Chapter 5 - The Family BetrayalFor twenty-three years, Luca had believed his father died at the breakfast table from a massive heart attack.
That was the first problem.
The second was that he had designed half its security system.
By the time Luca reached the hallway, Adrian had already disappeared through a service door.
“Seal the property!” Dominic shouted into his phone.
Red security lights flashed.
Steel gates closed.
Guards rushed across the grounds.
Sofia held Lily.
“What’s happening?”
“Stay inside.”
“Luca—”
“Please.”
That word stopped her.
Luca Moretti rarely said please.
Dominic handed Luca a pistol.
They entered the service corridor.
Adrian had spent seven years protecting Luca.
He knew emergency exits.
Hidden staircases.
Blind spots.
He knew which guards were loyal and which could be bought.
Meaning Luca had a bigger question.
How many people had Adrian already bought?
A gunshot exploded below.
Dominic shoved Luca against the wall.
Another shot.
Someone screamed.
They descended toward the kitchen.
A security guard lay bleeding beside the pantry.
“Adrian?”
The guard nodded.
“Basement.”
The mansion basement housed wine storage, electrical controls, old service tunnels, and a reinforced room Luca’s grandfather had built during Prohibition.
Adrian could disappear underground.
Luca and Dominic descended.
The lights suddenly died.
Dominic cursed.
Backup lights flickered red.
They moved slowly.
At the tunnel entrance, Luca saw blood.
Not Adrian’s.
A second guard lay unconscious.
Then a door slammed.
Luca ran.
He reached the final corridor just as Adrian forced open an old steel exit.
“Stop.”
Adrian froze.
Luca aimed at his back.
“Turn around.”
Adrian slowly obeyed.
“You’re making a mistake.”
“I’ve made many.”
Luca’s voice was cold.
“Trusting you was one.”
Adrian laughed.
“You have no idea what’s happening.”
“Then explain.”
“You think Bellini is your enemy?”
“I know he is.”
“Vittorio is a businessman.”
“So am I.”
“No. You’re sentimental.”
Adrian smiled.
“Your father was sentimental too. That’s why he died.”
Luca’s finger tightened around the trigger.
Dominic said quietly, “Keep talking.”
Adrian glanced toward the exit.
“Vittorio didn’t start this.”
“Who did?”
“You won’t believe me.”
“Try.”
Adrian smiled again.
“Your uncle.”
Salvatore Moretti.
Luca felt nothing at first.
Not because he believed Adrian.
Because he understood immediately why the lie was believable.
Salvatore had helped raise Luca after his father died.
He had advised him through gang wars, federal investigations, betrayals, and Matteo’s death.
He was practically a second father.
Which made him the perfect name to use.
“Nice try.”
Adrian shrugged.
“Ask yourself who benefited when your father died.”
Luca didn’t answer.
“Who became your adviser? Who controlled the books until you were old enough? Who introduced you to Vittorio Bellini?”
Dominic’s expression changed.
Adrian noticed.
“There it is.”
“Proof,” Luca said.
“You’ll find it in Matteo’s box.”
Luca went still.
Adrian smiled.
“So she told you.”
“How do you know about the box?”
“Because Matteo made one mistake.”
“What?”
“He trusted a woman at the bank.”
Adrian lunged sideways.
Dominic fired.
The bullet struck the wall.
Adrian slammed through the exit.
Luca followed into a narrow alley behind the mansion.
A black SUV accelerated from the darkness.
Adrian jumped inside.
The vehicle crashed through a service gate before guards could close it.
Dominic fired twice at the tires.
The SUV disappeared.
Luca lowered his weapon.
“He had help.”
Dominic nodded.
“Inside help.”
They returned upstairs.
Sofia was furious.
“You left me alone.”
“You had six guards.”
“And apparently your head of security was trying to kill us.”
Luca couldn’t argue.
Lily sat on the sofa eating cookies with Maria.
She seemed strangely calm.
Children sometimes adapted to chaos faster than adults.
Luca walked over.
“Hey.”
Lily looked up.
“Did you catch the bad man?”
“No.”
She offered him half a cookie.
“You can have this.”
Luca accepted it.
“Thank you.”
“Chocolate makes Mama less scared.”
Sofia closed her eyes.
Luca’s voice softened.
“Smart strategy.”
Lily studied him.
“Are you really my dad?”
The room became silent.
Sofia looked at Luca.
He looked at her before answering.
“Yes.”
“Where were you?”
Three words.
No accusation.
No anger.
But they hit harder than anything Adrian had said.
“I didn’t know where you were.”
“Did you look?”
Luca glanced toward Sofia.
“Everywhere.”
Lily considered this.
Then she nodded.
“Okay.”
That simple forgiveness nearly broke him.
He sat beside her.
“Can I ask you something?”
“Yes.”
“The dance you did downstairs. Did your mom teach you the whole thing?”
Lily shook her head.
“She stops before the ending.”
Sofia’s head snapped up.
“What ending?”
“The secret ending.”
Sofia stared at her daughter.
“I never taught you an ending.”
“Yes, you did.”
“When?”
“When you sleep.”
The adults exchanged looks.
Lily demonstrated.
She raised her hands.
Spun.
Tapped her heel.
Touched her heart.
Then, instead of extending her palm as she had downstairs, she crossed both wrists and whispered:
“Thirteen opens twenty-seven.”
Luca stared at her.
“Say that again.”
“Thirteen opens twenty-seven.”
Sofia’s face went pale.
“I never taught her that.”
Lily smiled proudly.
“You say it in your sleep.”
Thirteen.
Adrian’s tattoo.
Twenty-seven.
The number on both safe-deposit keys.
Dominic whispered, “Matteo.”
Sofia shook her head.
“I don’t understand.”
Luca did.
“Matteo taught you something before you disappeared.”
“No.”
“Maybe you didn’t know he was teaching you.”
Sofia closed her eyes, trying to remember.
Then she gasped.
The night Matteo helped her escape, he had driven for hours.
At a motel outside Milwaukee, he’d made her repeat an odd phrase.
He said it was a joke.
A way to remember where he stored insurance.
She had been terrified, exhausted, newly pregnant.
Years later, the phrase had become buried in dreams.
Thirteen opens twenty-seven.
Luca looked at Dominic.
“Adrian’s tattoo isn’t a warning.”
“It’s a combination clue.”
“To what?”
“We find out tomorrow.”
At eight the next morning, Luca, Sofia, Dominic, and two trusted guards entered Lakeshore Continental Bank.
The manager escorted them into a private vault.
Box 27 required both keys.
Luca inserted one.
Sofia inserted the other.
They turned together.
The lock clicked.
Inside sat a single black envelope.
A flash drive.
A handwritten letter.
And a photograph.
Luca lifted the photograph first.
It showed Matteo standing beside Adrian Cole.
And beside them was Vittorio Bellini.
But the fourth man made Luca’s blood run cold.
Salvatore Moretti.
His uncle.
On the back, Matteo had written:
If you are seeing this, I failed. Trust nobody in this photograph.
Luca unfolded the letter.
The first sentence read:
Luca, our father did not die of a heart attack.
He read the next line.
Then sat down.
Sofia touched his shoulder.
“What does it say?”
Luca’s voice became barely audible.
“He was poisoned.”
Dominic’s face hardened.
“By whom?”
Luca continued reading.
Then he looked up.
“According to Matteo…”
May you like
His eyes moved toward the photograph.
“…Salvatore ordered it.”
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