Chapter 5 - The Brother Who Was Supposed To Be Dead
Alessio had spent fifteen years believing his younger brother was dead.
Luca Franks disappeared at nineteen.
His body was never found.
Their father said the boy had betrayed the family.
Alessio had believed him.
Until Nari said otherwise.
"Why do you think Luca is alive?"
She explained what she remembered.
The man.
The Italian.
The phrase.
Tell Franks the child remembers.
Alessio spent the next twenty-four hours tearing apart old records.
He found a photograph.
Luca.
Alive.
Three years after his supposed death.
Standing in Rome beside a man Nari recognized.
Anton Bellini.
Nari touched the photograph.
"That's him."
Alessio stared.
"Bellini."
"He was with my mother."
"Then your mother knew my brother."
"Apparently."
They flew to Italy.
The trip changed everything.
Nari had spent years pretending she was ordinary.
Now she was walking through rooms filled with people who knew exactly what she was.
She translated conversations.
Read coded letters.
Identified accents.
Found patterns in accounts.
Every clue led to one place.
Naples.
An abandoned theater.
They arrived at midnight.
Luca was waiting.
He looked older.
Scarred.
But alive.
Alessio stared.
His brother smiled.
"You're late."
Alessio crossed the room.
For several seconds, neither spoke.
Then he punched Luca.
Luca laughed.
"Still angry."
"You're alive."
"Apparently."
"You let me bury you."
"I needed you to believe I was dead."
"Why?"
"Because Dad wanted me dead."
Alessio went still.
Luca turned toward Nari.
"And she is the reason you're both still breathing."
Nari frowned.
"What did I do?"
"You exist."
That answer frightened her.
Luca explained.
Nari's mother had discovered that the Bellori Syndicate had planned to assassinate Alessio's father and replace him with an internal council.
Luca tried to expose them.
Their father ordered Luca killed.
Nari's mother helped him disappear.
In exchange, Luca protected her from the syndicate.
But then she vanished.
"Where is she?" Nari asked.
Luca looked away.
"I thought she was dead."
Nari's face fell.
"I don't."
Luca reached into his coat.
He handed her a key.
"She told me to give you this if I ever found you."
Nari held it.
"What does it open?"
"The one place your mother trusted."
Alessio stared.
"Where?"
Luca smiled.
"New York."
They returned.
The key opened a vault beneath an abandoned church.
Inside were dozens of files.
Every file had one word written on it.
Nari.
She opened the first.
Her birth certificate.
Her fingerprints.
Photos.
Then she found something unexpected.
A file containing Alessio's name.
She opened it.
Inside was a handwritten note.
"He will save her."
Nari looked at Alessio.
"What does this mean?"
He took the file.
His face hardened.
"I don't know."
Another note.
"He won't understand why."
Another.
"Don't let him know."
Nari stared.
"Your father knew about me."
"Apparently."
"And he wanted you to protect me."
Alessio read the next line.
"Not because she is a witness."
His eyes moved.
"But because she is his daughter."
Silence.
Nari's heart stopped.
"What?"
Alessio looked up.
"What does that mean?"
She shook her head.
"My father?"
Luca stepped forward.
"There is more."
He opened another file.
A DNA report.
Nari's mother.
Alessio's father.
Nari.
The result was unmistakable.
Nari wasn't merely connected to the Franks family.
She was Alessio's half-sister.
Alessio stared at the paper.
Nari couldn't breathe.
"No."
Luca whispered:
"Your mother had a relationship with our father before he married."
Nari backed away.
"No."
"Your mother kept you hidden."
"Why?"
"Because our father wanted you as an heir."
She laughed bitterly.
"I grew up poor."
"Because your mother refused."
"She lied to me."
"To protect you."
Nari looked toward Alessio.
He was staring at her with an expression she had never seen.
Shock.
Pain.
Something like grief.
"You're my sister."
The words sounded impossible.
Nari sat down.
"I'm sorry."
Alessio shook his head.
"Don't."
"This is my fault."
"How?"
"I've been inside your company."
"That doesn't matter."
"I helped you."
"You saved me."
He crouched in front of her.
"I'm your brother."
She looked at him.
"I don't know how to do this."
"Neither do I."
For the first time, she believed him.
Then the lights went out.
A gunshot echoed.
Luca shouted.
Someone had entered the vault.
Alessio grabbed Nari.
"Behind me."
A voice came through the darkness.
"Family reunion."
Anton Bellini.
He stepped into the emergency light.
May you like
And beside him stood Nari's mother.
Alive.
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