Chapter 5 - MY DEAD SISTER'S LAST WARNING
Gabriel watched Isabella's recording without blinking.
I couldn't.
Every few seconds, I had to look away because seeing my own face speaking in another woman's voice felt like watching a life I might have lived.
Isabella sat in what appeared to be a hotel room.
She was heavily pregnant.
One hand rested over her stomach.
Leo.
“Gabriel,” she continued, “there are things I should have told you before we married.”
Matteo leaned against the wall.
Gabriel looked ready to kill him.
But he kept watching.
“My father told me my twin sister died at birth. I believed him until I found Sofia Valdez.”
My breath caught.
“Sofia told me Elina survived.”
Tears filled Isabella's eyes.
“She wouldn't tell me where Elina was. She said it wasn't safe.”
I whispered, “She knew about me.”
Gabriel glanced at me.
The recording continued.
“I spent two years searching. Then Sofia died.”
Two years.
Isabella had been looking for me when I was only ten.
“I eventually found evidence that someone had been monitoring Sofia. Someone connected to the Moretti organization.”
Gabriel's expression hardened.
“That's impossible.”
Matteo said nothing.
“After I became pregnant,” Isabella continued, “the threats started.”
She held up photographs.
Her car.
Our restaurant.
A grainy picture of Sofia.
Then a photograph of me.
At seventeen.
Leaving high school.
My blood went cold.
“They knew where I was.”
Matteo nodded.
Gabriel looked sick.
Isabella's voice trembled.
“I didn't tell Gabriel because I couldn't identify the person. If I was wrong, I would destroy his family. If I was right…”
She swallowed.
“I might destroy him.”
The recording ended.
Gabriel stared at the blank screen.
“Who?”
Matteo pushed away from the wall.
“You really don't know?”
“Say the name.”
“Uncle Renato.”
Gabriel's face changed.
Carlo had warned us about someone inside the house.
Now there was a name.
Renato Moretti.
Gabriel's uncle.
“The man who raised you after Dad died,” Matteo said. “The man who taught you the business. The man whose advice you still take.”
Gabriel shook his head.
“No.”
“He ordered the hit.”
“You have proof?”
“I have the accountant who moved the money.”
“Where?”
“Alive. For now.”
Gabriel grabbed Matteo by the collar.
“You knew this for eleven months?”
“I suspected.”
“You let me bury my wife believing it was an accident.”
“I was trying to prove it.”
“You kidnapped my son.”
“To get you away from Renato's people.”
Gabriel slammed him into the wall.
Leo whimpered.
“Stop!” I shouted.
Gabriel froze.
The baby pressed his face against me.
Matteo's eyes moved toward him.
“I would never hurt Leo.”
“You drugged my guard.”
“I paid Daniel to help me.”
Gabriel looked at Marco.
Marco nodded grimly.
“We'll verify.”
I stepped closer.
“Why does Renato care about me?”
Matteo straightened his coat.
“Money.”
Of course.
It was always money.
“The Bellandi trust controls shares in shipping, real estate, ports, and private investment funds. Isabella inherited half when she turned twenty-five.”
“And me?”
“The other half was assigned to Lucia's second daughter.”
“Who everyone thought was dead.”
“Yes.”
“If I'm alive?”
“You own it.”
“I don't want it.”
Matteo gave me a sad smile.
“That doesn't matter.”
Gabriel finally lowered his gun.
“What did Renato gain from Isabella's death?”
“Control through Leo.”
Gabriel's face hardened.
“As Leo's father, I control his assets.”
“Exactly.”
Matteo paused.
“And who advises you on every major financial decision?”
Gabriel looked away.
Renato.
I understood.
“He didn't need Gabriel dead,” I said.
Matteo looked at me.
“Originally, he did.”
Gabriel's head snapped up.
“The car bomb was meant for me.”
“Yes.”
“Then why kill Isabella?”
“She took your car that morning.”
Silence.
Gabriel closed his eyes.
A man feared across Chicago stood in an abandoned hospital and looked like he could barely remain upright.
“She took my car because hers had a flat tire.”
Matteo nodded.
Gabriel whispered, “I changed the tire the night before.”
“Someone punctured it again.”
The truth hit him.
Isabella hadn't died because of her own secrets.
She had died because someone wanted Gabriel dead.
I stepped toward him.
He backed away.
“Elina.”
His voice was rough.
“Don't.”
I stopped.
For the first time, I realized Gabriel wasn't afraid of enemies.
He was afraid of comfort.
Because comfort meant admitting he could break.
Leo reached toward him.
Gabriel took his son.
He pressed his forehead against the baby's.
Then he looked at Matteo.
“Where's the accountant?”
“Safe house in Wisconsin.”
“We leave now.”
“No,” Matteo said.
Gabriel's eyes sharpened.
“Why?”
“Because Renato knows I took Leo.”
“How?”
“He called me ten minutes ago.”
My stomach tightened.
“What did he say?”
Matteo looked at me.
“He said congratulations on finding the missing Bellandi.”
Gabriel swore.
“Then he sent this.”
Matteo handed over his phone.
A photograph filled the screen.
Antonio.
The restaurant manager.
Tied to a chair.
Blood on his face.
Behind him stood a clock.
Midnight.
A message underneath read:
BRING ELINA HOME.
I stared.
“Home?”
Matteo answered.
“Moretti estate.”
Gabriel's estate.
Renato was already inside.
Gabriel called his security team.
No answer.
Marco tried.
Nothing.
“Signal jammer,” Matteo said.
Gabriel looked at him.
“How many men does Renato have?”
“Enough.”
“And Antonio?”
“Probably alive until we arrive.”
I shook my head.
“No more trading people for me.”
Gabriel looked at me.
“You're not going near him.”
“He'll keep taking people.”
“I don't care.”
“I do.”
“Elina—”
“Antonio protected my mother's secret for fourteen years.”
“And I will get him back.”
“How?”
Gabriel stepped closer.
His voice lowered.
“By doing what I do.”
I should have been frightened.
Instead, I believed him.
That was worse.
We left the hospital through the underground service tunnel.
Matteo joined us.
Gabriel didn't trust him.
Neither did I.
But Leo smiled when Matteo touched his foot.
Apparently the baby had better instincts than all of us.
During the drive, I sat beside Gabriel.
Leo slept between us.
Neither of us spoke for several minutes.
Finally, Gabriel said, “You should leave Chicago.”
“After this?”
“Especially after this.”
“And go where?”
“Anywhere.”
“You'd send me away?”
His jaw tightened.
“I'd keep you alive.”
Something in his voice made me look at him.
This wasn't about inheritance anymore.
Or Isabella.
Or Leo.
Something had changed between us.
Maybe it had begun the moment he'd watched his son fall asleep against my chest.
Maybe it had begun when I grabbed his wrist in the station.
Whatever it was, it scared him.
It scared me too.
“You barely know me,” I whispered.
“I know enough.”
“To what?”
He didn't answer.
The convoy turned onto the private road leading to his estate.
Then every vehicle stopped.
A burning SUV blocked the road.
Gabriel immediately reached for his gun.
“Ambush.”
Gunfire erupted from the trees.
Windows shattered.
Marco shouted.
Gabriel pulled me down and covered Leo with his body.
The driver accelerated.
Another vehicle rammed us from the side.
Metal screamed.
The SUV spun.
My head struck the window.
Everything blurred.
When I opened my eyes, smoke filled the vehicle.
Gabriel was bleeding.
Leo was crying.
The door beside me ripped open.
Hands grabbed me.
I screamed.
Gabriel fired.
Someone pulled me harder.
I kicked.
Then a cloth covered my mouth.
A sweet chemical smell filled my lungs.
The last thing I saw was Gabriel crawling through broken glass toward me.
“Elina!”
Then darkness.
When I woke, I was lying in a bedroom.
Beautiful.
Expensive.
Familiar somehow.
A man sat near the fireplace.
Older.
Gray-haired.
A silver-headed cane rested beside him.
He smiled when I opened my eyes.
I'd seen him before.
In photographs at Gabriel's house.
Renato Moretti.
“Welcome,” he said.
I tried to move.
My wrists were tied.
“Where's Leo?”
“Safe.”
“Gabriel?”
“Alive.”
He leaned forward.
“You really are remarkably similar to Isabella.”
I stared at him.
“You killed her.”
Renato smiled.
“No.”
Then he said something I hadn't expected.
“Your sister killed herself.”
My blood turned cold.
He stood.
“Not intentionally, of course.”
He walked toward me.
“But she made the mistake of trying to save Gabriel.”
May you like
His smile disappeared.
“And now you're going to make the same mistake.”
