Chapter 4 - Alessio Discovered Nari’s Father Had Been Investigating His Family for Twenty YearsThe attackers disappeared before the police arrived.
No bodies.
No shell casings.
No useful evidence.
Only one message painted across the warehouse wall.
ORPHEUS WAKES AT MIDNIGHT.
Nari stared at it.
Alessio stood beside her.
“What is Orpheus?”
“I don't know.”
“You recognize the name.”
“My father did.”
“That's not an answer.”
She looked at him.
“I spent my childhood hearing that word.”
“Why didn't you tell me?”
“Because I thought you would think I was insane.”
He nodded.
“I've heard worse.”
They returned to the estate.
Alessio ordered the entire building secured.
No one entered.
No one left.
Nari sat in the study with her father's notebook.
Every page contained coded notes.
Languages.
Numbers.
Shipping routes.
Names.
She translated them.
Then stopped.
One sentence appeared repeatedly.
The war begins when the son takes the throne.
She looked at Alessio.
“Your father.”
“He was involved.”
“Yes.”
“Was he a criminal?”
Nari hesitated.
“More than that.”
Alessio leaned forward.
“What do you mean?”
“He was part of an organization.”
“Which one?”
“Orpheus.”
Alessio stared.
“Explain.”
“It wasn't a mafia family.”
“Then what?”
“A network.”
“Of?”
“People who moved information, weapons, money, political influence.”
He said nothing.
Nari continued.
“Your father was supposed to become its leader.”
“But he didn't.”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because he died.”
Alessio looked away.
“Maybe he didn't die naturally.”
Nari looked at him.
“Your father was murdered.”
He went still.
“By whom?”
“My father knew.”
“Then why didn't he tell anyone?”
“He tried.”
Nari opened another page.
There was a code.
She translated it.
The son must never know who killed the father.
Alessio stared at the sentence.
“My father was killed because of Orpheus.”
“Yes.”
“Who killed him?”
“Maybe your father knew.”
“What?”
Nari pointed.
Another line.
Michael Franks trusted the wrong brother.
Alessio froze.
“My uncle?”
She nodded.
“My father's notes say the killer was someone inside the family.”
“Who?”
“Not enough information.”
Suddenly a knock sounded.
Ethan entered.
“We found another hidden room.”
“Where?”
“In the old warehouse office.”
Alessio and Nari followed.
Behind a false wall was an archive.
Documents.
Photographs.
Bank records.
A video cassette.
Alessio inserted it.
His father appeared.
Michael Franks.
Alive.
Younger.
He looked directly at the camera.
“If Alessio is watching this, then I'm already dead.”
Alessio's face changed.
His father continued.
“You must never trust the men who tell you power is inherited.”
He paused.
“It isn't.”
“Power is chosen.”
Michael looked behind him.
“I created Orpheus to stop people like them.”
“Instead, it became them.”
Alessio's hands clenched.
“Someone betrayed me.”
The video froze.
Then continued.
“His name is—”
Static.
The recording ended.
Nari stared at the screen.
“The file was damaged.”
Ethan shook his head.
“No.”
He pointed.
“Look.”
A second file.
A hidden track.
Nari translated the audio.
A whisper.
“Navarro.”
Alessio looked at her.
“The broker.”
“Yes.”
“But he was afraid.”
“Because he worked for your father.”
Alessio's expression hardened.
“And now he works for someone else.”
Nari nodded.
They had found the first connection.
Navarro.
Orpheus.
The warehouse.
Nari's father.
Alessio's father.
But there was still one missing name.
The traitor.
The person who had taken control after Michael's death.
Nari returned to the notebook.
She noticed a repeated phrase.
The smiling man.
She whispered:
“My father hated smiling men.”
Alessio looked at her.
“Why?”
“Because he said they had nothing to fear.”
She turned the page.
A photograph fell out.
It showed Nari's father.
Alessio's father.
And one more man.
Nari stared.
She knew him.
The current chairman of the charity board that funded Franks Continental Logistics.
A man named Richard Voss.
Alessio's most trusted mentor.
Nari looked at Alessio.
He saw her expression.
“Who is he?”
“Richard Voss.”
“My uncle's closest friend.”
“No.”
Nari shook her head.
“Your father's.”
Alessio's face hardened.
“Impossible.”
“He was in the photograph.”
“People take photographs.”
“With my father.”
“That proves nothing.”
Nari pointed to the back.
There was handwriting.
Voss is Orpheus.
Silence.
Alessio stood.
For years, Richard Voss had advised him.
Helped him expand.
Protected him.
Even attended his father's funeral.
Now the same man might be responsible for both deaths.
Nari whispered:
“We have to leave.”
Alessio looked at her.
“Why?”
“Because if Voss knows we're looking, we're already dead.”
His phone rang.
Richard Voss.
Alessio answered.
“Richard.”
A warm voice replied:
“I heard there was trouble at the warehouse.”
Alessio looked at Nari.
“There was.”
“Is everyone safe?”
“For now.”
Richard laughed.
“Good.”
Then came a sentence in French.
Only Nari understood it.
Kill the girl before dawn.
She looked at Alessio.
Her face went white.
Richard continued in English.
“Rest well, Alessio.”
The call ended.
Nari whispered:
“He just ordered my death.”
Alessio stood perfectly still.
May you like
Then he said:
“Then we won't sleep.”
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