Chapter 10 - Daniel’s Last Secret
Daniel survived.
The gunshot had struck the wall beside him.
A warning.
He called again from a stolen phone.
This time Vincent traced him.
They found Daniel inside an abandoned motel.
He surrendered immediately.
Alina faced him.
“No more lies.”
Daniel nodded.
“No more.”
Two years earlier, Daniel had intentionally approached Voss.
Not because of debt.
Because he wanted money.
He had discovered Alina’s connection to the Marchetti trust before she did.
He planned to sell the information.
Alina stared at him.
“You sold me?”
“I thought it was paperwork.”
“You sold information about your wife.”
“Yes.”
“And Mia?”
“Never.”
“But she became part of it.”
Daniel cried.
“I know.”
Vincent stood silently.
Alina did not need him to defend her.
She looked at Daniel.
“You didn’t abandon us to protect us.”
“Not at first.”
“You ran because you were afraid.”
“Yes.”
“And later?”
“I tried to fix it.”
Alina nodded.
“I believe that.”
Daniel looked hopeful.
She continued.
“But we are finished.”
His face collapsed.
“You’re Mia’s father. If you earn the right, you can be in her life.”
“Alina—”
“But you will never be my husband again.”
Daniel lowered his head.
“I understand.”
It was painful.
But clean.
The first honest ending they had ever given each other.
Daniel then provided Samuel’s location.
A private estate registered to Voss.
Vincent contacted federal investigators through an attorney.
He no longer wanted revenge.
He wanted Samuel unable to hurt anyone again.
The evidence from Lucia’s microfilm was enough to reopen multiple murder investigations.
Daniel agreed to testify.
Cole supplied financial records.
Sofia gave a statement.
Samuel’s empire began collapsing before he knew the walls were moving.
But Samuel escaped the estate minutes before authorities arrived.
One message remained on a computer.
Vincent read it.
YOU TOOK MY FAMILY. I’LL TAKE YOURS.
Vincent looked toward the security feed.
Alina.
Mia.
Sofia.
Lucas.
All inside the mansion.
He ordered lockdown.
Then a guard reported something impossible.
Mia was missing.
Alina screamed her name.
They searched every room.
Her replacement truck lay in the hallway.
The east service door was open.
Vincent ran outside.
Tiny footprints crossed the garden.
Then stopped near the old greenhouse.
Alina reached it seconds behind him.
“Mia!”
A small voice answered.
“Mama?”
Alina almost collapsed.
Mia stood inside.
Safe.
Beside her was Cole.
And in Cole’s hand was a bloody knife.
Vincent raised his gun.
Cole shouted, “Wait!”
A man lay behind him.
Dead.
Red tattoo around his wrist.
The same symbol Mia had seen on the bomber.
Cole had stopped him.
Mia ran to Alina.
Vincent lowered his weapon.
Then Mia said:
“There was another man.”
Vincent looked at her.
“Where?”
She pointed toward the mansion.
“He went inside.”
Vincent turned.
The lights went out.
Emergency sirens activated.
Then Sofia screamed from the upper floor.
Vincent ran.
He reached Lucas’s room.
Empty.
A window stood open.
On the bed lay Vincent’s mother’s old photograph.
Samuel had written across it in black ink:
ONE CHILD FOR ANOTHER.
Behind Vincent, a floorboard creaked.
A voice whispered his childhood nickname.
Only one living person should have known it.
May you like
Vincent turned.
Samuel Marchetti stood in the doorway.
