Chapter 6 - The Brother They Stole
The stranger called himself Julian.
Dante didn't believe him.
Not because the resemblance wasn't there.
It was.
Too much.
The same dark eyes as Luca.
The same line in the jaw Dante saw in old photographs of his mother.
But resemblance could be manufactured.
Tonight had already proven that.
"Proof," Dante said.
Julian looked toward the cabinet.
"Open it and you'll get proof."
"You first."
Julian sighed.
"You really are exactly what they said."
"Who?"
"The people who raised me."
"Northstar."
"Yes."
Harper watched him.
"You brought me here."
Julian nodded.
"I had to."
"You could have asked."
He looked almost embarrassed.
"I wasn't taught to ask."
That simple sentence carried more weight than an apology.
Dante remained between Julian and Harper.
"Where's Luca?"
"Alive."
"Where?"
"Moving."
"Tell me."
"If I tell you before we open that cabinet, Northstar kills him."
"Why?"
"Because they don't trust me."
"Neither do I."
"Good. At least we're behaving like brothers."
Dante's expression didn't change.
Harper nearly smiled.
Julian moved toward the steel cabinet.
"I need your key."
Dante didn't move.
"Why should I open it?"
"Because your father destroyed everything except what is inside."
"My father died."
"Yes."
"You're sure?"
Julian looked at him strangely.
"I'm the one who saw the body."
Silence.
Dante's heart kicked once.
"You were a child."
"Thirteen."
"Where?"
"Northstar facility outside Albany."
Dante stared.
"My father died in New York City."
"No. A body died in New York City."
Samuel stepped closer.
"You saw Dominic Moretti alive afterward?"
Julian nodded.
"For two days."
Dante remembered the video.
Timestamp.
Two days after the supposed murder.
"What happened?"
"He came for me."
The room became perfectly silent.
Julian continued.
"Your father discovered I was alive. He attacked the facility. Got me out."
Dante's throat tightened.
"Then why aren't you with us?"
"Because he didn't make it out."
The answer struck harder than Dante expected.
For thirteen years, Dante had believed his father died surrounded by enemies because of a war Dante later finished.
Instead, Dominic Moretti had died trying to rescue a son his family believed never survived birth.
Julian's voice lowered.
"He told me about you and Luca. He said if I ever escaped again, I should find you."
"Why didn't you?"
"Because Northstar found me first."
Dante looked toward the biometric plate.
"And now?"
"Now they're collapsing."
"Because of Harper?"
"Because Harper found the money."
Harper frowned.
"What money?"
"The accounts behind the invoices."
"I found inconsistent payments."
"You found the path to every active Northstar branch."
Dante looked at her.
Without realizing it, Harper had uncovered a map of one of the most protected criminal networks in the country.
No wonder they attacked her.
Julian extended his hand.
"The key."
Dante gave it to him.
Julian inserted it.
Then pressed his thumb against the biometric plate.
Green.
The cabinet opened.
Inside were dozens of old paper ledgers.
Hard drives.
Photographs.
And three sealed envelopes.
One read:
DANTE.
Another:
LUCA.
The third:
JULIAN.
Dante took his.
The handwriting belonged to his father.
He opened it.
Son,
If you're reading this, then I failed to destroy Northstar.
You will want revenge.
Don't.
That word surprised Dante enough to stop him.
He continued.
Revenge is why I became useful to them.
Protecting your family is how you beat them.
The evidence in this cabinet can destroy the network if it reaches the right people at the same time.
Not one prosecutor.
Not one police department.
Everyone.
Trust Thomas Reed's daughter.
She doesn't know who her father was, and I hope she never has to.
If Northstar reaches her, protect her.
Not because she is useful.
Because her father died protecting you.
Dante lowered the letter.
Harper stared at him.
"What?"
He didn't answer.
Her voice hardened.
"Dante."
"Your father knew mine."
She looked confused.
"How?"
"He worked for him."
Harper's face emptied.
"My father sold insurance."
"No."
"Yes, he did."
"He was my father's accountant."
Harper shook her head.
"No."
"Harper."
"No."
She looked toward Samuel.
Samuel could not meet her eyes.
That confirmed everything.
"My father died of a heart attack."
Samuel finally spoke.
"Thomas Reed was poisoned."
Harper stopped.
No tears.
No gasp.
Just complete stillness.
Dante knew that reaction.
It was what happened when pain arrived too large for the body to process.
He crouched beside her.
"Harper."
She looked at him.
"They killed my father?"
"Yes."
"Because of your family?"
Dante could have softened it.
He didn't.
"Because he helped mine."
Harper closed her eyes.
For years, she had believed her father died randomly.
Suddenly every memory changed.
The final breakfast.
The funeral.
Her mother's silence.
The box of documents she had never been allowed to open.
Her father's repeated warning when she was young:
If anything ever happens to me, don't trust simple explanations.
She had thought he was joking.
Dante touched her hand.
Harper didn't pull away.
Julian opened his envelope.
Inside was only one sentence.
YOU WERE NEVER THEIRS.
His eyes filled despite himself.
Dante watched.
For the first time, he believed Julian might actually be his brother.
Samuel began examining the hard drives.
"This is enough."
"For what?" Dante asked.
"Federal conspiracy cases. Corruption. Trafficking. Murder."
"Can it get Luca back?"
"No."
"Then it isn't enough yet."
Julian pulled out Luca's phone.
A message appeared.
TRANSFER COMPLETE.
His face changed.
"Damn it."
Dante stepped forward.
"What?"
"They moved him to the final site."
"Where?"
Julian didn't answer.
Dante grabbed him.
"Where?"
"Moretti Tower."
Dante froze.
"My building?"
"Northstar has operated beneath it for years."
Dante almost laughed.
Not from humor.
From disbelief.
His own headquarters.
His own security.
His own basement.
"They were inside my organization."
"They built part of your organization," Julian said.
Dante looked at Samuel.
"Who?"
Samuel answered reluctantly.
"You won't like it."
"Name."
"Vincent."
Dante released Julian.
"No."
"Vincent Russo's father was Northstar."
"His father is dead."
"I didn't say his father."
Dante stared.
Samuel continued.
"Vincent was recruited after Dominic died."
Dante's mind replayed thirteen years.
Vincent at his side.
Vincent helping build the company.
Vincent protecting Luca.
Vincent knowing every safe house.
Every account.
Every route.
"No."
Harper spoke quietly.
"Dante."
He looked at her.
"When you called Vincent tonight, what happened?"
"He mobilized everyone."
"Exactly what Northstar wanted."
Dante said nothing.
A phone buzzed.
Vincent.
Dante answered.
"Where are you?"
"Moretti Tower."
Dante's eyes closed.
Of course.
"Did you find Luca?"
"Yes."
Dante looked at Julian.
"Alive?"
"For now."
"Put him on."
A pause.
Then Luca's voice.
"Dante."
Relief punched through him.
"Luca."
"Don't come here."
"Are you hurt?"
"Listen to me. Vincent—"
The line suddenly muffled.
A struggle.
Then Vincent returned.
"Dante."
His voice had changed.
No urgency.
No fear.
Calm.
"I'm sorry."
Dante's expression hardened.
"For what?"
"For taking so long to choose."
"Choose what?"
"My family."
Dante understood.
Vincent had spent thirteen years pretending the Morettis were his family.
Now he had chosen Northstar.
"Release Luca."
"I can't."
"You can."
"If I do, they kill my daughter."
Dante stopped.
Vincent had never told him he had a daughter.
"Where is she?"
"I don't know."
"Then help me find her."
"You can't."
"Try me."
Vincent's voice cracked for the first time.
"They've had her since she was three."
Dante looked at Harper.
Another stolen child.
Another leash.
Northstar didn't recruit loyalty.
It manufactured obedience.
Dante spoke slowly.
"Vincent. Listen to me. I can get her back."
"You don't know that."
"I know what they did to Julian."
Silence.
"You found him?"
"Yes."
Vincent breathed out.
"Then you're already too late."
"Why?"
"Because Julian wasn't sent there to help you."
Dante looked at his newly discovered brother.
Julian's expression changed.
Vincent whispered into the phone:
"Check his coat."
Dante's eyes dropped.
A tiny red light blinked beneath Julian's lapel.
A transmitter.
Julian stared down in horror.
"I didn't know."
Then a mechanical click echoed somewhere behind the wall.
Samuel spun toward the corridor.
"Move!"
The steel security door slammed shut.
Red warning lights activated.
A recorded voice filled the bunker.
"Evidence recovery protocol initiated."
Harper stared at the ceiling.
Dante grabbed her chair.
Julian rushed to the keypad.
A countdown appeared.
00:59.
00:58.
00:57.
May you like
Samuel whispered:
"They're going to burn the bunker."
