Chapter 4 - THE WOMAN WHO KNEW TOO MUCHLuca did not sleep that night.
He sat alone in his office with Adrian's recording playing repeatedly.
The same sentence kept returning.
He was hiding from you.
Why?
Every possibility led to the same dead end.
Adrian had believed Luca was compromised.
Watched.
Used.
Or worse.
Luca opened old family records.
Bank transfers.
Company contracts.
Security logs.
Adrian had disappeared three times.
The first after accusing their father.
The second after exposing the Circle.
The third three years ago.
Every disappearance happened within forty-eight hours of a financial transfer.
Luca stared at the numbers.
Then something caught his eye.
A recurring payment.
$18,000.
Every month.
For thirteen years.
Recipient:
Vega Foundation.
He stopped breathing.
The foundation had never existed publicly.
It was a shell account.
He called his accountant.
“Who authorized these transfers?”
“I don't know.”
“Find out.”
“Sir, those files are restricted.”
“By whom?”
The accountant hesitated.
“Your father.”
Luca hung up.
A minute later, someone knocked.
Elena entered.
She looked exhausted.
“You shouldn't be awake.”
“Neither should you.”
She closed the door.
“Nora is sleeping.”
“Good.”
Elena stood near the desk.
“I owe you the truth.”
Luca looked up.
“You owe me several truths.”
She nodded.
“I met Adrian because of your mother.”
Luca froze.
“My mother?”
“Yes.”
“When?”
“After she became sick.”
Luca remembered.
His mother had died after years of worsening depression.
At the time, the family had said she was fragile.
Unstable.
Unable to handle the Ferraro pressure.
“What did Adrian know?”
“That she had discovered the Circle.”
Luca's fingers tightened.
“My mother?”
“Yes.”
Elena pulled a folded letter from her pocket.
“She gave this to me before she died.”
Luca took it.
The handwriting was unmistakable.
His mother's.
The first line made his heart stop.
Luca, your father is not the man you think he is.
He read silently.
The letter described the Circle.
Political bribery.
Blackmail.
Illegal surveillance.
Deaths disguised as accidents.
Then came the sentence that shattered him.
Your father wanted me dead because I found out that Adrian was not his son.
Luca looked up.
“What?”
Elena lowered her eyes.
“Adrian was adopted.”
Luca stared at her.
“That makes no sense.”
“Your mother discovered it.”
“Who was Adrian's biological father?”
Elena's lips trembled.
She pointed to the final line.
Luca read it.
The name was impossible.
His mother's handwriting said:
Charles Harland.
Luca's world tilted.
Harland.
The man who had raised his family.
The man his father trusted.
The man who had controlled the household for decades.
The man who had just been trying to frighten Elena.
Luca stood.
“So Adrian was Harland's son.”
Elena nodded.
“And my father knew?”
“Yes.”
“Then why raise him as a Ferraro?”
“Because Harland wanted access to everything.”
Luca paced.
“Why?”
“Because the Circle needed an heir inside the Ferraro family.”
He stopped.
“The Circle.”
“Yes.”
“Then Adrian was planted.”
Elena nodded.
“But he fell in love with your mother.”
Luca looked at her.
“And that changed everything.”
Elena's eyes filled.
“He eventually tried to expose them.”
Luca stared at the letter.
“Why didn't my mother tell me?”
“She tried.”
“What happened?”
Elena looked toward the window.
“Harland found out.”
Before Luca could answer, every light in the mansion went out.
Complete darkness.
The emergency alarms failed.
Luca's hand moved toward his weapon.
“Elena, stay behind me.”
A loud crack echoed from upstairs.
Then another.
Gunshots.
Nora screamed.
Luca ran.
He reached the carriage house in seconds.
The bedroom window was shattered.
The crib was empty.
Elena stopped behind him.
“Nora?”
Nothing.
“NORA!”
Silence.
Then Luca saw something on the floor.
A tiny pink hair clip.
Beside it, a note.
He picked it up.
Four words.
SHE BELONGS TO US.
Elena collapsed against the wall.
“No.”
Luca grabbed her shoulders.
“Where would they take her?”
“I don't know.”
“Think.”
She shook violently.
Then her expression changed.
“The old chapel.”
“What chapel?”
“Your father used it.”
Luca didn't wait.
He ran toward the garage.
Matteo followed.
As the armored car sped into the storm, Luca stared into the darkness.
The mansion behind him looked enormous.
Powerful.
Untouchable.
For the first time in his life, it felt like a trap.
Then his phone rang.
Unknown number.
Luca answered.
A man's voice said:
“You wanted the truth about Adrian?”
Luca said nothing.
“Come alone.”
“Where?”
The voice gave an address.
An abandoned church twenty miles away.
Then:
“And bring Elena.”
Luca's jaw tightened.
“Why?”
May you like
The man laughed softly.
“Because she knows which grave your brother was buried in.”
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