Chapter 10 - THE DEAD MAN RETURNS
Twenty-one years of grief disappeared in one second.
Aleandro crossed the room.
He hit Raffaele so hard the older man crashed into the wall.
Marco moved.
Aleandro pointed the gun at him.
“Stay out of this.”
Raffaele wiped blood from his mouth.
Then smiled.
“You still punch with your shoulder too high.”
Aleandro hit him again.
Elena stepped back.
This wasn’t an underworld legend confronting another criminal.
This was a younger brother who had spent two decades grieving someone who never bothered to come home.
“You let me bury you!”
Aleandro shouted.
Raffaele spit blood.
“I needed to disappear.”
“You let Mother die thinking you were dead.”
Raffaele’s smile vanished.
“That was unfortunate.”
Aleandro hit him again.
“Unfortunate?”
Marco grabbed Aleandro this time.
“Enough!”
Aleandro shoved him away.
Elena stepped between the brothers.
“Stop!”
Aleandro stared at her.
“Move.”
“No.”
“He tried to kill you.”
“Twenty years ago.”
“That makes it better?”
“No. It means I need him talking.”
Raffaele looked at Elena.
“Isabella’s daughter.”
His eyes moved over her face.
“Remarkable.”
“Don’t.”
“You have her mouth.”
“Why did you kill my mother?”
Raffaele tilted his head.
“I didn’t.”
“You sabotaged her car.”
“No.”
“Your company owned the salvage yard.”
“Carlo’s company.”
“You expect me to believe that?”
“I expect nothing from you.”
Elena stepped closer.
“Then why are people trying to kill Sofia?”
Raffaele’s expression changed.
Just slightly.
“They’re trying to kill the child?”
Aleandro noticed.
“You didn’t know.”
“No.”
“Who did you send to Isabella’s house?”
“Nobody.”
Marco swore.
“If he’s telling the truth, we have another player.”
Raffaele looked at the cassette.
“Where did you find it?”
Aleandro laughed.
“You’re asking questions now?”
Raffaele ignored him.
“Elena, did your mother leave anything else?”
“Documents.”
“What kind?”
“Payments.”
Raffaele’s eyes sharpened.
“Names?”
“Yes.”
“Then we have a problem.”
“We?”
“You think I came here to hurt you?”
Aleandro raised his gun.
“I think you once planned to kill me.”
“I was thirty and stupid.”
Elena stared.
“That excuse seems popular in your family.”
Raffaele almost smiled.
“Isabella used to say things like that.”
“Don’t say her name like you knew her.”
“I knew her well enough to save her life.”
Aleandro froze.
“What?”
“The blood in your apartment wasn’t hers.”
Raffaele looked directly at him.
“I helped Isabella disappear.”
The room went silent.
“Why?” Aleandro whispered.
“Because Vittorio had already ordered her death.”
“You saved her?”
“Yes.”
“Then why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because she begged me not to.”
Aleandro shook his head.
“No.”
“She was pregnant. She believed your father would use the child to control you.”
“You let me think they were dead.”
“She wanted you alive.”
Aleandro looked physically sick.
Elena felt anger rising for both of them.
“My mother spent her whole life afraid.”
Raffaele nodded.
“Yes.”
“Because of you.”
“In part.”
“And now she’s dead.”
“Yes.”
“So tell me who killed her.”
Raffaele looked at Marco.
Then Aleandro.
“Carlo Vescari.”
Aleandro’s jaw tightened.
“Why?”
“Because Isabella had evidence linking him to Vittorio’s murder.”
Aleandro stared.
“My father died in a warehouse attack.”
“No.”
“What are you saying?”
Raffaele’s answer was almost a whisper.
“Carlo ordered it.”
Aleandro shook his head.
“I was there.”
“I know.”
“I killed the men who attacked him.”
“You killed the men Carlo paid to make it look like an outside hit.”
Aleandro took one step back.
Raffaele continued.
“And Carlo has spent the last twenty years making sure you never learned the truth.”
A phone rang.
Marco answered.
His face drained.
“What?”
He looked at Elena.
Then Aleandro.
“The estate was hit.”
Elena’s heart stopped.
“Sofia?”
May you like
Marco swallowed.
“They took her.”
