked up.
“I can help.”
We both turned.
She was holding the yellow crayon.
The same one from the safe room.
“Mama said I big girl.”
I smiled through tears.
“You are brave.”
“But not alone.”
May you like
She shook her head.
“Never alone.”
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