Chapter 4 - The Man He Called Brother
“Find that car.”
Alessandro’s voice was dangerously quiet.
Nathan was already working.
“The GPS was disabled five minutes after Enzo left the estate.”
“Traffic cameras.”
“I’m checking.”
Alessandro paced the security room.
On the monitor, Emma’s empty chair remained visible in the kitchen.
Rosie sat beside the computer.
Teresa stood nearby, arms wrapped around herself.
“I should have listened.”
Alessandro turned.
“To what?”
Teresa wiped her eyes.
“Elena.”
Emma’s mother.
“What about her?”
“Before she died, she told me she didn’t trust Enzo.”
Alessandro stared at her.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I thought she was angry.”
“About what?”
Teresa hesitated.
Then she sat down.
“Elena worked in accounting before Emma was born.”
“I know.”
“No. You knew she worked for the family. You didn’t know what she found.”
Alessandro felt something shift.
“What did she find?”
“Money disappearing.”
“How much?”
“She never told me.”
“From where?”
“She said Enzo was moving funds through construction vendors that didn’t exist.”
Alessandro’s mind raced.
“Why didn’t she report it?”
“She tried.”
“To whom?”
Teresa looked directly at him.
“Your father.”
Alessandro went still.
His father, Vittorio Romano, had died four years earlier after what doctors called sudden heart failure.
“He knew?”
“Elena said your father was going to confront Enzo.”
“When?”
“The week he died.”
Alessandro felt the blood drain from his face.
“No.”
Teresa’s eyes filled.
“After the funeral, Elena stopped talking about it.”
“And eighteen months ago she died in a car accident.”
Teresa nodded.
Alessandro turned toward the monitor.
Three deaths.
One possible.
Two already buried.
His phone rang.
Nathan grabbed it.
“Traffic team.”
He listened.
“Where?”
His eyes lifted.
“We’ve got Enzo’s car.”
Alessandro stepped closer.
“Where?”
“Abandoned near Route 17.”
“Emma?”
“No sign.”
“Get everyone there.”
They left immediately.
The SUV was parked behind a closed gas station.
Driver’s door open.
Keys gone.
Alessandro searched the back seat himself.
Nothing.
Then he saw a red smear on the door.
His heart stopped.
“Blood?”
Nathan examined it.
“Could be.”
A tiny pink hair clip lay beneath the seat.
Emma’s.
Alessandro picked it up.
His hands began to shake.
Then a phone rang.
Not his.
Not Nathan’s.
Inside Enzo’s SUV.
Nathan opened the glove compartment.
A cheap burner phone vibrated.
Alessandro answered.
Silence.
Then Isabella spoke.
“You should have eaten the bread.”
Alessandro’s face turned to stone.
“Where is Emma?”
“She made a bad decision.”
“She is six years old.”
“She became a problem.”
“If you hurt her—”
“You’re in no position to threaten anyone.”
Alessandro’s voice dropped.
“Listen carefully. Whatever you think you want, I’ll give you.”
Isabella laughed.
“You still think this is about money?”
“What is it about?”
A pause.
Then Isabella said, “Ask your mother what your father did twenty-eight years ago.”
The line went dead.
Alessandro stared at the phone.
Nathan frowned.
“What does that mean?”
May you like
Alessandro didn’t answer.
Because for the first time in his life, he realized the secret destroying his family might have started long before Isabella ever entered it.
