Chapter 6 - THE BROTHER WHO CAME BACK FROM THE DEAD
Luca Moretti had been buried in a closed coffin.
Dante remembered every terrible detail.
The warehouse explosion.
The burned identification documents.
The funeral attended by hundreds of mourners.
He remembered promising his mother that the men responsible would pay.
Now he stood in her hospital room holding a photograph of Luca alive.
“Where did Elena get this?”
Isabella shook her head.
“She never told me.”
Dante studied the image.
Luca stood outside a private airport beside Victor Salerno.
His hair was shorter.
His face carried a thin scar.
But there was no mistaking him.
“It's Luca.”
Isabella began to cry.
Dante pulled out his phone.
“Marco, I need you to trace a photograph.”
“Of whom?”
“My brother.”
Silence.
Then Marco said, “Sir, your brother is dead.”
“Apparently not.”
Three hours later, Elena received an unexpected visitor at Margaret's house.
A black SUV stopped across the street.
A man stepped out.
Tall.
Dark-haired.
A faint scar beside his eyebrow.
Elena froze behind the kitchen window.
She recognized him immediately.
Luca Moretti.
He knocked once.
Margaret moved toward the door.
Elena stopped her.
“Don't.”
Luca spoke from outside.
“Elena. I know you're in there.”
She didn't move.
“I came alone.”
She glanced at the security monitor.
One vehicle.
No visible passengers.
But she knew better than to trust appearances.
“What do you want?” she called.
“To explain why my brother is in danger.”
Elena swallowed.
“Then call him.”
“I can't.”
“Why?”
“Because he thinks I'm dead.”
Elena closed her eyes.
Luca continued.
“Your husband is being set up. Bianca and Victor have been planning it for years.”
“Why should I believe you?”
“Because you saved my life once.”
Elena went still.
The night Luca supposedly died, she'd received a desperate call from a man who refused to identify himself.
He had asked for help arranging medical transport for a severely injured patient.
She had paid the bill through a private charitable account.
She never knew the patient's name.
Now she understood.
“Come to the side door,” Elena said.
Margaret looked horrified.
“Elena—”
“I know.”
Luca entered five minutes later.
He looked exhausted.
Older than Dante.
And frightened.
“I faked my death because Victor threatened to kill Isabella,” he explained.
Elena folded her arms.
“Why didn't you tell your brother?”
“Because someone inside Dante's security team was working for Victor.”
“Who?”
Luca hesitated.
“Marco DeLuca.”
Elena stared.
Marco had been Dante's closest friend for fifteen years.
His bodyguard.
His confidant.
The man who knew every Moretti secret.
Luca stepped closer.
“And there's something else.”
“What?”
“Bianca isn't Victor's lover.”
Elena frowned.
“Then who is she?”
Luca looked toward the window.
“She's his sister.”
A car slowed outside.
Luca's face changed.
He grabbed Elena's arm.
“We need to leave.”
But before they could move, a message appeared on her phone.
A photograph of Dante entering his mother's hospital room.
May you like
Beneath it were five words.
YOUR HUSBAND HAS ONE HOUR.
