Chapter 11 - THE WOMAN WHO GAVE LUCA HIS NAME
Emma read the message twice.
VINCENT WAS NOT THE WOLF.
ASK LUCA WHO HIS MOTHER REALLY WAS.
Outside, the federal sedan disappeared behind the curtain of rain.
Emma immediately called Luca.
The call went straight to voicemail.
She called again.
Nothing.
Sophie watched her face.
Her hands moved carefully.
What happened?
Emma locked the phone.
Someone sent a threat.
Sophie’s expression changed.
To Papa?
Emma nodded.
She hated the fear that returned to the little girl’s shoulders.
Sophie had spent years learning that happiness could disappear without warning.
Emma refused to let it happen again.
She called Marco.
He answered on the first ring.
“Emma?”
“Where is Luca?”
“With federal agents.”
“I know that.”
“Where exactly?”
There was a pause.
“He should be heading toward the airport.”
“Should be?”
“The tracking signal on the vehicle disappeared three minutes ago.”
Emma’s stomach tightened.
“Marco, someone sent me a photograph of him inside the car.”
“Send it.”
Emma forwarded the image.
Marco remained silent for several seconds.
Then he cursed in Italian.
“What?”
“The driver is not federal.”
Emma looked closer at the photograph.
The man behind the wheel wore a dark suit.
Only part of his face was visible in the mirror.
A pale scar crossed his left cheek.
Marco spoke again.
“I know him.”
“Who is he?”
“Gabriel Voss.”
“Vincent’s former intelligence chief.”
“I thought he died ten years ago.”
Emma stared at the second message.
“Apparently, a lot of dead people are still working.”
Marco began issuing orders in the background.
Emma grabbed Sophie’s coat.
“Where are you going?”
“To find Luca.”
“No.”
Marco’s voice hardened.
“You stay with Sophie.”
“The message was sent to me.”
“That means they want you to react.”
“Then reacting is the only way to keep them focused on me.”
“You were shot three weeks ago.”
“And Luca is inside a stolen vehicle.”
Emma helped Sophie into her coat.
“She comes with me.”
“Absolutely not.”
Sophie took the phone from Emma.
Her fingers moved.
Emma translated.
“She says everyone always leaves her behind when the truth concerns her.”
Marco exhaled sharply.
“This is not a family meeting.”
Sophie continued signing.
Emma watched her.
Then she translated more quietly.
“She says the wolf killed her mother.”
“She says she is done hiding from it.”
Marco did not answer.
He knew refusing would not stop either of them.
“Come to the Moretti townhouse.”
“I will meet you there.”
Emma ended the call.
Twenty minutes later, the townhouse looked less like a home and more like a command center.
Screens displayed traffic cameras across Manhattan.
Moretti security officers searched toll records, private airfields, and harbor feeds.
Rafe sat near the fireplace with a bandage beneath his shirt.
He looked pale.
He was also holding a gun.
“You should be in a hospital,” Emma said.
“So should you.”
“Mine released me.”
“Mine made a mistake.”
Sophie ran to him.
Rafe lowered the weapon before she reached him.
She hugged him carefully.
His expression broke for one second.
Then he signed awkwardly.
I am sorry.
Sophie looked up at him.
I know.
She did not say she forgave him.
Rafe did not ask.
Marco placed the photograph on the largest screen.
Gabriel Voss’s face filled the wall.
“He worked for Antonio Moretti before Vincent took control.”
“Officially, Voss died in a warehouse fire.”
“Unofficially, Vincent used him for operations too sensitive to trace.”
Emma looked at the scar.
“The message said Vincent was not the wolf.”
Rafe’s face hardened.
“He was one of them.”
“One of what?”
“The wolves were not a person.”
Rafe looked toward Sophie.
“They were a council.”
Luca had always believed the Moretti organization belonged to his family.
Rafe explained that Antonio had never held absolute power.
Behind him stood a secret group of financiers, judges, intelligence officers, and crime families.
They called themselves the Lupi.
The Wolves.
Each member wore the symbol.
Vincent had been one wolf.
Gabriel Voss had served them all.
Emma looked at the screens.
“And Luca’s mother?”
Rafe stood slowly.
“Her name was not Alessandra Moretti.”
Marco turned.
“You knew?”
“I learned inside the vault.”
Rafe crossed the room and placed an old document on the table.
It was a birth certificate.
Luca Moretti’s name appeared at the bottom.
The mother’s name had been altered.
Beneath the correction ink, another name remained visible.
Evelyn Voss.
Emma looked at the photograph.
“Gabriel’s sister.”
Rafe nodded.
“Luca’s mother was Gabriel Voss’s sister.”
Sophie stared at the document.
Emma signed the explanation.
The little girl looked confused.
Papa’s uncle took him?
“No,” Rafe said.
“Gabriel believed Antonio stole Evelyn from him.”
Emma frowned.
“Stole?”
“Evelyn worked for the Wolves.”
“She was placed near Antonio to control him.”
“Instead, she fell in love with him.”
Marco gave a bitter laugh.
“That family has always confused love with war.”
Rafe continued.
“When Luca was born, Evelyn wanted out.”
“She planned to expose the council.”
“Gabriel stopped her.”
Emma understood.
“Luca’s mother did not die from childbirth.”
“No.”
Rafe’s voice became cold.
“Gabriel killed his own sister.”
Sophie’s hands stopped moving.
Emma felt the child’s fingers tighten around hers.
The door opened.
Isabella entered under guard.
Her prison transport uniform looked too large for her.
Marco stepped forward.
“You were not authorized to leave federal custody.”
“The agents brought me.”
“Why?”
Isabella looked at Emma.
“Because I know where Gabriel took Luca.”
She placed a folded map on the table.
A property in the Adirondacks had been circled.
“The house belonged to Evelyn Voss.”
“Gabriel preserved it exactly as she left it.”
Rafe studied the location.
“It is four hours away.”
“No,” Isabella said.
“There is a private runway twenty miles north.”
“He will fly Luca there.”
Emma looked at the traffic screens.
They did not have four hours.
Sophie tugged her sleeve.
Mama took me there once.
Everyone turned.
Emma signed.
When?
Before she died.
She said Papa was born there.
Rafe looked toward the map.
“Elena knew.”
Sophie nodded.
Mama hid something under the floor.
Emma crouched in front of her.
What did she hide?
Sophie’s hands moved slowly.
A letter for Papa.
Marco reached for his phone.
“We leave now.”
A helicopter waited on the rooftop.
Before Emma could board, Isabella caught her arm.
“There is something else.”
Emma looked at her.
“Gabriel does not want Luca dead.”
“Then what does he want?”
Isabella’s face went pale.
“He wants Luca to lead the Wolves.”
“And if Luca refuses?”
Isabella looked toward Sophie.
“He will make Sophie watch him die.”
The helicopter lifted into the storm.
Three hours north, Luca opened his eyes inside a room he had seen only in dreams.
A woman’s portrait hung above the fireplace.
She had his eyes.
Gabriel Voss stood beneath it.
“Welcome home,” he said.
Luca looked at the chains around his wrists.
“This was never my home.”
Gabriel smiled.
“No.”
“It was your mother’s prison.”
He placed a wolf-shaped ring on the table.
“Tonight, you either inherit it.”
May you like
“Or your daughter inherits your grave.”
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