Chapter 4 - The Man Who Died Twice
Lia could not move.
Thomas Evans looked older.
Thinner.
But his eyes were the same.
She remembered those eyes above bedtime stories.
Across breakfast tables.
Beside hospital beds when she had broken her wrist.
“Dad?”
His face crumpled.
“Lia.”
She crossed the room before anyone could stop her.
Then stopped inches from him.
Five years of grief for Evan.
Fourteen years believing her father dead.
Too many lies.
She slapped him.
The sound cracked through the penthouse.
Thomas accepted it.
“You're alive.”
“Yes.”
“You let me bury you.”
“I did.”
“You let Mom—”
“Your mother knew.”
That hurt more.
Lia backed away.
Dante remained silent.
Thomas looked at him.
“You look like Alessandro.”
“You knew my father.”
“He saved my life.”
Thomas explained the fire.
They had discovered the network was preparing to kill both families.
Alessandro devised a desperate plan.
Thomas would disappear.
Evidence would be hidden.
The conspiracy would believe its greatest threat dead.
But something went wrong.
A second man entered the house that night.
A corrupt accountant working for the network.
The fire killed him.
His body was misidentified as Thomas.
“Mom knew?”
“Yes.”
“Evan?”
“No.”
Lia closed her eyes.
Her brother had spent years believing the Morettis murdered their father.
“Why didn't you tell him?”
“I tried.”
“When?”
“The night Evan disappeared.”
Thomas had arranged to meet him.
Evan never arrived.
Someone reached him first.
Isabella Romano.
Dante's former intended bride.
She convinced Evan that Thomas's messages were Moretti manipulation.
Together they disappeared.
“What does Isabella want?”
“Control.”
“Of what?”
“Everything our fathers built to stop.”
The criminal network had survived.
It had evolved.
Legitimate companies.
Judges.
Ports.
Banks.
Police.
Politicians.
Isabella wanted the Moretti empire because its shipping infrastructure was the final piece she needed.
“And me?”
“You became important yesterday.”
“Because I turned twenty-one.”
Thomas nodded.
The trust became accessible.
“But why marriage?”
“To activate the joint-control clause.”
“You planned this?”
“No.”
Thomas looked at Dante.
“Alessandro did.”
Lia's anger returned.
“Everyone planned my life except me.”
“No,” Thomas said. “That was the point. The trust could only activate through a voluntary marriage. Nobody could compel you.”
“I don't remember choosing it.”
“But you did.”
Thomas produced another object.
A tiny recorder.
“You left this with me last night.”
Lia pressed play.
Her own voice filled the room.
“If you're hearing this tomorrow, it means I was right about the drug.”
She closed her eyes.
Her recorded voice continued.
“I chose this. Nobody forced me. Dante actually tried to talk me out of it.”
Dante looked away.
“I married him because the trust gives us the power to expose the people who destroyed our families.”
A pause.
“And because Sophie is missing.”
Lia's eyes opened.
She had known.
Before the courthouse.
Her voice continued.
“Evan contacted me. He's alive. He told me not to trust Dante. But he used a phrase Dad taught us never to use unless we were being watched.”
Thomas whispered:
“Red window.”
The recording continued.
“So Evan was warning me. He isn't the enemy. He's trapped inside it.”
Lia covered her mouth.
Her brother was alive.
And trying to help her.
The recording ended.
Dante looked at Thomas.
“Where's Margaret?”
“With Elena.”
His face changed.
“My mother?”
“They've been working together for years.”
Dante laughed without humor.
“Of course.”
Thomas explained that Elena Moretti and Margaret Evans had maintained the hidden operation while Thomas remained underground.
They had protected the children.
Tracked Isabella.
Collected evidence.
“And nobody trusted me enough to tell me?” Dante asked.
Thomas met his gaze.
“We didn't know what you would become.”
Dante absorbed that quietly.
Lia understood.
The Moretti heir could have become exactly what their enemies expected.
Instead, he had apparently spent years cleaning his father's empire.
Closing illegal operations.
Removing violent captains.
Moving the family toward legitimate business.
Thomas looked at Lia.
“That's why you chose him.”
Lia looked at Dante.
He seemed almost uncomfortable.
“You checked?”
“I've checked him for six years.”
“And?”
Thomas smiled faintly.
“He's annoying.”
Lia almost laughed.
Almost.
“He's also the only Moretti I would trust with my daughter.”
Dante looked away.
The moment broke when Marco entered.
“Sophie has been moved.”
“Where?”
“We intercepted traffic cameras.”
A convoy headed toward an abandoned Moretti warehouse in Brooklyn.
Thomas shook his head.
“Trap.”
“I know,” Dante said.
Lia stood.
“Then we spring it.”
“No.”
Both men said it simultaneously.
She glared.
Dante sighed.
Thomas looked almost amused.
“You married her.”
“So I'm discovering.”
Lia insisted.
Sophie was there because of her.
Evan might be there too.
She would not sit in a penthouse.
They created a plan.
Dante's security entered from the river.
Police officers trusted by Thomas approached from the south.
Lia would remain in an armored vehicle.
She hated it.
Accepted it.
The warehouse appeared abandoned.
Then lights activated.
A woman's voice came over loudspeakers.
“Welcome, Mrs. Moretti.”
Dante stopped.
Lia stepped from the vehicle before he could stop her.
“Isabella!”
A balcony light switched on.
Sophie stood there.
Hands tied.
Beside her was Evan.
Older.
Bearded.
Alive.
Lia's heart broke.
“Evan!”
His eyes found hers.
“Lia, get out!”
A woman stepped from the shadows.
Isabella Romano.
Elegant.
Beautiful.
Cold.
She held a gun.
Not at Sophie.
At Evan.
“You ruined everything,” Isabella said.
Lia looked at her brother.
“What does she want?”
Evan shook his head.
“Don't give her the trust.”
Isabella smiled.
“I don't need the trust.”
She looked at Dante.
“I need the marriage annulled.”
“Why?”
“Because at midnight tomorrow, joint control becomes permanent.”
Lia looked at Dante.
He had not known.
Isabella continued.
“Until then, either spouse can dissolve it.”
Dante stepped forward.
“Let them go.”
“Sign an annulment.”
“I'll sign.”
Lia turned.
“No.”
Dante ignored her.
“Release Sophie and Evan.”
Isabella smiled.
“I knew you'd choose the girl.”
Dante's face remained unreadable.
But Lia understood.
He would surrender everything.
For her.
For people he barely knew.
Isabella tossed papers down.
Dante reached for them.
Thomas whispered:
“Don't.”
Dante picked up the pen.
A gunshot exploded.
Sophie screamed.
Evan fell.
“EVAN!”
Chaos erupted.
Dante threw Lia behind the armored vehicle.
Security returned fire.
Isabella disappeared.
Lia crawled toward the warehouse.
Dante grabbed her.
“My brother!”
“I'll get him.”
“Dante—”
“Stay here.”
He ran into gunfire.
Minutes felt like hours.
Then Sophie emerged with Marco.
Lia grabbed her.
“Evan?”
Sophie sobbed.
“Alive.”
Dante came next.
He carried Evan over his shoulder.
Blood covered his shirt.
They escaped as the warehouse burned behind them.
At the hospital, surgeons took Evan into emergency surgery.
Sophie sat wrapped in a blanket.
Thomas stood beside Lia.
Dante's white shirt was stained with Evan's blood.
“You saved him,” Lia whispered.
“He isn't saved yet.”
Hours passed.
The surgeon finally emerged.
Evan would live.
Lia cried.
Dante sat beside her.
Not touching.
Just there.
She looked at the ring.
“Did you really try to stop me from marrying you?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because you were twenty-one.”
“And?”
“And I knew exactly what marrying me would cost.”
“What did I say?”
His eyes met hers.
“You said you were tired of other people deciding what you could survive.”
Lia smiled weakly.
“That sounds like me.”
“It does.”
For the first time, she slipped her hand into his.
Dante looked down.
Then held it gently.
A nurse approached.
“Miss Evans?”
“Yes?”
“Your brother is awake.”
Lia stood.
The nurse hesitated.
“He asked for you.”
Lia hurried toward the room.
Then the nurse added:
“He said you must come alone because he knows who injected you.”
Lia stopped.
Behind the glass, Evan opened his eyes.
His lips formed a name.
May you like
Lia understood it.
And the person he named was standing directly behind Dante.
