Chapter 9 - The Price of a Son
Vincent read the message twice.
Alina saw his face.
“No.”
He looked at her.
“You don’t even have to ask.”
“I wasn’t going to.”
“Samuel wants Mia.”
“He isn’t getting her.”
Vincent’s voice contained no hesitation.
Even with his newly discovered son in Samuel’s hands.
Alina realized what that meant.
“You’d risk Lucas for my daughter?”
Vincent looked at her sharply.
“Don’t ever ask me to choose between children.”
The answer broke something open inside her.
Not fear.
Trust.
They returned to the estate.
Sofia saw Lucas’s photograph and remembered him.
Not as a baby.
As a toddler.
Samuel had shown her photographs over the years.
He had used them to control her.
“If I tried to leave, he said Lucas would die.”
Vincent knelt in front of her.
“Where would he take him?”
Sofia closed her eyes.
“A church.”
“What church?”
“Not a church anymore.”
She remembered bells.
A river.
Red windows.
Cole found it.
An abandoned monastery outside the city.
Vincent prepared a rescue.
Daniel volunteered.
“No.”
Vincent barely looked at him.
Daniel persisted.
“This started because of me.”
“It started before you were born.”
“I can still help end my part.”
Vincent studied him.
Then nodded.
They went.
Samuel had anticipated them.
The monastery was empty.
Except for Lucas’s backpack.
Inside was a phone.
It rang.
Vincent answered.
Samuel laughed.
“You found your boy.”
“Where is he?”
“Safe.”
“If you touch him—”
“You sound like Antonio.”
Vincent’s jaw tightened.
Samuel continued.
“Your father always chose strangers over blood.”
“Lucia wasn’t a stranger.”
“No. She was his weakness.”
Samuel revealed what he wanted.
Alina’s shares.
Lucia’s evidence.
And control of Marchetti Holdings.
Vincent said, “You can have my shares.”
Everyone looked at him.
Samuel went silent.
Vincent continued.
“Release Lucas. Leave Alina and Mia alone. I sign everything.”
Samuel laughed.
“You finally found something you value more than power.”
“Yes.”
Vincent looked at Alina.
“I did.”
Samuel agreed to another exchange.
But Alina had heard enough.
She refused to remain protected while everyone else risked themselves.
With Sofia’s help, she studied Lucia’s notes.
A phrase appeared repeatedly.
Moon song.
Alina froze.
The lullaby she sang to Mia came from Lucia.
Lyrics she had never questioned.
“Under the silver bridge, where lanterns never sleep…”
Lantern.
Bridge.
They mapped every bridge near the city.
One had an abandoned maintenance facility underneath.
Owned by Voss.
Vincent’s men raided it.
Lucas was there.
Alive.
Samuel wasn’t.
Vincent found his son sitting in a locked office.
Lucas stared at him.
“You’re Vincent Marchetti.”
“Yes.”
“My father?”
Vincent couldn’t speak for a moment.
“Yes.”
Lucas stood.
“Margaret told me you were dead.”
“She was protecting you.”
Lucas looked angry.
Confused.
Scared.
Vincent didn’t touch him.
“I’m sorry I wasn’t there.”
“You didn’t know.”
“No.”
“That’s what Margaret said.”
Vincent nodded.
Lucas’s eyes filled.
“Is my mom alive too?”
“Yes.”
That was when the boy broke.
Vincent caught him.
Father and son held each other for the first time.
When they returned to the estate, Sofia ran down the steps.
Lucas recognized her from photographs.
“Mom?”
She collapsed around him.
Vincent turned away to give them privacy.
Alina stood nearby holding Mia.
Mia reached for Vincent.
He took her hand.
“You got him.”
“We got him.”
For one brief evening, the house felt safe.
Then Daniel disappeared again.
This time he left a note.
I know where Samuel is.
Don’t follow me.
Alina found something else beneath it.
A photograph of Daniel and Samuel together.
Dated two years before Daniel claimed he had ever met him.
On the back, Daniel had written:
I’m sorry, Alina. I lied about when this began.
Then the mansion telephone rang.
Alina answered.
Daniel whispered:
“I need to tell you what I did before Vincent finds out.”
May you like
A gunshot sounded through the receiver.
And the line went dead.
