Chapter 6 – Luca: The Blood Oath
The rain never stopped falling the night Luca Romano swore loyalty to Alessandro Moretti.
Fifteen years earlier...
The docks along the Hudson River smelled of salt, gasoline, and blood.
Twenty-three-year-old Luca knelt on the cold concrete with both hands tied behind his back. A pistol rested against the back of his head.
Across from him stood the man who ruled New York's underworld.
Not Alessandro.
His father.
Don Vittorio Moretti.
"You stole from my family," the old Don said calmly.
Luca smiled through split lips.
"I stole food."
"You stole from me."
"There were children starving."
One of the guards struck Luca across the face with a rifle butt.
Blood splattered onto the dock.
Don Vittorio raised one finger.
The guards stepped back.
"You know the punishment."
"I do."
"Any last request?"
Luca looked toward the dark river.
"Don't tell my little sister how I died."
The old Don slowly drew his pistol.
Every man around them expected the execution.
Then another voice echoed through the rain.
"Father."
Everyone turned.
A young Alessandro walked onto the dock.
Only twenty-five.
Already feared.
Already respected.
Yet there was something different in his eyes.
He wasn't looking at a thief.
He was studying a man who hadn't begged for his life.
"You want to kill him?"
Don Vittorio nodded.
"He stole."
Alessandro walked around Luca in silence.
"You said you stole food."
"Yes."
"For yourself?"
"No."
"For who?"
Luca hesitated.
"My sister."
"Where is she?"
"Hospital."
"What illness?"
"The doctors don't know."
Alessandro glanced toward one of his men.
"Verify it."
Twenty minutes later, the guard returned.
"He told the truth."
Don Vittorio sighed.
"So?"
Alessandro answered without hesitation.
"A hungry man steals once."
"A greedy man steals forever."
He cut the ropes binding Luca's wrists.
"This one isn't greedy."
The old Don lowered his gun.
"You'll take responsibility?"
"I will."
Don Vittorio smiled.
"Then his life belongs to you."
That night...
Luca became Alessandro's man.
Not because he feared him.
Because someone had finally believed him.
Years passed.
Luca became the most trusted strategist in the Moretti organization.
He planned security.
Negotiated truces.
Prevented wars.
Never once betrayed the family.
Only Alessandro knew one secret.
Every Friday morning...
Luca disappeared for exactly forty minutes.
No bodyguards.
No weapons.
No driver.
No explanation.
Present Day...
Two days before the gala.
Luca parked outside Saint Agnes Cemetery.
He carried fresh white lilies.
Walking past rows of weathered gravestones, he stopped before a simple marble marker.
Isabella Romano
Beloved Sister.
1998–2011.
"I'm late."
He placed the flowers down gently.
"You would've laughed at the weather."
No answer.
Only rain.
Luca sat beside the grave.
"I met a little girl today."
"She reminds me of you."
"So fearless."
"So curious."
He smiled sadly.
"Her name is Emma."
A voice interrupted him.
"She's in danger."
Luca instantly reached for the pistol beneath his jacket.
Standing beneath a black umbrella was an elderly woman dressed in gray.
She shouldn't have known Emma's name.
"Who are you?"
The woman ignored the question.
"Your loyalty will soon be tested."
"I don't know what you're talking about."
"You will."
She laid a sealed envelope on Isabella's gravestone.
"For the day you stop believing Alessandro."
"I'll never stop."
The woman nodded slowly.
"I hope that's true."
She turned and walked away into the rain.
When Luca looked up again...
She had vanished.
No footprints.
No car.
Nothing.
Back at Moretti Manor...
Luca waited until midnight before opening the envelope.
Inside lay a single photograph.
It showed Alessandro twenty years younger.
Standing beside a smiling woman.
Not Sophia.
Not Vanessa.
Someone else.
On the back was written:
He lied only once.
That one lie created everything.
Before Luca could think further, his secure phone vibrated.
Unknown Number.
He answered silently.
A calm male voice spoke.
"Do you remember the first order Alessandro ever gave you?"
"...Yes."
"What was it?"
Luca replied automatically.
"'Protect the innocent.'"
The stranger chuckled.
"Interesting."
"Because the file in front of me says his first order was..."
A page turned.
"...'Leave no witnesses.'"
The call disconnected.
Luca stared at the photograph.
For the first time in fifteen years...
Doubt entered his mind.
Outside his office window, lightning illuminated the mansion.
And in the brief white flash, Luca noticed someone standing perfectly still beneath the old oak tree.
A little girl.
She looked no older than Emma.
She wore a white dress soaked by the rain.
When the lightning flashed again...
She was gone.
Luca looked down at the photograph one last time.
A second line had appeared beneath the first, written in fresh black ink as if someone had just finished writing it.
The next betrayal will come from the man who trusts Alessandro the most.
Luca slowly realized...
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The warning wasn't about someone else.
It was about him.
