Chapter 3 - The Sister Who Was Dead
Olivia looked from Luca to the woman behind Daniel.
Brother.
Nothing made sense.
Luca had no sister.
At least according to every article Olivia had ever seen.
Only then did she remember how little public facts meant in Luca Moretti’s world.
The woman had dark hair cut to her shoulders, a sharp jaw, and Luca’s eyes.
Not similar.
The same.
“Put the gun down,” Luca said.
Isabella smiled.
“You’re wounded.”
“I’ve been worse.”
“I know.”
Daniel looked at Olivia.
“I’m sorry.”
“Don’t.”
His face twisted.
“I brought them here.”
Isabella pressed the weapon lightly against his back.
“You did exactly what you were supposed to do.”
Olivia’s fear shifted into anger.
“What do you want?”
Isabella looked at her.
“The key.”
Marco’s hand remained near his jacket.
Isabella noticed.
“If he moves, your brother dies.”
Marco stopped.
Luca said, “You’re not going to kill him.”
“You sound certain.”
“I know you.”
Her smile vanished.
“No, Luca. You knew a girl who died fourteen years ago.”
Olivia looked at him.
“Died?”
Luca’s voice was quieter now.
“There was a car explosion.”
“I wasn’t in the car,” Isabella said.
“Whose body?”
“A woman roughly my age.”
Luca’s jaw tightened.
“You let us bury her.”
“I let Father believe I was dead.”
“Why?”
Isabella’s expression changed.
Pain flashed through it.
“Because staying alive required it.”
Olivia watched Luca absorb that.
This was not a crime boss now.
Not for a moment.
This was a man discovering his sister had chosen fourteen years of silence over returning home.
“What does she mean?” Olivia asked.
Isabella looked at her.
“Our father was not the man Luca remembers.”
Luca’s eyes hardened.
“Careful.”
“That is exactly why you were never ready.”
“For what?”
“The truth Ethan Carter died protecting.”
Daniel suddenly spoke.
“She has the second piece.”
Olivia looked at him.
“What?”
“The theater.”
He swallowed.
“I went there after Dad died. I found an envelope hidden behind the old stage wall.”
“You never told me?”
“I didn’t understand it.”
“For four years?”
“I was scared.”
Olivia stared at her brother.
He looked ashamed.
“I thought Dad had been involved with criminals. There were names. Payments. Luca’s family. Police officers. I hid it.”
“Where?”
Daniel looked toward Isabella.
“She found me before I could move it.”
Isabella said, “I didn’t hurt him.”
“The blood on his face suggests otherwise,” Olivia snapped.
“That wasn’t me.”
Everyone went still.
Isabella looked toward the hallway.
“We have about three minutes.”
Marco finally drew his weapon.
“Until what?”
“Until the men following me reach this building.”
Luca looked at her.
“Vale?”
Her expression answered before she did.
“Yes.”
“Sebastian?”
“Not Sebastian.”
Luca’s eyes narrowed.
“Then who?”
“His son.”
Marco frowned.
“Sebastian had no son.”
“That’s what you were told.”
Olivia felt exhausted by how many dead people appeared to be alive and how many living people had been lying.
Isabella held out her hand.
“The key.”
Olivia did not move.
“Why?”
“Because Ethan’s first piece identifies who ordered your father killed.”
Olivia stopped breathing.
“And you know?”
“I suspect.”
“Tell me.”
“Not here.”
Luca stepped forward.
“Give Daniel to Olivia.”
Isabella shook her head.
“Not until I have the key.”
“No.”
“Still giving orders.”
“Still ignoring them.”
For one strange second, brother and sister looked almost normal.
Then a window exploded in the living room.
Everyone dropped.
Marco shouted, “Move!”
Isabella grabbed Daniel.
Olivia crawled toward the bedroom wall.
Luca pulled her behind a heavy dresser.
Another shot struck plaster.
Marco fired once toward the shattered window.
“Fire escape!”
Daniel kicked the bedroom window open.
Isabella climbed first.
Then Daniel.
Olivia followed.
Luca came behind her despite his wound.
They descended three floors.
Sirens sounded below.
A dark van stopped in the alley.
Marco’s men.
They piled inside.
Isabella kept her weapon, but no longer aimed it at Daniel.
As the van accelerated, Olivia turned on her brother.
“You found something Dad left and hid it from me for four years?”
Daniel’s eyes filled with shame.
“I wanted to protect you.”
“By lying?”
“I thought if you knew, you’d do exactly what you did today.”
“What?”
“Run toward danger.”
Olivia had no answer.
Because he was right.
Luca sat across from Isabella.
Neither looked away.
“Where have you been?” he asked.
“Europe. South America. Canada.”
“Who helped you?”
“Mother.”
Luca’s expression broke.
“Our mother knew?”
“Eventually.”
“She let me believe you were dead.”
“She was trying to keep you alive.”
Luca laughed without humor.
“Everyone seems very committed to protecting me through lies.”
Isabella looked at him.
“You became exactly what Father wanted.”
The van went silent.
Luca’s voice dropped.
“Explain.”
“He made you believe every enemy was outside the family.”
“Stop.”
“He trained you to hate the men he pointed at.”
“Isabella.”
“He made revenge your religion.”
Luca stood too quickly.
Pain struck him.
His hand went to his side.
Olivia caught his arm before he fell.
He looked at her.
Something vulnerable flashed through his eyes.
Then he sat.
Isabella watched Olivia touching him.
“You’re different around her.”
Luca withdrew his arm.
Olivia said, “Don’t drag me into your family therapy.”
Daniel almost laughed.
Nobody else did.
The van reached an old church in Brooklyn.
Not functioning.
Apparently Luca owned it through a charitable foundation.
They entered through the basement.
Isabella finally gave Daniel space.
Olivia hugged him.
Hard.
He whispered, “I really am sorry.”
“Later.”
“I thought you’d say that.”
“Much later.”
Marco locked the doors.
Isabella put her pistol on a table.
Then removed a folded packet from inside her coat.
“The second piece.”
Luca moved closer.
Olivia and Daniel stood beside him.
The documents were old.
Photocopies.
Bank transfers.
Names.
Dates.
One name appeared repeatedly.
ANTONIO MORETTI.
Luca’s father.
Beside it were payments routed through companies connected to law enforcement and city contracts.
Olivia scanned the pages.
Then stopped.
ETHAN CARTER.
Her father’s name.
No payment beside it.
Instead:
WITNESS — CONTAINMENT REQUIRED.
Her knees weakened.
Daniel grabbed her hand.
Luca saw the line.
His face became stone.
“Containment.”
Isabella nodded.
“That was their language.”
“Who signed it?”
“The third piece.”
Olivia looked at her.
“You know where it is?”
“No.”
“Dad said where Daniel learned to lie.”
Daniel nodded.
“The theater.”
“The first is the ambulance station.”
“Yes.”
“The third part was cut off.”
Isabella looked toward Luca.
“I think your mother heard the rest.”
Luca’s head snapped toward her.
“Mother?”
“She knew Ethan.”
“How?”
“After my supposed death, she began investigating Father.”
Luca looked genuinely shaken.
“Our mother spent ten years barely leaving the estate.”
“Because she was watched.”
“By whom?”
“Your father’s people.”
“He was dead for the last six.”
“His system wasn’t.”
Marco interrupted.
“Where is your mother now?”
Luca looked at him.
“At the house.”
Marco’s face changed.
“Boss.”
Luca was already moving.
Olivia followed.
“What?”
Marco held up his phone.
Security alerts.
Multiple.
Luca’s estate in Westchester had lost camera feeds twelve minutes earlier.
The gate had opened manually.
No guard had checked in since.
Luca called.
No answer.
Again.
Nothing.
Isabella grabbed her coat.
“They found her.”
Luca turned toward the door.
Marco blocked him.
“You’re injured.”
“Move.”
“Let the team go first.”
“That’s my mother.”
Olivia heard the words she had thrown at him earlier.
That is my brother.
She stepped between them.
“Marco’s right.”
Luca stared at her.
“You of all people should understand.”
“I do. That’s why I know fear makes smart people stupid.”
His eyes flashed.
“I am not afraid.”
Olivia stepped closer.
“Yes, you are.”
Silence.
Nobody spoke to Luca Moretti that way.
Olivia did not care.
“You just found out your dead sister is alive. Your father may have been involved in my father’s death. Someone attacked your mother’s home. You’re bleeding through your bandage.”
He looked down.
She was right.
A small dark stain had appeared beneath his jacket.
“Five minutes,” Olivia said. “Let Marco send people. Then we go.”
Luca’s jaw tightened.
“Three.”
“Four.”
“Three.”
“Fine.”
Daniel whispered, “Are you negotiating with a Mafia boss?”
Olivia whispered back, “Apparently.”
Three minutes later, they left.
The drive to Westchester felt endless.
Luca said nothing.
Isabella stared through the window.
Olivia sat between Daniel and the door, trying not to imagine Luca’s mother hurt.
Trying not to imagine her own father’s death differently.
Trying not to think about the strange way Luca’s hand had closed around hers briefly in the alley as they climbed into the van.
Not romantic.
Not yet.
Just human.
The estate gates stood open.
One guard was unconscious but breathing.
Inside, lights were on.
No movement.
Marco’s team cleared the ground floor.
“Empty.”
Luca took the stairs.
Olivia followed despite Marco’s protest.
They reached the second-floor sitting room.
A teacup lay broken.
A chair had been knocked over.
Luca saw something on the floor.
A pearl necklace.
His face tightened.
“My mother never takes this off.”
Isabella bent down.
“She left it for us.”
One pearl had been painted black.
The same black circle symbol.
Then Daniel noticed the fireplace.
“Something’s burning.”
Olivia rushed over.
Inside, a photograph curled in the flames.
She grabbed the fireplace tongs and pulled it free.
Most had burned.
But one corner remained.
Ethan Carter.
Standing beside Luca’s mother.
And behind them—
Olivia’s breath caught.
Her own mother.
A woman Olivia had been told died when she was six.
On the back, half a sentence remained in her father’s handwriting:
SHE KNOWS WHERE THE THIRD—
A floorboard creaked behind them.
Luca turned.
The bedroom door slowly opened.
A woman stepped out of the darkness.
Older.
Silver-haired.
Terrified.
Luca whispered, “Mother?”
She looked past him directly at Olivia.
May you like
Then she said the words Olivia had not heard since childhood.
“Livvy, you have your mother’s eyes.”
