Chapter 8 - THE SECOND FERRAROThe mansion had become a battlefield.
Men in tactical gear moved through the marble hall.
Security guards returned fire.
Glass shattered.
Smoke filled the corridors.
Yet Harland stood calmly in the center of it all.
Luca pushed Nora behind him.
“You have thirty seconds.”
Harland smiled.
“Twenty-nine.”
Luca raised his gun.
“Who is my real father?”
Harland looked at Elena.
“She never told you?”
“No.”
“She was protecting your mother.”
Luca's eyes narrowed.
“Talk.”
Harland held up the photograph.
It showed a young man standing beside Luca's mother.
The man looked remarkably familiar.
Too familiar.
Same jaw.
Same eyes.
Same scar above the eyebrow.
Luca stared.
“Who is he?”
Harland answered:
“Marco Ferraro.”
Luca's father.
“No.”
Harland shook his head.
“Your supposed father.”
Luca's breath caught.
“Then who?”
Harland pointed to himself.
“Me.”
Silence.
Luca almost laughed.
“You're insane.”
“No.”
Harland looked at Nora.
“I am your biological father.”
Elena closed her eyes.
Luca turned toward her.
“Tell me he's lying.”
She couldn't.
“You knew.”
She whispered:
“Yes.”
Luca's face broke with disbelief.
“Why?”
“Because your mother was threatened.”
Harland smiled.
“She was never your father's wife in the way you believed.”
He stepped closer.
“She was mine.”
Luca felt sick.
Harland continued.
“Your father took her from me.”
“Then why did you work for him?”
“Because the Circle wanted the Ferraro empire.”
Luca's eyes narrowed.
“So you planted Adrian.”
“Yes.”
“And me?”
“You were never supposed to survive.”
Luca's grip tightened around his gun.
“Then why did you keep me alive?”
Harland smiled.
“Because your father discovered your existence.”
A shot rang out.
A guard fell.
Harland didn't flinch.
“You inherited his company because the Circle needed a Ferraro face.”
Luca's voice dropped.
“And Adrian?”
“He was the insurance policy.”
Elena stepped forward.
“You promised Nora would be safe.”
Harland looked at her.
“I promised you.”
He smiled.
“I never promised Adrian.”
Luca moved.
Harland's men raised their rifles.
“Don't,” Harland said.
“Why?”
“Because Nora is standing on a pressure plate.”
Luca looked down.
A tiny red light blinked beneath the marble.
Nora had been standing there.
Luca froze.
Harland nodded.
“One wrong step.”
He smiled.
“And the entire west wing comes down.”
Elena cried.
“Please.”
Harland looked at her.
“Take the girl.”
Two men approached.
Luca slowly lowered his gun.
“Nora.”
The child looked at him.
“It's okay.”
He crouched.
“Remember what Uncle Adrian taught you.”
Nora nodded.
“Count.”
“One.”
Harland frowned.
“Don't.”
“Two.”
Luca continued.
“Three.”
The pressure light blinked.
Harland shouted:
“Stop!”
Luca looked at him.
“Four.”
Harland rushed forward.
“Kill him!”
The lights went out.
A massive explosion shook the mansion.
But the west wing did not collapse.
Instead, the floor beneath Luca opened.
He and Nora fell into darkness.
Elena screamed.
Luca grabbed Nora.
They landed hard on a metal platform.
Above them, the opening slammed shut.
Darkness.
Nora cried.
Luca checked her arms.
No blood.
He breathed.
Then a light flickered on.
They were inside an underground command room.
Servers lined the walls.
Screens showed camera feeds from the entire property.
And in the center was a chair.
Someone was sitting in it.
Luca lifted his gun.
The figure slowly turned.
Adrian.
Alive.
Standing.
Not sick.
Not connected to machines.
Not dying.
He smiled.
“Hello, little brother.”
Luca stared.
“You were in the hospital.”
“Yes.”
“You were dying.”
“No.”
Luca looked at the monitors.
A video feed showed a man in the hospital bed.
The patient's face was hidden.
Another man had taken Adrian's place.
Luca whispered:
“Then who was in that bed?”
Adrian smiled.
“A volunteer.”
Luca's jaw tightened.
“What is this?”
Adrian walked toward him.
“This is where we've been fighting them for twelve years.”
“Why did you let me believe you were dead?”
“Because you were safer believing it.”
“And Nora?”
“I needed someone who could carry the key.”
Luca looked at his niece.
“She memorized the account.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Adrian's smile disappeared.
“Because the Circle has one weakness.”
“What?”
“Everyone they own has a price.”
He pointed to a screen.
“The money.”
Another screen lit up.
Hundreds of transactions.
Political bribes.
Assassination payments.
Blackmail accounts.
Then Adrian looked at Luca.
“Harland thinks he controls the Circle.”
Luca's eyes narrowed.
“He doesn't?”
Adrian shook his head.
“Harland is only the messenger.”
“Who is above him?”
Adrian pressed a button.
A single face appeared.
Luca stared.
His blood turned cold.
It was someone he knew.
Someone he trusted.
Someone who had been standing beside him every day.
Adrian whispered:
“The person who ordered our father's murder.”
The door behind them opened.
Matteo Rizzo stepped inside.
May you like
Gun in hand.
“I'm sorry, Luca.”
