Chapter 6 - The Man Who Came Back From The Dead
The man standing in the hallway was holding my father's missing file.
He looked older than the photograph.
Tired.
Broken.
But alive.
Massimo stared at him like the world had stopped turning.
"Luca."
The name left his mouth like a whisper.
I felt the air disappear from the room.
Because Luca Pascale was supposed to be dead.
The man standing in front of us smiled sadly.
"Hello, brother."
Nobody moved.
Nobody spoke.
Even the guards who had rushed into the hallway stopped.
They knew that name.
Everyone in the house knew that name.
The dead man.
The reason Massimo had changed.
The person whose death started everything.
But he was standing right there.
Alive.
I looked at Massimo.
His face had lost every trace of control.
For the first time since I met him, he wasn't pretending to be untouchable.
He was just a brother seeing someone he had mourned.
"You're dead."
Luca looked down.
"I know."
The answer was so simple that it made everything worse.
I stepped forward.
"How?"
Luca looked at me.
His eyes softened.
"You must be Elena."
I froze.
He knew my name.
Of course he did.
Everyone in this world seemed to know things about me before I knew them.
"How do you know me?"
His expression changed.
Because the answer was something he didn't want to say.
"Your father talked about you."
My chest tightened.
"My father?"
Luca nodded.
"He worried about you more than anything."
I looked at Massimo.
He looked away.
And that hurt.
Because it meant they both knew my father.
They both knew secrets about my family.
And I was the only person left outside the truth.
"What happened in Room 17?"
The question came out immediately.
Luca became silent.
Massimo looked at him.
"Tell her."
Luca looked surprised.
"You finally decided?"
Massimo's voice was quiet.
"She deserves the truth."
Luca walked into the room.
He placed the file on the table.
"The official story was that I died from complications after the accident."
He opened the folder.
"The real story is that someone tried to kill me."
I stared at him.
"But you survived."
"Because your father helped me."
The room became silent.
"My father saved you?"
Luca nodded.
"Your father discovered the poison before it killed me."
I felt dizzy.
Everything I knew about my father was changing.
"He helped you escape?"
"No."
Luca looked at Massimo.
"He helped me disappear."
Massimo closed his eyes.
I understood.
They didn't fake Luca's death because he wanted to escape.
They did it because someone was hunting him.
"Why didn't you tell Massimo?"
Luca looked at his brother.
"I tried."
A painful silence followed.
"Then what happened?"
Luca's expression darkened.
"Victor happened."
The name filled the room.
Nobody looked surprised.
But everyone looked afraid.
"He knew about Room 17."
I looked at the file.
"What was Room 17?"
Luca opened the folder.
Inside was a photograph of a hospital room.
Small.
Private.
Nothing special.
But written on the bottom was a number.
"Your father discovered this room was being used for something illegal."
"What?"
Luca looked at Massimo.
"Medical records."
I frowned.
"I don't understand."
"They were using doctors, nurses, and private facilities to hide injuries, deaths, and evidence."
My stomach tightened.
"Your family?"
Massimo immediately said:
"No."
His voice was firm.
"Luca and I had enemies."
Luca nodded.
"Someone inside the organization was creating a second operation without our knowledge."
"And Victor?"
Luca looked at the door.
"He was helping them."
I looked at Massimo.
"Your closest adviser betrayed you."
Massimo didn't respond.
Because hearing it from Luca made it real.
The man he trusted.
The man who stood beside him.
The man who knew every weakness.
Had been the person destroying him.
"Why didn't you expose him?"
Luca laughed quietly.
Not happily.
"Because we needed proof."
"And my father?"
Luca's eyes moved to me.
"Your father found it."
My heart stopped.
"What proof?"
Luca looked at the file.
"The original records from Room 17."
I looked at the folder.
"But they disappeared."
"Yes."
"Why?"
"Because someone took them."
A terrible thought entered my mind.
"Victor?"
Luca nodded.
"But not before your father copied everything."
I stared.
"Where?"
Nobody answered.
Then Massimo looked at me.
And suddenly I understood.
My father didn't just leave evidence.
He left it for someone.
For me.
"Why me?"
Massimo looked away.
"Because your father trusted you."
I shook my head.
"He never told me anything."
"Because he was protecting you."
I laughed bitterly.
"By dying and leaving me with questions?"
Nobody answered.
Because there was no easy answer.
I looked at Massimo.
"You knew."
"Yes."
"You knew my father was protecting me."
"Yes."
"You knew someone might come after me."
His silence confirmed everything.
Anger rose inside me.
"You brought me here because you thought I was a target."
"I brought you here because this was the only place I could protect you."
I stared at him.
"You don't get to decide that."
His expression changed.
A small crack.
Pain.
"I know."
That answer surprised me.
Massimo Pascale admitting he was wrong felt impossible.
But he did.
"I was wrong."
The room went quiet.
"I thought if I kept you close, nobody could reach you."
His voice lowered.
"But I forgot that keeping someone safe doesn't mean keeping them trapped."
For a moment, I didn't see the Mafia boss.
I saw a wounded man.
A man who had spent years controlling everything because he had already lost too much.
Then the mansion alarm suddenly activated.
Not the security alarm.
A different one.
The emergency medical alarm.
Luca's face changed.
"No."
Massimo looked at him.
"What?"
Luca reached for the file.
"Someone found us."
The lights flickered.
The guards moved immediately.
Then a gunshot echoed from outside.
Everyone froze.
A second shot followed.
Closer.
The guards rushed toward the entrance.
Massimo grabbed the side of his wheelchair.
"Luca, take Elena and go."
I looked at him.
"What?"
"You heard me."
"No."
His eyes met mine.
"Elena."
The way he said my name stopped me.
Not as a command.
As a warning.
As a goodbye.
The front doors exploded open.
The guards raised their weapons.
A figure stepped through the smoke.
Everyone pointed their guns.
But the person didn't look at Massimo.
Didn't look at Luca.
They looked directly at me.
Then they spoke.
"Elena."
My blood turned cold.
Because I knew that voice.
It was the same voice from the phone message.
The same person who had been watching me since I arrived.
The person who knew my father's secret.
The person who knew what happened in Room 17.
They lifted a folder.
And on the cover was written one name.
My own.
May you like
Then they said the words that made Massimo's face lose all color...
"Your father didn't die protecting you. He died because of you."
