Chapter 2 - THE DEATH CERTIFICATE

Paolo walked into his father’s old study carrying his own death certificate.

He read it twice.

Then a third time.

Paolo Antonio Ventresca.

Age forty-two.

Declared deceased.

Cause of death: presumed fatal aviation accident.

No body recovered.

Signed six months earlier.

“This is real?” he asked.

Marco nodded.

“Filed through legitimate channels.”

“Who filed it?”

“We’re tracing it.”

Paolo dropped the document onto the desk.

Elise stood near the fireplace, still holding Ava.

Ava had finally stopped crying.

She stared at Paolo with sleepy, frightened eyes.

“Daddy?”

Everything inside him softened.

He walked toward her.

“Yeah, baby.”

“You’re not a ghost?”

Paolo closed his eyes for half a second.

“No.”

He took her tiny hand.

“I’m not a ghost.”

She touched his cheek.

“Grandma said you went to heaven.”

Paolo looked over Ava’s head at Carmela.

Carmela sat in a leather chair, guarded by Darius.

Her back remained perfectly straight.

Even now.

Even trapped.

Even exposed.

She still wanted to control the room.

Paolo crouched in front of Ava.

“Daddy had to stay away longer than he wanted.”

“Why?”

Because somebody tried to kill me.

He did not say that.

Instead, he kissed her forehead.

“Because I made a mistake.”

Elise looked at him.

That answer was partly true.

He had trusted blood.

In Paolo’s world, that could get a man killed faster than any enemy.

“Talia,” Paolo said.

His sister stood near the bookshelf with her arms crossed.

“What?”

“Who created the death certificate?”

“I don’t know.”

Paolo nodded at Marco.

Marco placed a second folder on the desk.

Inside were bank transfers.

Payments to a doctor.

Payments to a county clerk.

Payments to a private aviation consultant.

Talia’s face changed.

Paolo noticed.

“Still don’t know?”

“That proves nothing.”

“It proves somebody spent almost two hundred thousand dollars convincing the world I was dead.”

Carmela finally spoke.

“You disappeared.”

“I was recovering.”

“You didn’t contact us.”

“I couldn’t.”

“You expect us to believe that?”

Paolo leaned forward.

“I was shot twice outside Palermo.”

Elise’s breath caught.

Paolo looked at her.

“It wasn’t an accident.”

She stared at him.

“You were shot?”

“I spent three weeks unconscious.”

“And nobody told me?”

“I ordered one man to contact you.”

“Who?”

“Luca.”

At the name, Carmela looked down.

Just for a second.

Paolo saw it.

“Where is Luca?”

Silence.

Paolo walked toward his mother.

“Where is he?”

Carmela’s lips tightened.

Talia said, “He left.”

“When?”

“Around the time everyone thought you died.”

Paolo studied them.

Luca DeMarco had been his closest friend since he was seventeen.

He had also been the only person outside Paolo’s medical team who knew Paolo was alive.

Paolo turned to Marco.

“Find him.”

“We’ve been trying.”

“Try harder.”

Elise moved closer.

“Paolo, there’s something else.”

He turned.

Her face had gone pale.

“What?”

“Three weeks after they told me you died, Luca came here.”

Carmela shot to her feet.

“Elise!”

Paolo looked sharply at his mother.

Then back at his wife.

“What did Luca say?”

Elise’s voice trembled.

“He said your death wasn’t an accident.”

Paolo felt the room narrow.

“And?”

“He told me if anything happened to him, I should look in Ava’s room.”

Paolo didn’t move.

“Where?”

“He never got to tell me.”

“Why?”

“Your mother walked in.”

Carmela shouted, “That man was lying!”

Paolo ignored her.

“What happened to Luca?”

Elise looked directly at him.

“He disappeared the next morning.”

The room went silent.

Then Ava spoke.

“I know where Uncle Luca hid it.”

Everyone turned.

Paolo knelt.

“What did you say?”

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