Chapter 6 - THE BROTHER WHO DISAPPEARED TO SAVE US
Luca Falcone had left me because Victor Salerno threatened my life.
That truth hurt differently from abandonment.
It didn’t erase three years of raising Sophia alone.
It didn’t give back the nights I cried after he stopped answering calls.
But it meant he hadn’t simply chosen to leave.
Dante read every page of the notebook.
Luca had discovered Victor was stealing money from the Falcone Foundation.
When he tried to confront him, Victor threatened me.
Then Luca disappeared under the name Luke Ferris.
Not to escape me.
To pull danger away.
He planned to return after gathering evidence.
He never got the chance.
Dante looked toward me.
“My brother died in Zurich four months before Sophia was born.”
I nodded.
“I remember the news.”
“He was meeting a banking investigator.”
My stomach tightened.
“About Victor?”
“Yes.”
Dante’s expression hardened.
“The official story said he was killed during a robbery.”
I stared.
“You don’t believe that anymore.”
“No.”
Then he asked:
“Did Luca ever give you anything?”
I thought about it.
A necklace.
A cheap silver key.
A book.
Then I remembered something.
“The music box.”
Dante frowned.
“What?”
“He gave me a wooden music box two weeks before he left.”
“Where is it?”
“At my apartment.”
We went there with my attorney and a small independent security team.
I didn’t want Dante’s entire organization invading my home.
He respected that.
The music box sat on my bedroom shelf.
I hadn’t opened it in years.
Sophia liked the little ballerina inside.
Dante turned it over.
A small Falcone crest had been carved beneath the base.
I’d never noticed.
The bottom panel opened with the silver key Luca gave me.
Inside was a memory card.
My heart pounded.
The card contained financial records.
Emails.
Security schedules.
And a video.
Luca appeared on screen.
He looked exhausted.
“Rosa, if you’re seeing this, I failed to come back.”
I began crying.
Dante looked away.
“I’m sorry I lied about who I was.”
Luca swallowed.
“I wanted one part of my life that wasn’t Falcone.”
My throat tightened.
“You were that part.”
I covered my mouth.
Then he said:
“If the baby is born, tell her I loved her before I ever met her.”
I broke down.
Three years of anger collapsed at once.
Then Luca’s expression changed.
“Victor is working with someone inside the family.”
Dante leaned closer.
“The ambush that killed Carmela may be connected to the same money.”
My stomach tightened.
Luca had recorded this four years earlier.
Long before Carmela died.
Then he held up a photograph.
Victor Salerno.
And beside him stood a woman.
Beautiful.
Dark-haired.
Wearing a red coat.
Dante went still.
“No.”
I looked at him.
“Who is she?”
His face had turned pale.
“My cousin.”
“What’s her name?”
He swallowed.
“Isabella Falcone.”
I had seen her many times.
She visited the estate every week.
May you like
She brought Sophia candy.
She was also the person Dante’s advisers had quietly been encouraging him to marry since Carmela’s death.
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