Chapter 10 - THE BROTHER WHO WAS NEVER GONE
For three seconds, nobody moved.
Not Alessio.
Not Dominic.
Not even Victoria.
The entire room seemed to freeze after I spoke those words.
“Your brother.”
Alessio stared at me.
His face showed nothing.
But his eyes changed.
Because there were some names that carried more pain than fear.
And his brother’s name was one of them.
“You’re lying.”
His voice was quiet.
I shook my head.
“I wish I was.”
Victoria smiled.
A small, cruel smile.
“Tell him what you saw.”
I looked at Alessio.
The memories I had spent years trying to bury came rushing back.
The smoke.
The screaming.
The broken glass.
The little boy crying.
And the man standing in the middle of it all.
“I was eighteen.”
Alessio didn’t blink.
“I worked for a private security company back then. One night, I was sent to a house outside the city.”
His expression slowly changed.
“Which house?”
I swallowed.
“Your family’s old property.”
The color disappeared from his face.
“That’s impossible.”
“No.”
I looked at Victoria.
“That’s the lie everyone believed.”
Alessio stepped closer.
“What did you see?”
I closed my eyes.
And remembered.
“I saw a man arguing with your wife.”
The room became silent.
Victoria’s smile faded.
“He was angry.”
I continued.
“He said the Romano name belonged to him. He said Leo would never inherit anything.”
Alessio’s breathing became heavier.
“My brother was dead.”
“He wasn’t.”
The words hit him.
Hard.
“He escaped before the fire.”
Nobody spoke.
Then Dominic suddenly stepped forward.
“Boss…”
Alessio turned.
“What?”
Dominic looked uncomfortable.
“There’s something you need to know.”
He reached into his jacket and pulled out a folder.
“We found this in the old security archives.”
Alessio opened it.
Inside was a photograph.
A man standing beside a car.
Older.
Different.
But recognizable.
His brother.
Alive.
Alessio stared at the image.
The strongest man in the city looked like someone had just taken away the ground beneath his feet.
“No.”
The word came out broken.
“He died.”
Victoria looked at him.
“You never checked.”
Alessio looked furious.
“Everyone told me—”
“Everyone lied.”
A sudden sound interrupted them.
A gunshot.
The window behind us shattered.
Everyone dropped.
Alessio grabbed Leo and pulled him down.
Dominic drew his weapon.
I covered my head.
The bullet hit the wall inches from where Alessio had been standing.
Someone was outside.
Someone was watching.
Alessio looked toward the broken window.
Then toward me.
The fear was gone.
Only rage remained.
“Get my son out.”
I grabbed Leo.
“And you?”
May you like
His eyes turned cold.
“I’m going to find the man who came back from the dead.”
