Chapter 4 - Rachel’s SecretThe drive back to the safe house was silent.
Rachel sat in the back.
Luca sat opposite her.
Marco drove.
No one spoke.
Finally, Luca broke the silence.
“Tell me everything.”
Rachel stared at her hands.
“I was twenty-two when I met your father.”
Luca's eyes narrowed.
“You were with him?”
“For a while.”
Marco glanced in the mirror.
Luca didn't react.
Rachel continued.
“He wasn't the man you think he was.”
“He killed people.”
“Yes.”
“He controlled half the city.”
“Yes.”
“He betrayed anyone who stood in his way.”
Rachel looked at him.
“He loved you.”
That stopped him.
Rachel took a breath.
“You were his weakness.”
“My weakness?”
“He knew people would use you to reach him.”
Luca remembered his childhood.
Locked doors.
Private schools.
Bodyguards.
A father who rarely hugged him.
A father who always watched windows.
“I thought he didn't care.”
“He cared too much.”
Rachel closed her eyes.
“When you were twenty-one, your father discovered he had another son.”
Luca stiffened.
“Who?”
“Adrian.”
The name sounded wrong.
Foreign.
“He was born from a woman named Elena Moretti.”
“Isabella's sister.”
“Yes.”
Luca looked toward the window.
“Why hide him?”
“Because Adrian was sick.”
“What kind of sick?”
Rachel hesitated.
“The same disease you have.”
Silence.
Luca's chest tightened.
“That's impossible.”
“Your father believed the family condition came from his side.”
“And Adrian?”
“He was diagnosed first.”
Luca stared.
“So my father knew.”
“Yes.”
“And he hid Adrian.”
Rachel nodded.
“Your father sent him away.”
“Where?”
“Switzerland.”
“Why?”
Rachel whispered,
“To keep him away from the family.”
Luca looked furious.
“He abandoned his own son.”
Rachel didn't answer.
Then Luca noticed something.
“You said Adrian was sick.”
“Yes.”
“Why is Isabella still searching for the vault?”
Rachel looked at him.
“Because Adrian wasn't the only thing your father hid.”
Luca's face hardened.
“What else?”
Rachel swallowed.
“Money.”
Marco laughed bitterly.
“That's what all of this is about?”
“No.”
Rachel shook her head.
“Not money.”
“Then what?”
She looked at Luca.
“Names.”
“Whose names?”
“Every judge. Police captain. politician. businessman and rival your father ever paid.”
Marco's expression changed.
“A blackmail archive.”
Rachel nodded.
“It could destroy half the city.”
Luca stood.
“And Isabella wants it.”
“She wants more than that.”
“What?”
Rachel whispered,
“She wants you to open it.”
“Why?”
“Because she can't.”
Luca stared at her.
“Why can't she?”
Rachel looked toward the locked door.
“Because your father designed it to open only with your blood.”
A loud crash came from upstairs.
Marco drew his gun.
Luca moved toward Rachel.
“Stay here.”
A second crash.
Then silence.
Marco climbed the stairs.
Three seconds later, a gunshot rang out.
Luca rushed after him.
Marco was on the landing.
Alive.
Bleeding from the arm.
“Someone's inside.”
Luca raised his weapon.
“Who?”
Marco pointed toward the hallway.
“The doctor.”
Mara stood at the end of the corridor.
Her face was pale.
In her hand was a black case.
Luca aimed his gun at her.
“What are you doing?”
Mara didn't move.
“I was bringing you something.”
“What?”
She looked at the case.
“Your father's original medical files.”
Luca's finger tightened.
“Why do you have them?”
Mara's voice dropped.
“Because I was the doctor who treated Adrian Bellini.”
Everything stopped.
Luca stared.
“You knew my brother?”
Mara nodded.
“I did.”
“Is he alive?”
She hesitated.
Then whispered:
“Yes.”
Luca's heart pounded.
“Where?”
Mara looked at him.
“Close enough to have been watching you for years.”
The lights went out again.
A red laser appeared on Mara's chest.
May you like
A gunshot cracked through the darkness.
And Mara fell.
