Chapter 8 - A Debt Written in BloodLuca did not move.
For a man capable of becoming terrifying with almost no visible effort, his stillness was more frightening than anger.
Carlo Moretti stood halfway down the staircase.
Seven Romano guards had weapons pointed at him.
He appeared unconcerned.
Emma knew immediately that meant something was wrong.
Men did not calmly face seven guns unless they believed they had an advantage no one else could see.
“His father did,” Carlo repeated.
Rosa shook her head.
“You liar.”
Carlo looked at his sister.
“Still emotional, Rosie.”
“Don’t call me that.”
“You used to like it.”
“I was twelve.”
“And I was the one who protected you.”
“You were the one I needed protection from.”
Carlo’s smile disappeared.
Emma stepped forward.
“Show me proof.”
Luca looked at her.
Carlo smiled again.
“There she is.”
“Proof.”
“You sound like Daniel.”
“Good.”
Carlo descended another step.
Enzo raised his gun higher.
“That’s close enough.”
Carlo ignored him.
“Your father was very stubborn.”
Emma’s hands curled.
“You don’t get to talk about him like you knew him.”
“I knew him before you were born.”
“That doesn’t mean you understood him.”
Something changed in Carlo’s eyes.
Anger.
Tiny.
Controlled.
Emma noticed.
She understood suddenly why her father had frightened this man.
Daniel Carter had refused to be impressed.
Powerful men hated indifference.
Carlo reached slowly inside his coat.
Seven weapons shifted.
“Careful,” Luca said.
Carlo removed an envelope.
He tossed it onto the floor.
It slid toward Emma.
“Read.”
Luca moved first.
He picked it up.
Examined it.
Then handed it to her.
Inside was a photocopy of a handwritten order.
Emma did not understand most of the codes.
Luca did.
His face changed.
“What?”
she asked.
He said nothing.
“Luca.”
“It’s my father’s handwriting.”
Emma felt cold.
“What does it say?”
Luca read it again.
“Daniel Carter is to be contained before he compromises the family.”
Rosa made a broken sound.
Emma stared at the page.
“Contained?”
Carlo laughed softly.
“Such elegant language.”
Luca looked at him.
“Contained did not mean killed.”
“Not officially.”
“You know that.”
“I know Vittorio Romano gave orders the way kings did. Men interpreted them according to what they thought would please him.”
Emma looked at Luca.
“Could someone have killed Dad because of this?”
His jaw tightened.
“Yes.”
The admission hurt.
But it was honest.
Carlo stepped down.
“So now we arrive at the interesting question.”
Luca’s eyes remained on him.
“Which is?”
“What happens when the woman you love learns your family murdered hers?”
Emma felt Luca withdraw without moving.
A wall appeared behind his eyes.
She hated Carlo for seeing it.
For wanting it.
Carlo was not trying to prove history.
He was trying to split them apart.
Emma looked at the document again.
“Where did you get this?”
“Vittorio’s archive.”
“Why do you have it?”
“I have many things.”
“That isn’t an answer.”
“It’s the only one you receive for free.”
Emma laughed.
Carlo frowned.
“What?”
“You really are exactly what Dad described.”
His eyes narrowed.
“You think everything has a price.”
“I think everything does.”
“No.”
Emma looked toward Luca.
“Some things don’t.”
Carlo followed her gaze.
Understanding moved across his face.
“The car.”
Emma’s skin prickled.
“You know about that.”
“I arranged it.”
Silence.
Luca’s expression became murderous.
Emma stared at Carlo.
“What?”
“The breakdown.”
“No.”
Carlo smiled.
“I needed to know what Daniel’s daughter had become.”
Emma felt sick.
“You sabotaged Luca’s car?”
“Nothing dangerous. A loosened terminal.”
Luca took one step forward.
“You put her on that road.”
“I knew her route from the diner.”
Emma’s stomach turned.
The rain.
The smoke.
Luca’s dead phone.
His delayed security.
None of it had been random.
Carlo continued.
“I disabled communications around Romano’s vehicle. Delayed his security with a false accident report. Loosened the terminal.”
“Why?”
Emma demanded.
“Because Daniel hid something I needed, and I believed his daughter might lead me to it.”
“You could have approached me.”
“And you would have trusted me?”
“No.”
“Exactly.”
“So you put Luca there.”
“Yes.”
Carlo smiled.
“I wanted to see what happened.”
Emma looked at Luca.
Their first meeting.
The story they had told again and again.
The photograph in Sunrise and Rose.
The plaque.
One loose cable.
One kind heart.
One life changed forever.
The cable had been deliberately loosened.
But—
Emma remembered the decision.
She had still chosen to stop.
Carlo had created the circumstance.
He had not created her choice.
She held onto that.
“You expected me to recognize him?”
“No.”
“Then what?”
“I expected Daniel’s daughter to do what Daniel always did.”
“Help.”
“Yes.”
“And then?”
“I expected Romano to become curious about you.”
Luca’s voice was quiet.
“You used her as bait.”
“I introduced two useful pieces on a board.”
Luca moved.
Emma caught his wrist.
He stopped.
Carlo smiled.
“See? She controls you.”
Emma looked at him.
“No.”
Carlo’s smile faded.
“He controls himself.”
Luca looked at her.
She released his wrist.
Carlo’s expression hardened.
Emma understood the difference.
Vieri had believed kindness was weakness.
Carlo believed love was leverage.
Different mistake.
Same blindness.
“You wanted Luca to bring me into his world,” Emma said.
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because Daniel’s evidence was hidden where neither Romano nor Moretti could find it.”
Carlo looked around the cabin.
“But you could.”
“The letter?”
“One piece.”
“The storage unit?”
“Another.”
“You wanted me searching.”
“Yes.”
Emma looked at the flash drive from behind the fireplace.
Carlo’s eyes followed.
There.
That was what he wanted.
Luca saw it too.
Enzo quietly moved closer to the table.
Carlo sighed.
“Give me the drive.”
“No,” Emma said.
“You don’t know what’s on it.”
“Neither do you.”
“I know enough.”
“Then tell me.”
Carlo’s gaze became colder.
“Daniel stole a list of people who worked for me.”
“Corrupt officials.”
“Among others.”
“People inside the Romano organization.”
Carlo smiled.
Luca’s expression did not change.
Emma looked at him.
“That matters.”
“Yes.”
Carlo continued.
“One of those people is still very close to Luca.”
Enzo raised an eyebrow.
“Subtle.”
Carlo looked at him.
“Perhaps closer than he realizes.”
Enzo smiled without humor.
“If you’re trying to make us shoot each other, you’ll need better material.”
Carlo looked toward Sofia.
“Will I?”
Sofia went still.
Luca turned.
Carlo smiled.
“Ask your mother what she did the night Daniel Carter died.”
Emma looked at Sofia.
The older woman had gone pale.
“Sofia?”
Sofia’s eyes closed.
Luca’s voice became dangerous.
“Mother.”
“I went to see Daniel.”
Emma felt the floor disappear beneath her.
“When?”
“The night he died.”
Rosa stared.
“You?”
Sofia looked at her.
“I didn’t know.”
“Know what?”
“That Carlo had found him.”
Carlo laughed.
“Such selective memory.”
Sofia turned.
“Be quiet.”
Emma had never heard Sofia speak that way.
Carlo actually stopped.
Sofia looked at Emma.
“Daniel called me.”
“Why?”
“He wanted me to take you and Rosa somewhere safe.”
Emma’s throat tightened.
“He trusted you?”
“He trusted me more than anyone else connected to Vittorio.”
“What happened?”
“I went to the garage.”
Sofia’s hands shook.
“Daniel was alive when I arrived.”
Rosa covered her mouth.
“He told me Carlo had threatened Emma.”
Sofia continued.
“He gave me an envelope.”
“What was inside?”
“I never opened it.”
Carlo’s face changed.
Emma noticed.
“Where is it?”
“I gave it to Vittorio’s lawyer.”
Luca frowned.
“Which lawyer?”
“Samuel Greene.”
Luca and Enzo looked at each other.
Emma understood from their expressions.
“What?”
Enzo spoke.
“Greene disappeared after Vittorio died.”
Carlo smiled.
“Now we are making progress.”
Luca looked toward Carlo.
“You didn’t know she gave Greene the evidence.”
“No.”
“You thought Daniel still had it.”
“Yes.”
“Which is why you killed him.”
Carlo’s smile vanished.
“I told you. I didn’t.”
Rosa screamed.
“You poisoned him!”
Carlo looked at her.
“No.”
“You threatened our daughter!”
“Yes.”
The casual admission was monstrous.
“But Daniel was useful alive.”
Emma stared.
“Then who killed him?”
Carlo looked at Sofia.
Everyone did.
Sofia’s face crumpled.
“I don’t know.”
Carlo smiled.
“But you do know who arrived after you.”
Sofia began crying.
Luca stepped toward his mother.
“Who?”
She looked at her son.
“Your brother.”
Silence.
Emma frowned.
“Brother?”
Luca looked as if the word itself had become a weapon.
“I don’t have a brother.”
Sofia closed her eyes.
“Yes.”
Luca stared at her.
“No.”
“Luca—”
“No.”
Sofia whispered.
“Your father had another son.”
Carlo began laughing.
Luca turned toward him.
“Who?”
Carlo’s amusement disappeared.
“A man Vittorio never publicly acknowledged.”
Sofia spoke.
“Matteo.”
Luca went still.
Enzo stopped breathing.
Emma noticed.
She looked at him.
“You know that name.”
Enzo said nothing.
“Enzo.”
He lowered his weapon slightly.
“I knew a Matteo.”
Luca looked at him.
“Where?”
“When we were kids.”
Sofia nodded.
“Matteo Romano was Vittorio’s first son.”
Luca stared at his mother.
“Older than me?”
“Six years.”
“What happened?”
“His mother died. Vittorio brought him into the family privately. Later, Matteo became unstable.”
Carlo laughed.
“Interesting word for murderous.”
Sofia ignored him.
“Your father sent him away.”
“Where?”
“No one knew.”
Carlo answered.
“I did.”
Everyone turned.
“He came to me.”
Luca’s voice became almost inaudible.
“You’ve had my brother for twenty years.”
“Had?”
Carlo smiled.
“No, Luca.”
A red laser appeared on Luca’s chest.
Then another on Enzo.
Then another on Emma.
Carlo spread his hands.
“I work for him.”
The cabin windows shattered simultaneously.
Smoke grenades rolled across the floor.
Luca grabbed Emma.
Gunfire erupted outside.
Rosa screamed.
Enzo overturned the table.
Emma hit the floor beside Luca.
Through smoke, Carlo disappeared toward the rear door.
“Carlo!”
Emma shouted.
Luca held her down as bullets struck the wall.
Then a voice came through speakers hidden somewhere inside the cabin.
A man’s voice.
Calm.
Deep.
Almost amused.
“Hello, little brother.”
Luca froze.
The voice continued.
“You took my father.”
A pause.
“You took my city.”
Another.
“And now you have the woman who was supposed to lead me to Daniel Carter’s evidence.”
Emma looked at Luca.
His face had become white.
May you like
The voice spoke one final sentence.
“So I think it’s time you gave something back.”
