Chapter 4 - THE DEAD BROTHER AT THE GATE
Nobody in the west wing moved for three full seconds.
Then Roman handed Sophie to Rosa.
“Take her to the safe room.”
Sophie immediately protested.
No.
Roman’s hands were sharp.
Now.
She shook her head.
Emma crouched.
“I’ll go with you.”
Sophie’s expression softened slightly.
Roman looked at Emma.
“You stay there.”
“Planning to.”
His gaze held hers.
No arrogance this time.
Only concern.
“Do not leave the room until I come for you.”
Emma wanted to object on principle.
But a dead brother had apparently arrived at the front gate.
Even she had limits.
“Fine.”
Rosa led them through a hidden passage behind the library into a reinforced room containing monitors, food, water, emergency supplies, and enough electronics to run a small country.
Sophie climbed onto a couch.
Emma sat beside her.
The monitors showed Roman walking toward the front hall.
Marco followed with armed men.
At the gates stood a man.
Tall.
Dark-haired.
Older than Roman.
Alive.
Emma looked at Rosa.
“That’s him?”
Rosa had begun to cry.
“Antonio.”
Sophie stared at the screen.
Uncle?
Rosa whispered, “She barely remembers him.”
Emma watched Roman approach the gate.
Even through silent security footage, she could see his fury.
Antonio smiled.
Roman did not.
The gate opened.
Emma muttered, “That seems like a terrible idea.”
Rosa answered, “Roman needs answers.”
“Answers can talk through fences.”
Rosa almost smiled.
On screen, Antonio raised his hands.
Unarmed.
Roman stopped ten feet away.
The safe-room speakers suddenly activated.
Roman’s voice filled the room.
“You’re supposed to be dead.”
Antonio smiled.
“So I’ve heard.”
“You think this is funny?”
“No.”
“Where have you been?”
“Surviving.”
Roman stepped closer.
“Four years.”
“Roman—”
“Four years.”
His voice cracked with rage.
“You let me bury an empty coffin?”
Antonio’s expression changed.
“I had no choice.”
“Everyone has choices.”
“Not when Carlo Bellandi owns your life.”
Marco shifted.
Roman’s eyes narrowed.
“Bellandi?”
“He arranged my disappearance.”
“Why?”
“Because I found out what Elena found later.”
Roman froze.
Antonio continued.
“Someone was stealing from you.”
“I know.”
“No. You don’t.”
Antonio shook his head.
“They weren’t stealing money.”
Roman’s voice went quiet.
“What were they stealing?”
“Access.”
Emma leaned closer to the monitor.
Antonio continued.
“Shipping schedules. Port manifests. Customs routes. Names of judges. Police contacts. Everything your organization knew.”
“Who?”
Antonio looked directly at his brother.
“Our father.”
Roman went still.
Emma glanced at Rosa.
The older woman crossed herself.
Sophie noticed.
Grandpa?
Rosa did not answer.
On screen Roman said, “Our father has been dead fourteen years.”
Antonio smiled bitterly.
“That seems to run in the family.”
Roman’s face darkened.
“Stop playing games.”
“I’m not.”
Antonio reached into his coat.
Every guard raised a gun.
Marco shouted.
“Hands!”
Antonio froze.
Slowly he removed a photograph.
He placed it on the ground.
Then stepped back.
Marco retrieved it.
Roman looked.
The camera could not show the image clearly.
But whatever Roman saw changed everything.
He whispered, “When?”
“Three weeks ago.”
“Where?”
“Naples.”
Roman stared at Antonio.
Emma had never seen shock flatten a man so completely.
Antonio continued.
“Vittorio DeLuca is alive.”
Roman turned away.
Marco looked equally stunned.
Rosa sat down hard.
“Oh my God.”
Sophie looked between them.
Emma signed.
Do not worry.
Sophie frowned.
Everyone says that when I should worry.
Emma had no answer.
At the gate, Roman turned back.
“My father died in a hospital.”
“You saw a body?”
“I saw the coffin.”
“So did you see my coffin.”
Roman said nothing.
Antonio continued.
“Father faked his death after federal investigators got too close. He spent years building operations overseas. Elena found transfers linking him to your companies.”
“And the Cardinals?”
“His.”
“Why kill Elena?”
Antonio’s face tightened.
“She threatened to expose him.”
Roman’s eyes became deadly.
“And why Sophie?”
“She remembers something.”
Roman’s voice cracked.
“She was four.”
“She saw someone at the crash.”
Roman looked toward the mansion.
Toward his daughter.
Antonio said quietly, “Father believes Elena told Sophie where she kept evidence.”
Emma looked toward the brass key still in Roman’s hand on-screen.
He knows.
Roman seemed to have the same realization.
“If he knows about Elena’s evidence, why wait three years?”
“Because he thought it died with her.”
Antonio looked toward the mansion.
“Until someone inside your organization reported Sophie had started signing about a red bird.”
Roman went cold.
“Who?”
“I don’t know.”
Marco stepped forward.
“Convenient.”
Antonio glared.
“I spent four years hiding because anyone near Roman gets killed.”
Roman’s expression hardened.
“Elena died after you disappeared.”
“I know.”
“You could have warned me.”
“I tried.”
“When?”
“I sent messages through Luca Ferretti.”
Roman laughed without humor.
“Luca told me you died in Sicily.”
Antonio’s face fell.
Then both brothers understood.
Roman turned to Marco.
“Find Ferretti.”
Marco pulled out his phone.
Antonio said, “You won’t.”
Roman looked at him.
“Why?”
“Because Luca Ferretti has been working for Father since before either of us knew there was a war.”
Roman went completely still.
Emma knew the name.
Not personally.
But she had heard Roman’s men mention him earlier.
His financial adviser.
A trusted family friend.
Someone with access.
Someone inside.
Roman spoke into his phone.
“Lock the estate.”
Marco reacted instantly.
“All gates. All electronic access. Nobody leaves.”
The mansion shifted into emergency mode.
Steel barriers lowered at rear entrances.
Security lights activated.
Emma felt Sophie grab her sleeve.
What is happening?
Emma signed.
They are finding who hurt your mother.
Sophie stared.
Then, slowly:
Papa thinks Mommy’s crash was not an accident?
Emma hesitated.
She hated lying to children.
Yes.
Sophie lowered her hands.
A tear slid down her cheek.
I knew.
Emma’s breath stopped.
“What?”
Sophie signed again.
I knew.
Emma crouched.
What did you know?
Sophie’s hands trembled.
Mommy was scared before crash.
Emma swallowed.
Did she say why?
Sophie nodded.
Bad grandpa.
Emma stared.
“Rosa.”
Rosa looked up.
Sophie signed faster.
Mommy told me if bird men came, hide rabbit. Never tell Grandpa.
Rosa began crying again.
Emma’s chest hurt.
This child had carried a secret for three years.
Not because she had forgotten.
Because she had obeyed her mother.
“Sweetheart…”
Sophie continued.
Mommy said Papa would be angry and angry makes him run toward danger.
Despite everything, Emma almost laughed.
Elena had understood Roman perfectly.
Sophie wiped her eyes.
I did not want Papa to die too.
Emma pulled the child into her arms.
Sophie pressed her face against Emma’s chest.
The safe-room door suddenly beeped.
Rosa stiffened.
Only Roman and Marco should have access.
The lock clicked.
Emma stood.
The door opened.
A man stepped inside.
Gray suit.
Silver hair.
Calm smile.
Rosa went white.
“Luca.”
Emma’s blood chilled.
Luca Ferretti.
The traitor.
He carried a gun.
“Please step away from Sophie.”
Emma moved in front of the child.
“Not happening.”
Luca sighed.
“I hoped you’d be reasonable.”
“You brought a gun into a room with a seven-year-old.”
“I’m not here for the girl.”
Emma stared.
Luca looked toward Sophie.
“I’m here for the key.”
Emma’s eyes flicked toward the monitors.
Roman still stood at the front gate.
Luca smiled.
“Yes. He is occupied.”
Rosa moved.
Luca raised the weapon.
“Don’t.”
Emma’s brain raced.
No phone signal.
Locked room.
One door.
A gun.
Sophie behind her.
Emma had never been brave in the dramatic way people described bravery.
She hated confrontation.
She avoided dark parking lots.
She cried during turbulence.
But courage, she suddenly understood, was not feeling fearless.
It was realizing someone smaller was more afraid than you.
Emma stepped toward Luca.
He frowned.
“Stop.”
“No.”
“Emma.”
“You know my name.”
“Everyone knows your name now.”
That sentence chilled her.
Luca continued.
“The woman who made Roman DeLuca smile.”
Emma nearly laughed.
“You’re insane.”
“Possibly.”
His eyes hardened.
“Give me the key.”
“I don’t have it.”
“Roman does.”
“Then why are you here?”
“To trade.”
Emma looked toward Sophie.
Luca smiled.
Roman’s voice suddenly came through the speakers.
“Ferretti.”
Luca spun.
On the monitor Roman stared directly into a security camera.
His expression was murderous.
“You have thirty seconds to put down the gun.”
Luca laughed.
“You’re outside.”
Roman held up a phone.
“No.”
The safe room speaker crackled again.
“I’m at the secondary entrance.”
Emma’s heart jumped.
Luca’s face changed.
Roman continued.
“You taught me something twenty years ago, Luca.”
“What?”
“Never trust one security system.”
A panel in the wall behind Luca slid open.
Marco appeared.
Gun raised.
“Drop it.”
Luca grabbed Emma.
Everything happened at once.
His arm locked around her neck.
The gun pressed against her side.
Sophie screamed silently.
Roman entered through the main door.
His weapon aimed directly at Luca.
The room froze.
Luca breathed heavily against Emma’s ear.
“Put it down.”
Roman’s face became terrifyingly calm.
“Let her go.”
“You first.”
Roman did not move.
Emma looked at him.
His eyes met hers.
She had never been held at gunpoint.
Never imagined she would know what to do.
But Roman’s gaze shifted.
Once.
Toward Luca’s knee.
Then back to Emma.
She understood.
Maybe.
Hopefully.
Emma stomped backward on Luca’s foot and threw her weight down.
Luca cursed.
The gun moved.
Roman fired.
One shot.
Luca collapsed.
Emma fell forward.
Roman caught her before she hit the floor.
For one second they were pressed together.
Her hands against his chest.
His arm around her waist.
Both breathing too hard.
“Are you hurt?”
“No.”
His hands moved over her arms, checking anyway.
“Emma.”
“I’m okay.”
Sophie launched herself into them.
Roman dropped to his knees.
Emma did too.
Sophie wrapped both arms around Emma’s neck, sobbing silently.
Roman held them both.
Emma felt his hand at the back of her head.
Not controlling.
Not commanding.
Shaking.
She realized he had been afraid.
Not only for Sophie.
For her.
Across the room, Marco secured Luca.
Antonio appeared in the doorway.
Roman looked up.
His brother stared at the scene.
Then at Emma.
A strange understanding crossed Antonio’s face.
“Roman.”
“What?”
Antonio held up a phone.
“We have a problem.”
Roman’s eyes hardened.
“What now?”
Antonio turned the screen.
A live video feed showed Emma’s bakery.
Someone had spray-painted a red bird across the front window.
Below it were six words.
BRING THE GIRL OR SHE DIES.
Emma stared.
Roman stood.
“They mean me.”
Antonio shook his head.
“No.”
Roman looked at him.
Antonio’s face was grim.
May you like
“They mean Emma’s mother.”
Emma’s blood turned to ice.
