Chapter 4 - The Father Behind The Fire
“Dad?”
The word escaped before I could stop it.
For twelve years, I had imagined what I would say if some impossible miracle brought Gabriel Moretti back.
I thought I would run to him.
I thought I would cry.
I thought I would demand answers.
Instead, I stood behind a concrete pillar holding my daughter while armed men fired somewhere in the darkness.
And all I felt was anger.
“Show yourself!” I shouted.
The gunfire stopped.
Emergency lights flickered on.
A man stepped onto the metal walkway above us.
Older.
Gray at the temples.
A scar ran from his left ear to his jaw.
But I knew him.
My father.
Gabriel Moretti.
He looked down at me.
Then at Mia.
His expression broke.
“Is that her?”
I tightened my arms around my daughter.
“You don't get to ask.”
Gabriel slowly descended the stairs.
Alexander raised his weapon.
“Stop.”
Gabriel did.
The two men stared at each other.
The son of Anthony Romano.
The man accused of killing him.
“Alexander,” Gabriel said.
“You're supposed to be dead.”
“So are several people involved in this.”
“Did you try to kill me today?”
“No.”
“Did you create that medical document?”
“No.”
“Your symbol was on the folder.”
“Because I gave the folder to Nicholas.”
Nicholas stepped forward.
“He's telling the truth.”
Alexander's eyes never left Gabriel.
“Why?”
“To prove who has access to your medical records.”
“Who?”
Gabriel hesitated.
That hesitation nearly got him shot.
Alexander raised the gun.
“Who?”
“Your uncle.”
Alexander went still.
“Vincent?”
Gabriel nodded.
Vincent Romano was Anthony's younger brother.
Seventy years old.
Polished.
Respectable.
The family patriarch who had helped Alexander rebuild the empire after his father's death.
I had served him coffee dozens of times.
He called Mia “little princess” whenever she visited.
Alexander lowered the gun slightly.
“Vincent raised us after my father died.”
“I know.”
“He would never—”
“He killed Anthony.”
Alexander's expression became lethal.
“You have five seconds.”
Gabriel didn't flinch.
“Your father discovered Vincent was stealing from both families. Shipping routes. Construction contracts. Cash operations. But money wasn't the real problem.”
“What was?”
“Power.”
Gabriel looked at me.
“Anthony and I had been planning to merge legitimate parts of our businesses and end the war between our families.”
I laughed bitterly.
“Our families hated each other.”
“Because Vincent made sure they did.”
Gabriel explained.
Years earlier, Vincent Romano had secretly orchestrated attacks against both families, making each believe the other was responsible.
He murdered a Moretti lieutenant.
Then killed a Romano cousin.
Retaliation followed.
Bodies accumulated.
Hatred became tradition.
By the time Anthony and Gabriel discovered the truth, dozens of people had died.
“So you met at this warehouse,” Alexander said.
“Yes.”
“To stop him?”
“To expose him.”
“What happened?”
“Vincent knew.”
Gabriel looked toward the burned ceiling.
“He planted explosives.”
Alexander's jaw tightened.
“My lungs.”
“I pulled you from the fire.”
Alexander stared.
“You?”
“You were unconscious.”
“Why don't I remember?”
“Because half the building was on top of you.”
Gabriel lifted his shirt slightly.
Burn scars covered his side.
“I carried you out through the loading dock.”
Alexander's expression shifted.
“My father?”
“He survived.”
“What?”
Gabriel nodded.
“Anthony survived the explosion.”
I felt Alexander's shock as if it were physical.
“He was hospitalized secretly. Vincent believed he was dying.”
“But he came home.”
“Yes.”
“And eleven months later—”
“Vincent poisoned him.”
Alexander looked away.
For the first time, I saw the boy beneath the man.
The son beneath the boss.
“Why didn't you stop it?”
“I tried.”
“You watched him die.”
“I was in hiding because Vincent had already put contracts on my family.”
Gabriel looked at me.
“Your mother begged me to disappear.”
“You let us believe you were dead.”
“To keep you alive.”
“You abandoned us.”
“I protected you.”
“Don't call abandonment protection.”
Pain crossed his face.
Good.
I wanted it to hurt.
I wanted him to understand every birthday.
Every graduation.
My mother's funeral.
The day Mia was born.
All the moments when I had needed a father who was secretly alive.
Alexander interrupted.
“Victoria.”
Gabriel's face changed.
“She isn't the mastermind.”
“She stole my inhaler.”
“Because someone threatened her.”
“Who?”
“Vincent.”
“Why would she cooperate?”
Gabriel looked at me.
“Because Vincent has her mother.”
Eleanor Laurent.
The woman in the photograph.
Alive.
Alexander cursed.
Suddenly everything shifted.
Victoria wasn't innocent.
But perhaps she wasn't acting freely either.
“What does Vincent want?” Alexander asked.
“Control of Romano International.”
“He already has shares.”
“Not enough.”
“If I die, Nicholas inherits.”
Gabriel shook his head.
“No.”
Nicholas looked confused.
“What?”
Gabriel removed another document.
“Your father's original trust.”
Alexander read it.
Then Nicholas.
Their expressions changed.
“What does it say?” I asked.
Alexander looked at me.
“If both Nicholas and I die without children, controlling ownership passes to Vincent.”
Gabriel nodded.
Alexander's eyes narrowed.
“Then why only attack me?”
“He wasn't.”
Silence.
Nicholas slowly touched the blood on his forehead.
Gabriel continued.
“The men who brought Nicholas here weren't mine.”
Nicholas looked at him.
“Then whose were they?”
“Vincent's.”
Alexander immediately turned toward Daniel.
“Call the estate.”
Signal had returned.
Daniel dialed.
Nothing.
Again.
Nothing.
Then his phone rang.
The estate.
He answered.
“Cross.”
His face changed.
“What?”
Alexander grabbed the phone.
“Who is this?”
A woman's voice screamed through the speaker.
Victoria.
“Alexander!”
Gunfire erupted behind her.
“Victoria!”
“Vincent has the house!”
Alexander's expression transformed.
“Where's Eleanor?”
“I don't know!”
“What does he want?”
Victoria began crying.
“He knows Isabella's daughter saw me.”
My blood froze.
Alexander looked at Mia.
Victoria continued.
“He said the girl knows too much.”
Then another voice replaced hers.
Older.
Smooth.
Familiar.
Vincent Romano.
“Alexander.”
“Touch anyone in that house and I'll bury you.”
Vincent chuckled.
“You sound exactly like your father.”
“What do you want?”
“You.”
“Fine.”
“And Gabriel.”
Gabriel stepped closer.
Vincent continued.
“Bring him back to the estate.”
“Why?”
“Because twelve years ago, two men walked out of a fire who should have died.”
A pause.
“This time, I intend to correct the mistake.”
The call ended.
I grabbed Alexander's arm.
“We are not taking Mia back there.”
“No.”
He looked at Daniel.
“Safe house.”
Gabriel shook his head.
“Vincent knows your safe houses.”
“I have one he doesn't.”
“Where?”
Alexander looked at me.
“My mother's old house.”
Then Mia spoke quietly.
“Mom?”
I looked down.
She was staring at Gabriel.
At her grandfather.
“What, sweetheart?”
“The man at the house.”
“What man?”
“The old man.”
Alexander crouched.
“Uncle Vincent?”
Mia nodded.
“He gave Miss Victoria something before you got sick.”
Every adult froze.
“What did he give her?” I asked.
Mia reached into her coat pocket.
And pulled out a tiny black flash drive.
“I took this.”
I stared at her.
“When?”
“When everybody was helping Mr. Romano.”
“Mia!”
“I thought it was important.”
Gabriel almost smiled.
Alexander didn't.
He took the drive.
“Where did you get it?”
“It fell out of the old man's pocket.”
Daniel found a laptop.
The drive contained one folder.
No password.
Alexander opened it.
Hundreds of files appeared.
Bank accounts.
Payments.
Photographs.
Medical records.
Names.
Then one video file.
Recorded the previous night.
Alexander clicked it.
Vincent appeared on screen.
He was speaking to someone outside the camera frame.
“Tomorrow Alexander dies at 12:10.”
Another voice answered.
“And the girl?”
Vincent smiled.
“If she saw anything, eliminate her mother too.”
I pulled Mia against me.
But the video continued.
The unseen person stepped into frame.
And Alexander's face lost all color.
Because Vincent's partner wasn't Victoria.
It wasn't Nicholas.
It wasn't Gabriel.
It was Daniel Cross.
May you like
Alexander's head of security.
The man standing directly behind us.
