Chapter 4 - The Mafia King Searching for Grace
The apartment door was already open.
Alessandro stopped.
Every instinct he had built over decades screamed that something was wrong.
A normal person would have walked inside.
Alessandro Bellandi was not normal.
He raised one hand.
The men behind him immediately stopped.
Nobody spoke.
Nobody moved.
The hallway was silent.
Too silent.
Marco stepped closer.
"Boss."
Alessandro looked at the open door.
"Stay behind me."
That sentence alone shocked Marco.
Because Alessandro never protected himself.
He protected everyone else.
But now?
He was afraid of what he might find.
He entered slowly.
The apartment was small.
Nothing like the luxury penthouse Grace had left behind.
A simple couch.
A small dining table.
A child's drawings attached to the refrigerator.
Alessandro stopped.
The drawings.
His eyes moved closer.
One picture showed a family.
A woman.
A little boy.
And a man standing beside them.
The man had a suit.
Dark hair.
A serious face.
A child’s version of him.
At the bottom were four words written in uneven handwriting.
My daddy someday.
Alessandro touched the paper.
His hand shook.
"Boss?"
He didn't answer.
Because the room suddenly felt smaller.
This was not a secret.
This was a life.
A life Grace had built without him.
A life where his son learned to draw him before ever meeting him.
Then he heard something.
A sound.
A floorboard moving.
Someone was inside.
Alessandro turned instantly.
His hand reached toward his weapon.
A woman stepped out from the hallway.
Not Grace.
Elena.
She looked exhausted.
And afraid.
"Alessandro."
His expression hardened.
"You knew."
Elena looked down.
"Yes."
"You knew about Leo."
"Yes."
"You knew for six years."
Her silence answered.
The anger came.
Not explosive.
Not loud.
The kind of anger that made people afraid.
"Six years."
Elena looked at him.
"I wanted to tell you."
"But you didn't."
"Because Grace begged me not to."
Alessandro stepped closer.
"Why?"
Elena's eyes filled with sadness.
"Because she knew what would happen."
"What?"
"She knew you would protect him."
His jaw tightened.
"Is that supposed to be a bad thing?"
"No."
Elena shook her head.
"She knew you would protect him with the same world that destroyed your peace."
The words hit harder than any attack.
Alessandro looked around.
The small apartment.
The drawings.
The toys.
The tiny shoes near the door.
His son had lived here.
While he was somewhere else.
Making deals.
Winning wars.
Building an empire.
Missing everything that mattered.
"Where is Grace?"
Elena didn't answer.
"Where is my wife?"
Her expression changed.
Not fear.
Pain.
"She isn't your wife anymore."
The room became silent.
Alessandro looked at her.
"You don't get to decide that."
"No."
Elena looked away.
"Grace did."
For a moment, nobody moved.
Then Alessandro saw something on the table.
A small notebook.
He picked it up.
"What's this?"
Elena immediately stepped forward.
"Don't."
But it was too late.
He opened it.
The first page had a date.
Six years earlier.
Before their wedding.
His eyes moved down.
And every line felt like a wound.
Today I found out I'm pregnant.
Alessandro stopped breathing.
He turned the page.
I wanted to tell Alessandro tonight.
Another page.
He was supposed to come home early.
Another.
He didn't come.
His fingers tightened.
He kept reading.
Every page was Grace talking to herself.
About fear.
About hope.
About their child.
About him.
Then he reached the final entry.
The one written just days before Christmas.
His eyes slowed.
Because this was the reason she left.
Not the other woman.
Not the dinner.
Something deeper.
I looked at Alessandro tonight.
He was sitting across from me, but I felt like I had already lost him.
I cannot raise our son believing love means waiting for someone to choose you.
Alessandro closed the notebook.
He couldn't read anymore.
Because he knew.
Grace wasn't leaving because she stopped loving him.
She was leaving because she loved herself enough to stop suffering.
"Where did she go?"
Elena looked at him.
"I don't know."
"You do."
"I really don't."
Alessandro stared at her.
Nobody lied to him successfully.
But this time, he believed her.
Because Elena looked just as broken.
Then something outside caught their attention.
A car door slammed.
Everyone turned.
Marco looked through the window.
His face changed.
"Boss."
Alessandro walked toward him.
"What?"
"There are people outside."
"Who?"
Marco watched the street.
Then slowly answered.
"Not ours."
Alessandro moved toward the window.
Three black vehicles were parked across the street.
Men stood beside them.
Watching.
Waiting.
Alessandro's expression turned cold.
Someone had followed him.
Someone wanted him to find this place.
Which meant this was not an accident.
"Get everyone out."
Elena looked confused.
"What about Grace?"
Alessandro looked back at the apartment.
At the drawings.
At his son's toys.
"I'll find her."
The first gunshot shattered the window.
Everyone dropped.
Glass exploded across the room.
Marco pulled Alessandro behind the wall.
"They found us."
Alessandro looked outside.
His eyes became darker.
"Who?"
Marco checked the street.
Then froze.
"Boss..."
"What?"
Marco pointed toward one of the cars.
A man stepped out.
Older.
Confident.
Someone Alessandro knew.
Someone who should have been dead.
Alessandro stared.
Because the last time he saw that face...
He watched that man disappear forever.
But now he was standing outside.
Alive.
And holding a photograph of Grace and Leo.
The man lifted the picture toward the window.
Then he smiled.
And Alessandro heard his name through the broken glass.
"Alessandro..."
May you like
The man raised the photo.
"Your son belongs to me."
