Chapter 6 - A Father's Last Recording
The address belonged to my father.
Or it had once.
A hunting lodge seventy miles outside Chicago sat on six wooded acres overlooking a frozen lake. Antonio Moretti bought it when I was nine.
He took Marco and me there every winter.
We learned to shoot there.
We learned to fight there.
Antonio once made us spend an entire freezing night outdoors after discovering we had stolen one of his cars.
“Brothers survive together,” he'd told us the next morning.
Funny.
Thirty years later, Marco chose that same place to destroy what remained of our family.
I arrived at 4:46 a.m.
Alone.
At least that was what Marco needed to believe.
Snow covered the long driveway.
The lodge windows glowed.
My pistol remained beneath my coat.
A man searched me at the entrance.
He found it.
He didn't find the second blade sewn into my boot.
Inside, four armed men waited.
Marco stood beside the fireplace.
Elena sat on the couch.
Her hands were free.
Mia slept against her shoulder.
Seeing them alive gave me oxygen again.
Marco opened his arms.
“Home.”
“This was never home.”
“Antonio loved this place.”
“Antonio loved control.”
Marco smiled.
“Maybe we both finally understand him.”
On the table sat a laptop.
Beside it rested the second flash drive.
“You listened?” I asked.
“Part of it.”
“And?”
Marco's expression was strange.
Not triumphant.
Angry.
“Sit.”
“No.”
One of his men aimed at Elena.
I sat.
Marco inserted the drive.
An audio file appeared.
Dated four years earlier.
He pressed play.
My father's voice filled the room.
You shouldn't have come here, Tomas.
Then another voice.
Tomas.
My brother.
I had never knowingly heard him speak.
You don't scare me.
The similarity to my own voice was subtle but undeniable.
My throat tightened.
Antonio responded.
This isn't about fear.
Marco has been stealing from Luca.
Silence.
I know.
I looked at Marco.
His face hardened.
The recording continued.
Tomas sounded shocked.
You know?
Lower your voice.
He's selling information. Moving money. Starting conflicts that Luca has to clean up. He wants him isolated.
Antonio sighed.
Marco believes power belongs to him.
Then stop him.
It isn't simple.
It's very simple. You tell Luca.
A long pause.
Then my father said something that made Marco turn away.
If Luca learns what Marco has done, he'll kill him.
Tomas answered immediately.
Maybe he deserves it.
Another silence.
Then Antonio's voice became quieter.
He's still my son.
Marco snapped the laptop shut.
“Elena already heard enough.”
I stared at him.
“You knew Antonio considered you his son.”
“He raised me.”
“He protected you.”
“He used me.”
“You stole from him.”
“I built half his operations!”
“And tried taking them from me.”
Marco's face twisted.
“You were given everything.”
I almost laughed.
“So that's what this is?”
“You were born Luca Moretti.”
“So was Tomas.”
“Exactly!”
He pointed toward Mia.
“And suddenly some accountant's child gets thirty-one percent because Antonio couldn't keep his pants zipped?”
Elena stood.
“Don't talk about her.”
Marco swung toward her.
“I decide who speaks.”
Mia woke.
“Mommy?”
Elena hugged her.
“It's okay.”
Marco looked back at me.
“Tomas ruined everything.”
“No.”
“He found records he didn't understand.”
“He understood perfectly.”
“He was going to tell you!”
“Yes.”
“And what would you have done?”
I answered without hesitation.
“I would have believed him.”
Marco stared at me.
Something like hurt crossed his face.
Then disappeared.
“No. You would've believed me.”
Four years ago, he might have been right.
That was the worst part.
Marco continued the recording.
Tomas's voice returned.
I'm giving Luca everything tomorrow.
Antonio said, Wait.
No.
I need one day.
For what?
To handle Marco.
You've had years.
A chair scraped.
Then Antonio spoke.
If you leave with those records tonight, I can't protect you.
Tomas laughed bitterly.
From Marco?
My father didn't answer.
Or from you?
Then footsteps.
A door slammed.
The recording continued.
My father's breathing.
Thirty seconds later another voice entered.
Marco.
He won't stop.
Antonio said, You do not hurt him.
Marco on the recording laughed.
He's threatening both of us.
Take the documents. Frighten him. Nothing more.
And if he refuses?
A long silence.
My father answered.
Make sure he understands.
The recording stopped.
Marco looked at me.
“There.”
“You murdered him anyway.”
“He fought.”
“Elena said it was a car crash.”
“He ran.”
“You forced him off the road.”
Marco said nothing.
That was confession enough.
Elena's eyes burned with tears.
“You stood at his funeral.”
Marco shrugged.
“I stood at many funerals.”
She crossed the room before anyone expected it.
Her palm struck his face.
The sound cracked through the lodge.
One gunman moved.
Marco raised his hand.
“No.”
Elena trembled.
“You held my baby.”
He slowly turned his face back.
“Yes.”
“You told me Tomas had loved us.”
“He did.”
“You told me you'd find who killed him.”
Marco's expression hardened.
“And you believed me.”
Elena hit him again.
This time Marco grabbed her wrist.
Mia screamed.
I stood.
Every weapon rose.
“Let her go.”
Marco shoved Elena back.
“You still don't understand.”
“I understand enough.”
“No.”
He smiled.
“Tomas wasn't my only problem that night.”
My stomach tightened.
“What does that mean?”
Marco reopened the laptop.
A second audio file.
Different timestamp.
One hour later.
He pressed play.
Wind.
A car engine.
Tomas breathing heavily.
Then Tomas whispered:
If anything happens to me, Elena, know that Marco isn't acting alone.
Elena covered her mouth.
The recording continued.
There's someone inside Luca's inner circle helping him. Someone Luca trusts even more than Marco.
Gabriel.
The thought hit me before I could stop it.
No.
Impossible.
Tomas continued.
I don't have proof yet. Initials are G.R.
My entire body became still.
Gabriel Russo.
Marco watched my face.
“Now you understand.”
I refused to react.
“Fabricated.”
“Is it?”
“He saved my life yesterday.”
“Did he?”
Marco leaned forward.
“Or did he make sure you survived long enough for all of this?”
My mind replayed everything.
Gabriel controlling searches.
Gabriel identifying the warehouse.
Gabriel producing financial records.
Gabriel insisting I avoid certain routes.
G.R.
No.
Marco was manipulating me.
That was what he did.
“Where is Gabriel now?” Marco asked.
I said nothing.
“Your backup team is probably outside, isn't it?”
He smiled.
“You never really came alone.”
Then every light in the lodge went dark.
Gunfire erupted outside.
Marco laughed.
“There he is.”
The front windows shattered.
My men stormed the property.
I kicked the nearest gunman's knee and pulled the hidden blade from my boot.
Elena dragged Mia behind the couch.
Gunfire exploded.
I reached Marco.
We crashed through a table.
The laptop hit the floor.
He struck my ribs.
I drove him into the fireplace.
He drew a pistol.
I caught his wrist.
We fought for it.
“Luca!”
Gabriel entered through the shattered door.
Gun raised.
For one split second, relief flooded me.
Then I remembered.
G.R.
Gabriel aimed.
I couldn't tell whether the barrel pointed at Marco or me.
Marco smiled.
“Ask him.”
Gabriel's eyes moved between us.
“Ask me what?”
“Tomas Rossi,” I said.
Gabriel froze.
That tiny hesitation nearly killed me.
Marco ripped his arm free.
The gun swung toward Mia.
Elena screamed.
Gabriel fired.
A single shot thundered through the lodge.
Someone fell.
For one horrifying second, I couldn't see who.
May you like
Then Mia screamed my name.
And blood spread across the wooden floor.
