Chapter 4 - The Brother at His Right HandBy two in the morning, the engagement decorations looked grotesque.
Flowers drooped.
Champagne warmed inside abandoned glasses.
One violin lay forgotten near the staircase.
Three hundred guests had been removed from the estate under the polite fiction of a security emergency.
Luca Romano stood alone in Alessandro’s study when the door opened.
Alessandro entered first.
Rosa followed.
Luca’s eyes went immediately to the bruise on her face.
“What happened?”
Rosa looked away.
Alessandro watched him.
“You tell me.”
Luca frowned.
“I don’t understand.”
“Carlo Duca kidnapped her.”
Luca’s expression sharpened.
“Carlo?”
“He’s dead.”
A pause.
“How?”
“Someone shot him.”
“Who?”
“Don’t know.”
Luca stepped toward Rosa.
“I’m sorry.”
She flinched.
That tiny movement told Alessandro more than words.
Rosa was afraid of him.
Luca noticed.
His face changed.
“What did Carlo tell you?”
There it was.
Too fast.
Not Are you okay?
Not Where is Lily?
What did he tell you?
Alessandro walked to the bar.
He poured two glasses of bourbon.
Handed one to Luca.
Luca hesitated.
“What?”
“Drink.”
Luca stared at the glass.
The room became silent.
Alessandro smiled faintly.
“Problem?”
Luca took the drink.
Swallowed.
Alessandro watched his throat.
Nothing happened.
“Happy?”
“No.”
Luca set the glass down.
“You think I poisoned you.”
“I didn’t say that.”
“You didn’t need to.”
Rosa moved toward the door.
Alessandro stopped her.
“Stay.”
Luca looked between them.
“What did the child tell you?”
Alessandro stepped closer.
“She told me Vivian put something in my wine.”
Luca’s expression hardened.
“And you believe a three-year-old?”
“I believe what I saw after she warned me.”
“What did you see?”
“You.”
Luca’s face became still.
Alessandro continued.
“Looking at Vivian.”
“Christ.”
“You want to explain it?”
“Yes.”
“Good.”
Luca laughed bitterly.
“I’m sleeping with her.”
Rosa gasped.
Alessandro did not move.
Luca spread his hands.
“There. Happy?”
“No.”
“It started six months ago.”
“You slept with my fiancée for six months?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because I was stupid.”
“That’s not an answer.”
Luca rubbed his face.
“Because she came to me. Because you treated the engagement like a business merger. Because she was lonely.”
“And you were available.”
Luca looked ashamed.
“Yes.”
Alessandro’s voice remained quiet.
“You took a bullet for me.”
“I know.”
“I paid for your mother’s house.”
“I know.”
“I buried your brother.”
“I know.”
“I made you family.”
Luca’s eyes filled with anger.
“I know!”
The shout echoed.
Rosa stepped backward.
Luca lowered his voice.
“I know what you did for me. Every damn day, I know.”
“Then why?”
“Because for once I wanted something that wasn’t yours.”
The words entered the room like a blade.
Alessandro stared at him.
There it was.
Not love.
Resentment.
Luca looked away.
“You had everything.”
“No.”
“You had a name. Money. Power.”
“And a father who beat me until I stopped crying.”
Luca’s face tightened.
“You still inherited the throne.”
“I inherited bodies.”
“You inherited choice.”
Alessandro stepped closer.
“So you took Vivian.”
“No.”
“Yes.”
“I didn’t poison you.”
“Did she?”
Luca hesitated.
That was enough.
Alessandro’s hand closed around his collar.
He slammed Luca against the bookshelf.
Rosa jumped.
“You knew?”
“I knew she was planning something.”
“What?”
“She said she wanted out.”
“Out of the marriage?”
“Out of everything.”
“What did she put in my glass?”
“I don’t know.”
Alessandro tightened his grip.
“Wrong answer.”
“I swear.”
“Where is she?”
“I don’t know.”
“Wrong again.”
Luca shoved him.
For one second, both men stood like younger versions of themselves.
Brothers who had survived streets, bullets and prison cells together.
Then Alessandro punched him.
Luca crashed into the desk.
Blood appeared at his lip.
He did not fight back.
“I deserved that.”
“You deserve worse.”
“I know.”
“Carlo said you planned everything.”
Luca looked up.
“What?”
“He said Vivian worked for you.”
“That’s a lie.”
“He said you’ve betrayed me for fifteen years.”
Luca went pale.
Not angry.
Afraid.
Alessandro noticed.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
“What do you know?”
Luca looked toward Rosa.
“Not in front of her.”
“She stays.”
“This has nothing to do with her.”
Rosa suddenly spoke.
“My husband is in a photograph with Alessandro’s father.”
Luca froze.
Alessandro felt the room change.
Slowly, he removed the photograph.
Placed it on the desk.
Luca stared.
All color left his face.
“You’ve seen this before,” Alessandro said.
Luca did not answer.
“You have.”
“Yes.”
The betrayal deepened.
“When?”
“About a year ago.”
“Where?”
“Miguel brought it to me.”
Rosa stepped forward.
“My husband came to you?”
Luca looked at her.
“Yes.”
Her knees nearly gave way.
Alessandro caught her elbow.
Rosa pulled free.
“You saw Miguel?”
“Yes.”
“When?”
“Two weeks before he disappeared.”
Rosa’s eyes filled.
“What did he say?”
Luca swallowed.
“He said he had discovered something at one of the construction sites.”
“What?”
“Documents hidden behind a wall during demolition.”
“What documents?” Alessandro asked.
“Financial records. Property transfers. Names.”
“Whose?”
“Vittorio’s.”
Alessandro stared.
“My father was dead.”
Luca nodded.
“That’s what made the documents strange.”
“And the photograph?”
“Miguel said it was taken at Pier 17.”
Rosa covered her mouth.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
Luca’s answer came quietly.
“Because Miguel asked me not to.”
“Why?”
“He was afraid.”
“Of whom?”
Luca looked at Alessandro.
“Your uncle.”
The name did not need to be spoken.
Salvatore Moretti.
Vittorio’s younger brother.
The man who had helped raise Alessandro after his mother died.
The man currently controlling three Moretti ports.
Alessandro stepped back.
“What did Salvatore have to do with it?”
Luca looked exhausted.
“Miguel believed your father never died naturally.”
Alessandro’s eyes darkened.
“He believed Salvatore killed him.”
Rosa whispered.
“And Miguel?”
Luca said nothing.
Her face collapsed.
“You knew.”
“I suspected.”
“You knew my husband was in danger.”
“I tried to help him.”
“How?”
“I gave him money. Told him to take you and Lily and leave New York.”
Rosa stared at him.
“He never told me.”
“He wanted to.”
“Then why didn’t he?”
Luca’s voice cracked.
“Because the next morning he disappeared.”
Rosa slapped him.
Hard.
Luca accepted it.
“You let me scrub floors in this house for eighteen months while knowing.”
“I didn’t know he was dead.”
“You knew enough!”
Tears ran down her face.
“You watched my daughter wait by the window for him.”
Luca looked destroyed.
“I’m sorry.”
“No.”
Rosa shook her head.
“Sorry is what people say when they break a glass.”
She turned away.
Alessandro looked at Luca.
“Why protect Salvatore?”
“I didn’t.”
“You protected someone.”
Luca closed his eyes.
Then opened them.
“Your father was alive after his funeral.”
The sentence stopped time.
Alessandro stared.
“Explain.”
“I can’t.”
“You can.”
“I promised him.”
Alessandro grabbed Luca again.
“My father?”
Luca nodded.
“You saw him?”
“Yes.”
“When?”
“Eight years ago.”
Alessandro’s grip loosened.
Eight years.
A full year after Vittorio’s supposed death.
“Where?”
“Brooklyn.”
“Why?”
“He came to me.”
“Why you?”
“Because he didn’t trust anyone in the family.”
The irony was unbearable.
Alessandro laughed once.
A broken sound.
“What did he want?”
Luca’s eyes filled with something close to grief.
“He wanted me to protect you.”
Alessandro went still.
“From who?”
Luca looked toward the door.
Footsteps sounded outside.
Then three gunshots exploded downstairs.
Everyone froze.
Marco shouted from the hallway.
“Boss!”
Alessandro drew his pistol.
Marco burst inside.
“Salvatore’s men just breached the east gate.”
Alessandro looked at Luca.
Luca’s face told him everything.
“From who?” Alessandro repeated.
May you like
Luca whispered.
“From your family.”
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