Chapter 5 - THE BROTHER WHO WALKED OUT OF THE GRAVEThe Dead Man on the Security CameraNo one moved.
For three seconds, the entire library became a sealed box.
Matteo stared at the intercom.
"Impossible."
The voice returned.
"Open the eastern doors."
Matteo's jaw tightened.
"Show me his face."
A monitor came alive.
Static.
Then an image.
A man standing in a dark corridor.
Older.
Thinner.
A scar crossing one side of his face.
But the eyes...
Alina stepped closer.
"That's him."
Matteo whispered:
"Gabriel."
The image shifted.
A baby appeared in his arms.
Leo.
Alive.
Alina's knees nearly buckled.
Gabriel looked directly into the camera.
"You have five minutes."
Then the screen went black.
Matteo grabbed the radio.
"Nobody fires."
His men exchanged stunned looks.
"But boss—"
"Nobody fires."
He turned to Alina.
"You stay behind me."
"No."
"This isn't a negotiation."
"I'm coming."
"Alina—"
"He's my father."
The words landed between them.
Matteo looked away.
Then nodded once.
They moved through the eastern corridor.
Every door stood open.
No guards.
No bodies.
No resistance.
It was too easy.
Alina hated it.
They reached a large ballroom.
Empty.
At the center stood a table.
On it was a small cardboard box.
Matteo approached.
"Don't touch it."
Alina froze.
A phone inside the box rang.
Matteo answered.
Gabriel's voice returned.
"You still have the pendant?"
Alina touched it.
"Yes."
"Good."
"Where are you?"
"You know where."
"Then come out."
A quiet laugh.
"I've spent twenty years avoiding the Vescari name."
Alina's throat tightened.
"You left me."
Silence.
Then:
"I left you alive."
The call ended.
Matteo looked at the box.
Inside was a photograph.
Alina as a baby.
Elena holding her.
Gabriel beside them.
And behind them, barely visible in a mirror, Victor Vescari.
Holding a gun.
On the back of the photograph was one sentence.
He tried to kill her three times.
Matteo's expression turned murderous.
"Why didn't you tell me?"
A voice behind them answered.
"Because your father would've killed all three of us."
Matteo turned.
A man stood in the doorway.
Gabriel.
Alina couldn't breathe.
He looked older than the photograph.
But when he saw her, his face broke.
"Alina."
She stared at him.
"You knew where I was."
"Yes."
"For twenty years?"
"Yes."
"You let me believe you were dead."
"I had to."
She slapped him.
The sound echoed through the ballroom.
Gabriel didn't move.
Alina hit him again.
"How dare you?"
His eyes filled.
"I deserved that."
"No. You deserved worse."
Matteo stepped between them.
"You have my son."
Gabriel nodded.
"He's safe."
"Where?"
"With Elena."
Alina froze.
"My mother?"
Gabriel looked toward the corridor.
"Your mother is alive."
"Then why did you let me think—"
"Because there is someone here who wants all of you dead."
Matteo raised his gun.
"Who?"
Gabriel looked directly behind him.
At one of Matteo's trusted guards.
The man named Carlo.
Carlo smiled.
Then raised his weapon.
The first shot hit the ceiling.
The second hit Gabriel.
Alina screamed.
Matteo fired.
Carlo vanished through the side door.
Gabriel collapsed.
Alina dropped beside him.
Blood spread beneath his coat.
He gripped her hand.
"Listen to me."
"Don't die."
"Your mother has the ledger."
"What ledger?"
Gabriel's eyes turned toward Matteo.
"The one that proves who killed Sofia."
Leo's mother.
Matteo's face went white.
Gabriel whispered:
"Your son's mother wasn't killed because she knew too much."
A breath.
"She was killed because she knew the truth about you."
Then he stopped breathing.
May you like
Alina looked at Matteo.
And for the first time, the feared man in three states looked terrified.
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