Chapter 10 - The Brother Nobody KnewLuca read the note six times.
I sat inside the command vehicle less than a quarter mile from Pier Seven with Detective Monroe, Damian, and six screens showing tactical teams surrounding the property.
Luca’s microphone fed into the speakers.
Every breath.
Every footstep.
Every word.
Vittorio’s voice came through.
“You look like Matteo.”
Luca answered, “Where is my mother?”
“Always impatient.”
“Where is she?”
“You used to ask me questions like that when you were a boy.”
“I’m not a boy.”
“No.”
Vittorio laughed softly.
“You became exactly what your father feared.”
“What is that?”
“Powerful.”
My hands curled.
Monroe watched the floor plan.
“Team Alpha holding.”
I stared at the audio meter.
Then Elena’s voice came faintly.
“Luca…”
Alive.
My eyes closed briefly.
Vittorio said, “There. Proof.”
“Let her go.”
“You first.”
“What do you want?”
“A confession.”
Damian frowned.
“Confession to what?”
We listened.
Vittorio continued.
“You admit you arranged Raymond Cross’s disappearance after he assaulted your wife.”
Luca was silent.
My heart dropped.
He wanted to frame Luca.
Raymond was in custody.
Unless—
Monroe realized it too.
“Check Raymond.”
An officer called the detention center.
Seconds later, her face changed.
Raymond had been transferred that morning for a court appearance.
The transport vehicle had been struck by a stolen truck.
Two guards injured.
Raymond missing.
“Vittorio has him,” I whispered.
Inside the warehouse, another voice cried out.
Raymond.
“Tell him! Tell him I’m here!”
Vittorio laughed.
“Your wife’s old lover has been troublesome.”
“He was never her lover.”
Luca’s voice hardened.
“He was her abuser.”
“You Americans are obsessed with vocabulary.”
“No. We’re obsessed with consent.”
Despite everything, I almost smiled.
Vittorio said, “You will record a statement saying you ordered Raymond kidnapped.”
“And then?”
“Then he dies.”
Raymond began shouting.
“No! You said—”
A blow silenced him.
My stomach turned.
Vittorio wanted Raymond dead and Luca blamed.
Then Elena could disappear.
Three loose ends.
One scandal.
Perfect.
“What happens to my mother?” Luca asked.
“She returns to Europe.”
“You expect me to believe that?”
“No.”
Vittorio sounded almost amused.
“I expect you to understand that people die when they become inconvenient.”
Silence.
Then Luca said:
“Like my father?”
Everything stopped.
Even Monroe leaned closer.
Vittorio answered quietly.
“Matteo made a choice.”
“What choice?”
“He wanted to dismantle what our father built.”
“He wanted legitimate businesses.”
“He wanted weakness.”
“So you burned Warehouse Nineteen.”
Silence.
My pulse hammered.
We needed him to say it.
Vittorio chuckled.
“Your father stood exactly where you are standing now.”
Luca’s breath changed.
“He begged?”
“No.”
“Did you?”
Another silence.
Then Vittorio’s voice sharpened.
“I offered him the same choice I’m offering you.”
“What choice?”
“Family or betrayal.”
“And he chose?”
“To betray me.”
A pause.
“So yes, Lucky. I locked the doors.”
Monroe’s head snapped up.
There.
Confession.
Recorded.
Vittorio continued.
“I watched the fire climb the walls.”
My hand covered my mouth.
“And I watched your father learn that principles do not stop flames.”
Luca did not speak.
I knew what he wanted to do.
Anyone would.
Monroe whispered into her radio.
“We have confession. Prepare entry.”
Then a new sound came through Luca’s microphone.
A gun cocking.
Vittorio said:
“Kneel.”
My blood went cold.
Luca answered:
“No.”
“Kneel or I shoot Elena.”
I heard movement.
Then Elena screamed:
“DON’T!”
Monroe gave the signal.
Teams moved.
Explosions sounded through the microphone as tactical officers breached two doors.
Gunfire.
Shouting.
The audio feed became chaos.
I stood.
“Luca?”
No answer.
“Luca!”
Monroe grabbed my shoulder.
“Stay inside.”
Gunshots.
Three.
Four.
Then silence.
The microphone crackled.
Someone groaned.
“Luca!”
Still nothing.
I could not breathe.
Then his voice.
Faint.
“Norah?”
I nearly collapsed.
“I’m here.”
“I’m okay.”
Tears blurred my vision.
“What happened?”
“Vittorio ran.”
Of course.
Again.
Elena had been recovered.
Raymond too.
Both alive.
One tactical officer had been shot in the leg.
Vittorio escaped through an old drainage tunnel leading toward the river.
Police launched a massive search.
Helicopters swept the shoreline.
Boats moved along the water.
He had nowhere to go.
That was what everyone said.
But men like Vittorio survive by finding exits other people forget exist.
We returned to the Calder Hotel under heavy guard.
Elena was hospitalized again.
Raymond went back into custody, this time surrounded by federal officers.
His expression when officers led him past me was different.
No arrogance.
No threats.
Only exhaustion.
He stopped.
“Norah.”
I didn’t answer.
“I didn’t know.”
“About what?”
“How far this would go.”
I stared at him.
“That’s what happens when you treat people like objects. Eventually someone treats you like one.”
He lowered his eyes.
For once, he had no comeback.
“Will you testify?” I asked.
“Against Vittorio?”
“Yes.”
Raymond looked toward Luca.
Then back at me.
“Yes.”
It wouldn’t erase anything.
It shouldn’t.
But accountability doesn’t require redemption.
Sometimes the best a guilty person can do is finally stop lying.
That night, Luca and I slept in the same hospital room as Elena.
Security filled the corridor.
At 4:00 a.m., I woke and found Elena watching Luca asleep beside me.
“He always curled his hand like that,” she whispered.
Luca’s hand rested near his face.
“He still does when he’s exhausted.”
She smiled.
Then her expression faded.
“I missed everything.”
“Yes.”
“I thought staying dead protected him.”
“It also hurt him.”
“I know.”
“Both can be true.”
Elena looked at me.
“You’re kinder than I deserve.”
“I’m not being kind.”
“No?”
“I’m being accurate.”
That earned a faint laugh.
Then my phone buzzed.
Unknown number.
Every muscle in my body tightened.
I opened it.
A photograph.
Taken seconds earlier.
Through the hospital window.
It showed Luca asleep.
Elena in bed.
Me holding my phone.
Beneath it:
BEAUTIFUL FAMILY.
My blood froze.
We were twelve floors above the street.
There was no building directly across from us.
Which meant the photograph had been taken from inside the hospital.
I slowly looked toward the glass reflection.
Behind us, in the hallway beyond the open door, a man in scrubs walked past.
Gray hair.
Masked face.
But I recognized the eyes.
Vittorio.
I screamed.
Luca woke instantly.
Vittorio ran.
Security chased him.
Alarms erupted.
I stepped into the hallway just long enough to see him disappear through a stairwell door.
Then I noticed something on the floor.
A small device.
Blinking red.
Luca grabbed my arm.
“Back!”
Security evacuated the corridor.
Bomb squad arrived.
The device wasn’t an explosive.
It was a transmitter.
Attached to it was a note.
Luca read it.
Then looked at me.
“What?”
May you like
He turned the paper.
THERE IS ONE MORE MORETTI YOU HAVEN’T MET.
