Chapter 4 - The Sins Our Fathers Buried
For several seconds, nobody moved.
My father's portrait hung twenty feet away.
Antonio Moretti.
The man who taught me that betrayal was the only sin that could never be forgiven.
The man who had apparently ordered the murder of his own son.
“Tomas was his blood,” I said.
Samuel closed his eyes.
“Yes.”
I crossed the chapel before Gabriel could stop me.
My hand closed around Samuel's coat.
I slammed him against the wooden confessional.
“Why?”
“Luca—”
“WHY?”
“He panicked!”
“That's your explanation?”
“Tomas threatened to expose everything.”
“Marco?”
“Marco. The hidden accounts. Your father's relationship with Sofia. The ownership transfer. All of it.”
My grip tightened.
“So Antonio killed him.”
“No.”
Samuel's voice cracked.
“He ordered Marco to frighten him.”
I stopped.
“What?”
“Antonio wanted Tomas scared into silence. Marco was supposed to intercept his car, take the evidence, and warn him to leave the city.”
“But Tomas died.”
“Yes.”
“Because Marco killed him.”
Samuel nodded.
“And your father realized afterward what Marco had done.”
“Then why didn't he punish him?”
Samuel looked toward Antonio's portrait.
“Because Marco had proof of the original order.”
There it was.
The poison that had infected my family long before it reached my whiskey.
Fear.
Antonio had spent his life building an empire on fear, then became trapped by his own.
Marco blackmailed him.
My father protected himself.
Tomas died.
Elena became a widow.
Mia grew up without a father.
And I had trusted the murderer.
I released Samuel.
“Where is the evidence Tomas collected?”
“Elena had it.”
“Had?”
“He divided it.”
“Where?”
“Three locations.”
Samuel removed a key from beneath his shirt.
“One part is in a safe-deposit box. Another was entrusted to me.”
“And the third?”
“Tomas said the safest evidence would be something nobody knew existed.”
“What does that mean?”
“I never learned.”
Gabriel entered from the chapel doorway.
“We found the call origin.”
I turned.
“Where?”
“Industrial district near the old Union freight yards.”
Trains.
Just as Elena had said.
“Vehicles.”
Gabriel didn't move.
“Luca.”
“What?”
“It could be bait.”
“It is bait.”
“Then we don't walk into it.”
“Yes, we do.”
Samuel stepped forward.
“Marco wants the trust documents.”
“He'll get paper.”
“He needs Mia's guardian to sign.”
“Elena.”
“Yes.”
That explained why both remained alive.
For now.
Twenty-three minutes later, three unmarked SUVs moved through Chicago under freezing rain.
I sat in the first vehicle.
My body still carried the poison's effects.
My hands occasionally shook.
Gabriel noticed.
He said nothing.
The freight district contained dozens of abandoned buildings.
We located Marco's warehouse because one of his men made the mistake of using an old Moretti emergency frequency.
Gabriel's team surrounded the property.
Thermal imaging showed eleven adults.
And one small child.
Mia.
My heartbeat accelerated.
“We go quietly,” Gabriel said.
“I want Marco alive.”
“Why?”
“So Elena can look him in the eyes.”
Gabriel almost smiled.
We entered through the eastern loading bay.
The first guard never saw us.
The second surrendered.
The third reached for his weapon.
Gabriel put him down.
We moved through shadows between rusted shipping containers.
Then I heard Mia crying.
Every plan disappeared from my head.
I followed the sound.
Gabriel caught my shoulder.
“Wait.”
Through a gap in the containers, we saw them.
Elena sat tied to a chair.
Mia was on her lap.
Marco stood nearby.
His wounded shoulder was bandaged.
Four men surrounded them.
On a folding table rested legal documents.
Samuel had been correct.
Marco needed signatures.
I could hear him speaking.
“Sign it.”
Elena stared at him.
“No.”
Marco sighed.
“Elena.”
“No.”
“You have spent four years trying to protect this child. Don't become stubborn now.”
“You murdered her father.”
“And I'll murder her mother.”
Mia buried her face against Elena.
Marco leaned closer.
“Then Luca.”
Elena laughed.
It surprised everyone.
Even Marco.
“You're afraid of him.”
Marco slapped her.
My entire body tensed.
Gabriel's hand pressed against my chest.
Not yet.
Elena slowly turned her face back.
Blood touched her lip.
“You poisoned him because you were afraid to face him.”
Marco's jaw hardened.
“You know nothing.”
“I know Tomas knew exactly what you were.”
Marco grabbed the documents.
“Tomas was weak.”
“Tomas was better than you.”
“He was a bastard son who thought DNA gave him power.”
“He didn't want power.”
“No?”
Marco threw the ownership papers onto the table.
“Thirty-one percent says otherwise.”
Elena shook her head.
“He wanted Luca to know the truth.”
That stopped Marco.
And me.
Elena continued.
“Tomas never intended to expose Luca.”
Marco's expression changed.
“What?”
“He wanted to give him the evidence.”
I stared through the darkness.
Elena's voice broke.
“He trusted Luca.”
Something inside me cracked.
A brother I never knew had trusted me more than the brother I raised.
Marco crouched in front of her.
“Where's the ledger?”
“I don't know.”
“Liar.”
“I burned it.”
Marco smiled.
“No.”
He glanced at Mia.
“The girl knows.”
Mia looked up.
My blood froze.
“What are you talking about?” Elena whispered.
Marco pulled a photograph from his pocket.
It showed Mia as a baby, sitting beside a stuffed rabbit.
“The rabbit.”
Elena stopped breathing.
Marco noticed.
So did I.
“Interesting,” he said.
He walked toward a crate.
On top rested a faded stuffed rabbit.
Mia immediately reached for it.
“Bunny!”
Marco picked it up.
“No!”
Elena fought the ropes.
“Mia, don't!”
Too late.
Marco tore open the seam.
A tiny flash drive fell into his palm.
Tomas's final evidence.
Marco stared at it.
Then smiled.
“Thank you.”
That was when I stepped into the light.
“Marco.”
Every weapon turned toward me.
His smile vanished.
I raised empty hands.
“You wanted me.”
“Luca.”
“Let them go.”
“You came yourself.”
“You sound disappointed.”
“Actually, I'm impressed.”
Marco gestured with his pistol.
“Walk forward.”
I did.
Gabriel and my men remained hidden.
Marco moved behind Mia.
His pistol touched the side of her head.
I stopped.
“Careful.”
“You care about her.”
“She's three.”
“No. It's more than that now, isn't it?”
He had guessed.
I didn't answer.
“You know she's your niece.”
Elena stared at me.
Her eyes filled.
“You know?”
“Yes.”
Marco smiled.
“Beautiful family reunion.”
He held up the flash drive.
“And now I have the one thing your father spent years trying to bury.”
“Take it.”
Marco frowned.
“The drive. Take the company. Take the money.”
Elena looked at me sharply.
“Luca—”
“I don't care.”
Marco studied me.
“You're lying.”
“No.”
I looked at Mia.
Her cheeks were wet.
“None of it matters more than them.”
Something flickered across Elena's face.
Marco's expression became almost disgusted.
“This is why you're weak.”
“No.”
I met his eyes.
“This is why you'll never understand why people follow me.”
Marco aimed at my chest.
“People follow power.”
Behind him, Elena suddenly slammed her chair backward into one of his men.
Chaos erupted.
Gabriel shouted.
My men opened fire.
I dove toward Mia.
Marco fired.
A bullet cut through my sleeve.
I reached the child and pulled her beneath me.
Elena hit the floor.
Gunfire thundered.
Marco grabbed the flash drive and ran toward a side exit.
Gabriel chased him.
I cut Elena's ropes.
“Mia?”
“Safe.”
Elena grabbed my shirt.
“The drive!”
“Forget it.”
“No!”
Her eyes were desperate.
“You don't understand!”
A deafening explosion shook the warehouse.
Flames erupted near the side exit.
The roof trembled.
Gabriel shouted from somewhere beyond the smoke.
“MOVE!”
I picked Mia up.
Elena ran beside me.
We reached the loading bay as part of the warehouse roof collapsed behind us.
Outside, my men pulled us behind a vehicle.
Mia clung to my neck.
I looked around.
“Gabriel?”
Nobody answered.
“Where is Gabriel?”
Then a figure emerged through the smoke.
Gabriel.
Alive.
But alone.
“Marco?”
Gabriel shook his head.
“Gone.”
“Elena?” Mia whimpered.
Her mother took her.
I turned toward the burning warehouse.
Marco had escaped again.
But something else bothered me.
Elena's reaction to the drive.
I looked at her.
“What didn't I understand?”
Her face went pale.
“Elena.”
She hugged Mia tighter.
“Tomas didn't only record evidence against Marco.”
“What else?”
“He recorded your father.”
I waited.
Elena swallowed.
“And someone else.”
“Who?”
Before she could answer, Gabriel's phone rang.
He listened.
Then slowly lowered it.
“What?”
His expression was darker than I had ever seen.
“The Moretti council called an emergency meeting.”
“So?”
“They already voted.”
My stomach tightened.
“On what?”
May you like
Gabriel stared at me.
“Removing you as head of the family.”
