Chapter 5 - The Brother Who Came BackAlessandro had imagined Gabriel alive hundreds of times.
“EMMY!”
She ran toward the woods before Alessandro caught her arm.
“Stop.”
“My daughter is out there!”
“And whoever took her wants you running blindly after them.”
She fought him.
“Let go of me!”
Alessandro did.
Immediately.
But he stepped between her and the trees.
“We will find her.”
“You said your house was secure!”
The accusation landed exactly where it should.
Alessandro did not defend himself.
“You’re right.”
Elena’s chest rose and fell.
“You brought us into this.”
“No. Someone brought this to us years ago.”
“I don’t care about your family war!”
“I know.”
“I care about my daughter!”
“So do I.”
Elena stared at him.
Alessandro held up the stuffed rabbit.
“Whoever took Emmy knows we found Victor’s room. They know about the ledger Gabriel supposedly took.”
“But I don’t have it.”
“Victor may not know that.”
Marco approached.
“Tracks lead to the service road. Small vehicle, probably an SUV.”
“Cameras?”
“Disabled for four minutes.”
“By whom?”
“We’re checking.”
Alessandro looked at the note again.
Bring me the ledger.
Victor believed the ledger still existed.
More importantly, he believed Alessandro might have it.
That meant Victor did not know where Gabriel had hidden it.
Which meant Gabriel might still hold the advantage.
If he was alive.
Elena’s phone rang.
She jumped.
Unknown number.
Alessandro nodded for her to answer.
She put it on speaker.
“Hello?”
Static.
Then Emmy’s voice.
“Mommy?”
Elena nearly collapsed.
“Emmy! Baby, where are you?”
“I’m in a car.”
“Are you hurt?”
“No.”
“Who’s with you?”
A man’s voice interrupted.
“Enough.”
Not Victor.
Alessandro recognized it anyway.
Dario Bellucci.
A rival who had supposedly retired to Florida three years earlier.
“Dario.”
There was a brief silence.
Then laughter.
“Alessandro. Still quick.”
“You took the wrong child.”
“There is no wrong child when leverage is involved.”
“If you touch her—”
“I have no interest in hurting children.”
“You kidnapped one.”
“A technical distinction.”
Elena looked ready to scream.
Alessandro kept his voice controlled.
“What do you want?”
“You read the note.”
“I don’t have Gabriel’s ledger.”
“Victor thinks you do.”
“So you’re working for Victor.”
Dario chuckled.
“Working with. Never for.”
“Where is he?”
“Nearby.”
“Put him on.”
“No.”
“Then we have nothing to discuss.”
Elena grabbed Alessandro’s sleeve.
He looked at her.
Trust me, his eyes said.
Dario sighed.
“You’ve always had an irritating need to control conversations.”
“You called me.”
“Fair point.”
“Proof Emmy is alive.”
A pause.
Then the sound of movement.
Emmy’s small voice returned.
“Mommy, Bunny fell outside.”
Elena covered her mouth.
“I have Bunny, sweetheart.”
“Can you bring him?”
“Yes.”
The line shifted again.
Dario spoke.
“Six o’clock. Old Moretti winery north of Cold Spring.”
“That property has been abandoned for twenty years.”
“Then parking should be easy.”
“What do I bring?”
“The ledger.”
“I told you—”
“Find it.”
The call ended.
Elena stared at the phone.
“We have less than eight hours.”
Alessandro turned to Marco.
“Search Gabriel’s old rooms.”
“We did after he died.”
“Search again as if he didn’t.”
Marco nodded.
“Also search my father’s study, the chapel, garages, everything Gabriel had access to.”
Elena suddenly spoke.
“Wait.”
Alessandro looked at her.
“Gabriel said something once.”
“What?”
“The last night I saw him.”
She closed her eyes, trying to remember.
“He came home after midnight. He was bleeding from his hand. I asked what happened, but he wouldn’t tell me. He kept saying, ‘He never found the second grave.’”
Alessandro’s expression sharpened.
“Second grave?”
“I assumed he was speaking metaphorically.”
“Gabriel hated metaphors.”
Marco almost smiled despite everything.
Alessandro thought.
A grave.
His father was buried in the family mausoleum.
Lucia and Sofia had been buried in the same cemetery.
Gabriel’s supposed remains were buried in Italy.
Then Alessandro remembered.
When they were children, Gabriel had buried a time capsule with Sofia’s future godfather before—
No.
Later.
A second grave.
He looked at the family chapel visible beyond the gardens.
Behind it lay the old pet cemetery.
Every Moretti child had buried animals there for generations.
Gabriel’s childhood dog, Nero, had been buried beneath a stone Gabriel carved himself.
“He never found the second grave.”
Alessandro started walking.
Marco followed.
Elena ran beside them.
Behind the chapel, leaves covered a dozen weathered stones.
Alessandro found Nero’s marker.
1987–2001.
Gabriel had been fifteen when the dog died.
He had refused help digging the grave.
Alessandro looked around.
“Second grave.”
Twenty feet away stood another small stone.
No name.
Only a carved star.
Alessandro crouched.
“Get shovels.”
They dug.
Two feet down, Marco’s shovel struck metal.
They pulled up a waterproof case.
Elena gasped.
Inside was a ledger wrapped in plastic.
Gabriel’s ledger.
Alessandro opened it.
The first pages contained dates and names.
Victor Hale.
Dario Bellucci.
Executives.
Police officers.
Doctors.
Payments.
Blackmail.
Then a heading:
PROJECT HEIR
Alessandro read.
The plan had begun years before Lucia’s death.
Victor learned about the family trust and discovered that if Alessandro had no legally recognized living heir, control of several companies could fall temporarily to trustees.
But Sofia’s death created problems.
There were medical records.
DNA archives.
Family members who might challenge the trust.
So Victor had created something more elaborate.
He would not kill Sofia.
He would erase her.
Raise her under another identity.
Keep her available in case her DNA was ever needed to authenticate documents or suppress legal challenges.
Elena looked horrified.
“He kept a child alive as paperwork.”
Alessandro’s expression became murderous.
The next pages detailed the fire.
Lucia had discovered Victor stealing from one of the Moretti foundations.
She planned to tell Alessandro.
Victor arranged the fire to silence her.
Sofia was removed beforehand by a nurse who believed she was protecting the child during a staged emergency evacuation.
That nurse was Anna Caruso.
Later, Anna realized she had been manipulated.
She contacted Gabriel.
Then disappeared.
Alessandro turned pages faster.
A location.
Saint Catherine’s House.
But then another notation, newer.
S transferred 2022. Northstar.
“Northstar?” Marco asked.
Elena went pale.
“What?”
“Gabriel used that name.”
“When?”
“He called it the safest place he knew.”
Alessandro looked at her.
“You said Gabriel disappeared.”
“He did.”
“What if he disappeared intentionally?”
Elena’s eyes filled with uncertainty.
“What are you saying?”
“What if Victor didn’t take him?”
The possibility changed everything.
Gabriel may have gone underground to protect Sofia.
But then why abandon Elena and his unborn daughter?
Unless he believed staying away kept them alive.
Alessandro flipped to the final written page.
There was a message in Gabriel’s handwriting.
If you find this, I failed. Do not trust the obvious story. Victor is not the top of this.
Alessandro frowned.
Beneath it:
The person who ordered Lucia’s death shares our blood.
Elena stared.
“Someone in your family?”
Marco looked at Alessandro.
The Moretti family was large.
Cousins.
Uncles.
Aunts.
But only a few held enough influence to command Victor.
One name came immediately to Alessandro’s mind.
His uncle Matteo.
His father’s younger brother.
Matteo had disappeared from family affairs after the fire.
Claimed grief.
Moved to Europe.
But Alessandro remembered something else.
Matteo was one of the trustees.
Alessandro’s phone buzzed.
A text message.
A photograph.
Emmy sat in a chair holding a juice box.
Behind her stood Victor Hale.
Alive.
Smiling.
Another message followed.
6 PM. Come alone.
Then:
And Alessandro? Ask yourself why Gabriel never came home.
Elena read over his shoulder.
“What does that mean?”
Alessandro did not answer.
Because he suddenly remembered the last argument he had ever had with Gabriel.
Six years ago.
The night before Gabriel’s supposed accident.
Gabriel had accused Alessandro of becoming too dependent on Victor.
Alessandro had told him to grow up.
Gabriel had shouted something as he left.
Something Alessandro had dismissed as anger.
Now the words returned perfectly.
When you finally understand who Victor works for, you’re going to wish I was dead.
At five thirty, Alessandro dressed in black.
No tie.
No visible weapon.
He placed the ledger inside a leather bag.
Elena stood in his doorway.
“You’re not going alone.”
“They demanded it.”
“They have my daughter.”
“Which is why I’m going.”
“And if they kill you?”
“They won’t.”
“How do you know?”
“Because they need the ledger.”
Elena shook her head.
“You don’t know these people.”
Alessandro looked at her.
“I am these people.”
For the first time, she saw the man everyone else feared.
Not the grieving father.
Not the suspicious employer.
The head of a dynasty built on power.
But Alessandro’s next words surprised her.
“I won’t trade Emmy’s life for revenge.”
Elena’s anger softened.
He handed her one of the stuffed rabbits.
“She’ll want both when she comes home.”
Elena held it against her chest.
“When.”
“Yes.”
Alessandro walked toward the door.
She caught his hand.
He stopped.
“Bring her back.”
He looked at Elena.
“I will.”
At 5:58, Alessandro entered the abandoned winery alone.
Victor was waiting.
So was Dario.
Emmy sat ten feet away.
Unharmed.
Alessandro’s gaze went immediately to her.
She saw him.
“Mr. Moretti!”
Victor smiled.
“How touching.”
“Let her go.”
“Ledger first.”
Alessandro lifted the bag.
Victor’s eyes changed.
Greed.
Fear.
Relief.
“Throw it.”
“No.”
Dario raised a gun.
Alessandro barely looked at him.
“You shoot me, the ledger burns.”
Victor’s smile disappeared.
“Where is Gabriel?”
Alessandro asked.
Victor studied him.
“You still don’t know.”
“Know what?”
Victor stepped closer.
“The man you’ve been mourning for six years is the reason your daughter vanished.”
Alessandro’s stomach tightened.
“You’re lying.”
“Am I?”
Victor nodded toward a doorway behind the barrels.
A man stepped out.
Older.
Bearded.
A scar across his cheek.
Elena would have recognized him instantly.
Alessandro did too.
Gabriel.
Alive.
Alessandro forgot everything else.
His brother looked at him across the ruined winery.
Neither moved.
Then Gabriel spoke.
“I’m sorry.”
Alessandro’s face went empty.
“For what?”
Gabriel’s eyes shifted toward Emmy.
May you like
Then back.
“For letting you bury an empty coffin.”
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