Chapter 4 - The Husband Who Vanished
Daniel stepped through the door with blood on his shirt.
Alina stopped breathing.
He looked thinner.
Older.
A scar crossed his cheek.
“Mama?”
Mia stared.
Daniel’s face broke.
“My baby.”
He moved toward her.
Vincent raised his weapon.
“Stop.”
Daniel froze.
Alina stood between them.
“Where have you been?”
Daniel looked at her.
“Trying to stay alive.”
“For six months?”
“I couldn’t come back.”
“You could have called.”
“They were watching you.”
“You left us with nothing.”
“I know.”
“You stole my identity.”
“I know.”
“You left your daughter.”
Daniel’s eyes filled.
“I know.”
Alina’s hand struck his face.
The sound echoed through the concrete corridor.
Daniel accepted it.
“I deserved that.”
Vincent interrupted.
“Who planted the explosive?”
“I don’t know.”
“Wrong answer.”
“I know who ordered it.”
Vincent waited.
Daniel looked toward the security camera.
“Not here.”
They moved into the safe room.
Daniel explained that he had borrowed money from a criminal financier named Gabriel Voss.
Voss discovered Daniel occasionally delivered supplies to contractors servicing the Marchetti estate.
He offered Daniel a deal.
His debt would disappear if he provided schedules.
Daniel agreed.
At first.
Then Voss demanded photographs.
Vehicle routes.
Names.
Security codes.
Daniel tried to stop.
Voss threatened Alina and Mia.
“So you disappeared?” Alina asked.
“I thought they’d leave you alone if they believed I ran.”
“They didn’t.”
“I know.”
Daniel looked at Vincent.
“Because this stopped being about me.”
Vincent’s eyes narrowed.
“What does Voss want?”
“Your organization.”
“That’s obvious.”
“No. He wants your name.”
Vincent frowned.
Daniel continued.
“Your father built something before he died. A network of legitimate businesses, accounts, properties. He separated it from everything illegal.”
“Marchetti Holdings.”
Daniel nodded.
“Worth almost a billion.”
Alina stared at Vincent.
Daniel said, “Control transfers if Vincent dies without a recognized heir.”
Vincent went still.
“To whom?”
“That’s what Voss has spent years trying to discover.”
Vincent laughed coldly.
“My father had no other children.”
Daniel looked at Mia.
“No.”
Alina followed his gaze.
Her stomach dropped.
“No.”
Daniel’s voice shook.
“I found documents.”
Vincent stepped closer.
“What documents?”
Daniel swallowed.
“Alina’s mother worked for your father.”
Alina stared.
“My mother was a nurse.”
“For him.”
Vincent’s expression changed.
Daniel continued.
“There was a child.”
Alina backed away.
“No.”
“I don’t know everything.”
“Then stop talking.”
“But Voss believes Mia is connected to the Marchetti trust.”
Vincent looked at the little girl.
Mia was playing quietly with her truck.
Three years old.
Unaware that armed men were fighting outside because adults had built secrets before she was born.
Vincent turned back.
“How?”
Daniel reached inside his shirt.
He removed a key on a chain.
“Your father kept records in a private vault.”
“Where?”
Daniel looked at Alina.
“Under the hospital where Mia was born.”
Alina felt dizzy.
Vincent’s phone buzzed.
Marco.
The attackers were retreating.
One had been captured.
Vincent left Daniel guarded and went upstairs.
The captured attacker refused to speak.
Until Vincent showed him a photograph of Mia.
The man laughed.
“You still don’t understand.”
Vincent’s fist tightened.
“What?”
“The girl isn’t leverage.”
Vincent leaned closer.
“Then what is she?”
The man smiled through blood.
“The key.”
Before Vincent could ask another question, the attacker bit down.
A capsule broke between his teeth.
He collapsed.
Vincent turned.
Marco was standing in the doorway.
“Boss.”
“What?”
“We found something in Cole’s room.”
Vincent followed him upstairs.
Inside Cole’s locked desk was a photograph.
Vincent recognized his father.
Beside him stood a young woman.
Alina’s mother.
She was holding a newborn baby.
On the back, Vincent’s father had written:
FOR LUCIA. PROTECT HER DAUGHTER AT ALL COSTS.
Alina entered behind him.
She saw the photograph.
Her knees weakened.
“My mother’s name was Lucia.”
Vincent looked at her.
Then Marco turned the photograph over again.
Something had been hidden beneath the frame.
A second message.
This one was recent.
Three words.
MIA IS NEXT.
A floorboard creaked behind them.
They turned.
May you like
Cole stood in the doorway.
And he was holding a gun.
