Chapter 6 - NorthstarThe flight to Maine took seventy-eight minutes.
Grief did that.
It created impossible scenes.
A familiar face at an airport.
A laugh across a restaurant.
A silhouette in a passing car.
But never once had Alessandro imagined standing across from his brother while a kidnapped three-year-old sat between armed men.
Gabriel looked older.
The reckless charm had disappeared.
His face was leaner, harder.
A scar ran from his left temple toward his jaw.
But his eyes were unmistakable.
Moretti eyes.
Alessandro’s eyes.
“You knew Sofia was alive.”
Gabriel swallowed.
“Yes.”
Alessandro crossed the space between them.
Victor lifted a hand.
“Careful.”
Alessandro ignored him.
“You knew.”
“Yes.”
“For five years?”
“Not five.”
“How long?”
“Four.”
Alessandro hit him.
The punch knocked Gabriel sideways.
Emmy screamed.
Alessandro immediately stopped.
Gabriel wiped blood from his lip.
“I deserved that.”
“You deserve worse.”
“I know.”
Victor laughed.
“Family reunions are exhausting.”
Gabriel’s expression hardened.
“Shut up, Victor.”
Dario raised his weapon toward Gabriel.
“You’re in no position—”
“Neither are you.”
Gabriel looked toward Alessandro.
“Did you bring the real ledger?”
Victor stepped forward.
“What does that mean?”
Alessandro understood.
The ledger in the bag was not necessarily the only copy.
Gabriel was trying to tell him something.
“Yes,” Alessandro said.
Gabriel’s eyes flickered.
Good.
Victor noticed.
“Throw it over.”
Alessandro placed the bag on the floor.
“Release Emmy first.”
“No.”
“Then you get nothing.”
Dario sighed.
“Victor, this is why I hate negotiating with Morettis.”
Victor glared.
Gabriel looked at Emmy.
“Let the kid go. She isn’t part of this.”
Victor’s expression changed.
“She is absolutely part of this.”
Gabriel went still.
“What did you say?”
Victor smiled.
“Did Elena never tell you?”
Gabriel looked at Alessandro.
Alessandro understood Victor’s game immediately.
He wanted chaos.
He wanted Gabriel distracted.
But Gabriel stepped forward.
“What about Emmy?”
Victor laughed softly.
“You really thought Elena found you by accident?”
Gabriel’s face darkened.
“Stop.”
“You thought your little romance in New Jersey was fate?”
“Victor.”
“Ask your brother about the mark.”
Gabriel turned toward Emmy.
The child’s hair had shifted.
Her birthmark was visible.
Gabriel stared.
His face drained of color.
He touched his own neck.
Nothing.
Gabriel did not carry the family mark.
Alessandro did.
So had their father.
Their sister.
Sofia.
Gabriel looked at Alessandro.
“She has it?”
“Yes.”
“That’s impossible.”
Victor smiled wider.
“Oh, now we’re getting somewhere.”
Alessandro’s mind began moving.
Elena believed Gabriel was Emmy’s father.
Gabriel clearly believed it too.
Yet Victor knew something they did not.
Alessandro looked at Victor.
“What did you do?”
“Nothing personally.”
“What did you do?”
Victor shrugged.
“Gabriel spent years chasing secrets without realizing he was sleeping beside one.”
Gabriel lunged.
Dario struck him with the gun.
Gabriel fell.
Emmy began crying.
That changed Alessandro instantly.
“Enough.”
His voice filled the winery.
Even Dario looked at him.
Alessandro stared at Victor.
“You want the ledger. Take it. Let Emmy go.”
Victor studied him.
Then nodded.
Dario opened the side door.
“Go on, kid.”
Emmy did not move.
She was crying too hard.
Alessandro crouched.
“Emmy.”
She looked at him.
“Remember the kitchen?”
She sniffed.
“Bunny?”
“Yes. Your mother has Bunny.”
Her eyes widened.
“Mommy?”
“She’s waiting.”
Alessandro held out his hand.
“Walk to me.”
Victor immediately objected.
“No.”
“She’s three.”
“Then she can walk past you.”
Alessandro remained still.
Emmy climbed down.
One small step.
Then another.
She passed Victor.
Passed Gabriel.
Then ran toward Alessandro.
He caught her.
For one second, the most feared man in the Moretti organization held a little girl against his chest while she cried for her mother.
And something inside him cracked open.
Sofia had been three when she disappeared.
Exactly this size.
Exactly this helpless.
He had not been there for her.
He would be there for Emmy.
Alessandro carried her toward the exit.
Victor shouted.
“The ledger!”
Alessandro stopped.
He set Emmy down behind a stack of barrels.
“Stay here.”
Then he kicked the leather bag across the floor.
Victor grabbed it.
Opened it.
His face changed.
Blank pages.
Dario swore.
Victor looked up.
“You—”
The winery exploded with noise.
Marco’s men entered from three sides.
Elena came through the side entrance despite orders to remain behind.
“EMMY!”
The child ran.
Elena dropped to her knees and caught her.
Victor pulled a weapon.
Gabriel slammed into him.
A shot fired into the ceiling.
Dario escaped through a rear door.
Marco pursued.
Alessandro crossed the room and disarmed Victor before he could recover.
Gabriel pinned him against the floor.
“You took Sofia.”
Victor laughed through blood.
“No, Gabriel.”
He looked up.
“You did.”
Gabriel froze.
That hesitation allowed Victor to twist away.
But Alessandro struck him and dragged him back.
“Explain.”
Victor’s smile was almost pleased.
“Ask your brother who removed Sofia from Saint Catherine’s.”
Alessandro looked at Gabriel.
Gabriel stood slowly.
“I did.”
The room seemed to narrow.
“When?”
“Four years ago.”
“Why didn’t you bring her to me?”
Gabriel looked toward Elena and Emmy.
Then back.
“Because I found evidence that you ordered the fire.”
Alessandro stared.
“You believed I killed Lucia?”
“I found documents with your authorization code.”
“Forged.”
“I know that now.”
“But you didn’t then.”
“No.”
“So you took my daughter.”
“To protect her.”
“From me.”
“Yes.”
Alessandro stepped closer.
“Where is she?”
Gabriel said nothing.
“Where is my daughter?”
“She’s safe.”
Alessandro grabbed his jacket.
“WHERE?”
Emmy whimpered.
Alessandro released Gabriel immediately.
Elena carried her outside.
Gabriel looked ashamed.
“Northstar.”
“What is Northstar?”
“A safe community in Maine. No public records. No digital identities. Families escaping trafficking, organized crime, domestic threats.”
“You put Sofia there?”
“With Anna.”
Alessandro stopped.
“Anna Caruso is alive?”
“Yes.”
“Why didn’t she contact me?”
“She believed the same evidence.”
Alessandro laughed once.
A broken sound.
“You let my daughter believe I abandoned her.”
“No.”
“What did you tell her?”
“That you were dead.”
The words hit harder than the punch Alessandro had given him.
Gabriel’s eyes filled.
“She was four, Alessandro. She kept asking why you didn’t come for her. I thought telling her you were dead would hurt less than telling her you might have killed her mother.”
Alessandro turned away.
For years he had lived believing Sofia was dead.
And somewhere, Sofia had lived believing the same about him.
Victor began laughing again.
Marco forced him into a chair.
Alessandro turned.
“What’s funny?”
Victor shook his head.
“You two still think this is about family.”
“What is it about?”
“Power.”
“Matteo?”
Victor’s smile vanished.
That was answer enough.
Gabriel stared.
“Uncle Matteo?”
Victor said nothing.
Alessandro took out the real ledger.
He had hidden it inside his coat.
Victor’s face tightened.
“Everything is here.”
Victor shrugged.
“Not everything.”
“Enough to destroy you.”
“Perhaps.”
“And Matteo.”
Victor smiled.
“You think Matteo is the end?”
Gabriel and Alessandro exchanged a look.
Victor continued.
“Your father built an empire through favors. Judges. banks. politicians. corporations. Matteo wanted the empire without the old obligations.”
“So he used you.”
“We used each other.”
“Why Lucia?”
“She discovered transactions.”
“Why Sofia?”
“Insurance.”
“Against what?”
Victor leaned back.
“Against you.”
Alessandro’s eyes narrowed.
“If you ever discovered the theft, Sofia could be used to control you.”
“You mean hostage.”
“Such an ugly word.”
Gabriel took a step forward.
Marco stopped him.
Alessandro asked the question that mattered.
“Does Matteo know where Sofia is?”
Victor did not answer.
Alessandro’s stomach dropped.
“Does he?”
Victor smiled.
“Not yet.”
A phone began ringing.
Not Alessandro’s.
Not Gabriel’s.
Victor’s burner phone.
Marco removed it from Victor’s coat.
The screen displayed one word.
MATTEO
Alessandro answered.
“Hello.”
Silence.
Then an older man’s voice.
“Alessandro.”
He had not heard his uncle’s voice in five years.
“Matteo.”
“I assume Victor has disappointed me.”
Victor’s smile disappeared.
“You took my daughter.”
Matteo sighed.
“You always were emotional about Lucia.”
“I’m going to ask you once. Do you know where Sofia is?”
“Not precisely.”
Alessandro looked at Gabriel.
Gabriel shook his head urgently.
Do not tell him.
Matteo continued.
“But Gabriel does.”
Gabriel’s face hardened.
“You spent years searching for him.”
“Yes.”
“And now he walked directly back into your life.”
Alessandro realized the problem.
They had been tracked.
The winery meeting had not only been about the ledger.
It had been bait for Gabriel.
Matteo knew Gabriel would surface if Emmy was threatened.
Alessandro looked around.
“Marco, sweep Gabriel.”
Marco moved instantly.
Gabriel froze.
“What?”
Marco found something embedded in the lining of Gabriel’s jacket.
A tracker.
Gabriel went pale.
Matteo laughed softly through the phone.
“I told you, Alessandro. Your brother has always been useful.”
The call ended.
Gabriel stared at the tiny device.
“No.”
Alessandro already knew.
“When were you last at Northstar?”
Gabriel looked horrified.
“Yesterday.”
Alessandro’s blood turned cold.
“You led them there.”
Gabriel ran for the door.
Alessandro followed.
They had found Emmy.
They had found Gabriel.
May you like
Now they were going after Sofia.
And this time, Alessandro Moretti intended to reach his daughter first.
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