Chapter 10 - THE BLOODLINE
Matteo Moretti stood in the doorway.
Older.
Gray-haired.
His body thinner than Luca expected.
But his eyes were unmistakable.
Isabella's eyes.
Luca's eyes.
The same eyes that stared back at him every morning.
Luca couldn't speak.
Rafael moved toward Matteo.
"You were supposed to be dead."
Matteo smiled sadly.
"So were you."
The two men stared at each other.
Twenty-eight years of hatred stood between them.
Naomi whispered:
"Luca..."
He raised a hand.
"Nobody."
Everyone stopped.
He looked at Matteo.
"Are you my father?"
Matteo nodded.
"Biologically."
Rafael looked down.
Luca turned toward him.
"And you?"
"I raised you."
Luca laughed once.
There was no humor in it.
"So both of you lied."
Matteo stepped forward.
"We lied to keep you alive."
"I didn't ask you to."
"You were a child."
"I'm not anymore."
Silence.
Luca looked at Isabella's letter.
"Where is my mother?"
Matteo's expression changed.
"She was taken."
"By whom?"
"The council."
"Who is the council?"
Matteo answered:
"The men who control the Moretti empire."
Luca shook his head.
"I control it."
"No."
Matteo looked at him.
"They allow you to."
The words struck harder than a bullet.
Luca's phone buzzed.
A message.
A photograph.
Isabella.
Alive.
The caption read:
BRING THE BLOODLINE TO THE DOCKS. MIDNIGHT. COME ALONE.
Luca showed everyone.
Rafael immediately said:
"It's a trap."
"I know."
"Then don't go."
"I have to."
Matteo stepped forward.
"I'll go with you."
"No."
"I'm your father."
Luca stared at him.
"That's exactly why you're not coming."
He turned to Rafael.
"And neither are you."
Naomi stepped forward.
"You can't go alone."
Luca looked at her.
"I won't."
She frowned.
"Then who?"
Luca checked his weapon.
"The person they don't know I trust."
He looked at Vivian.
She understood.
"Me."
Luca nodded.
They reached the docks at midnight.
Fog covered the water.
Containers formed narrow corridors.
Luca and Vivian walked together.
Neither spoke.
Finally Vivian whispered:
"I never wanted to hurt you."
"I know."
She looked at him.
"You do?"
"I don't know what to believe anymore."
"Fair."
They reached the center of the dock.
A light turned on.
Isabella sat in a chair.
Her hands were tied.
Luca moved toward her.
A voice stopped him.
"One more step and she dies."
The lawyer emerged.
Six men surrounded him.
Luca's expression hardened.
"You're the council."
The lawyer smiled.
"I'm the last one."
"Where are the others?"
"Dead."
"Who killed them?"
He smiled.
"Your father."
Luca looked toward Matteo.
He wasn't there.
The lawyer laughed.
"You brought the wrong father."
Luca's eyes narrowed.
"What does that mean?"
The lawyer lifted a remote.
A screen appeared.
Security footage.
The Moretti mansion.
Matteo was inside.
He was standing beside Rafael.
Then he shot him.
Luca's face went blank.
"No."
The lawyer smiled.
"Your biological father murdered the man who raised you."
Luca stared at the screen.
Rafael fell.
Isabella screamed.
Vivian covered her mouth.
The lawyer said:
"Now you understand."
Luca lowered his weapon.
The lawyer approached.
"Your family has been killing itself for generations."
Luca stared at the screen.
Then he noticed something.
The footage was wrong.
The clock.
It showed 11:42.
But they had arrived at midnight.
The video had been recorded earlier.
And there was another detail.
The man standing beside Matteo had a scar on his left hand.
Rafael did not have that scar.
Luca's eyes narrowed.
"This is fake."
The lawyer's smile disappeared.
Luca looked at him.
"You used old footage."
The lawyer stepped back.
"You're bluffing."
"No."
Luca raised his gun.
"You're desperate."
The lawyer's men raised their weapons.
Then the dock lights exploded.
Darkness.
Gunfire.
Screams.
Naomi's voice came through Luca's earpiece.
"Now!"
Luca fired.
Vivian grabbed Isabella and pulled her behind a container.
Within seconds, the council's men were down.
The lawyer ran.
Luca chased him.
They reached the edge of the dock.
The lawyer slipped.
Luca grabbed his arm.
"Who is behind this?"
The lawyer laughed.
"You still don't understand."
"Tell me."
"Vivian wasn't the target."
Luca tightened his grip.
"Then who?"
The lawyer smiled.
"You were."
Then he let go.
His body disappeared into the darkness below.
Luca stared over the edge.
Vivian ran toward him.
"He's gone."
Luca looked at her.
"Not for long."
Behind them, Isabella began crying.
Luca turned.
His mother was pointing toward the water.
Something floated there.
A black case.
Luca retrieved it.
Inside was a birth certificate.
His.
And one additional document.
A marriage certificate.
Between Isabella Moretti and Matteo.
Dated thirty years ago.
One year before Luca's birth.
Rafael had never been Isabella's husband.
He had been protecting her.
Luca stared at the certificate.
Then at Matteo, who had finally arrived.
"Why did you let me call Rafael my father?"
Matteo looked at Isabella.
She lowered her head.
Matteo whispered:
"Because Rafael made a promise."
"What promise?"
"That if anything happened to me, he would raise you as his own."
Luca's eyes filled with tears.
"Then who killed you?"
Matteo looked toward the darkness.
"The same man who is still hunting you."
"Alexander?"
Matteo shook his head.
"No."
"Then who?"
Matteo answered:
"Your grandfather."
Everyone went silent.
Luca stared.
"My grandfather?"
Matteo nodded.
"He ordered my death."
"Why?"
"Because he believed your blood belonged to him."
Luca looked down at the documents.
Then his phone rang.
An unknown number.
He answered.
A man's voice whispered:
"Your grandfather is waiting for you."
Luca froze.
The voice continued.
"He's been waiting for twenty-eight years."
May you like
The call ended.
And somewhere far away, an old man smiled.
