Chapter 6 - THE BROTHER NOBODY SUSPECTED
I had never met Luca Rossi.
I knew his face from newspapers.
Twenty-nine.
Handsome.
Educated in London.
The brother who preferred art galleries and European hotels to whatever Gabriel did in Manhattan.
According to gossip, Luca was the harmless Rossi.
Gabriel clearly disagreed.
“He wouldn’t poison our father.”
“You sound sure.”
“I raised him half the time.”
“That doesn’t make him innocent.”
Gabriel looked at me sharply.
Then nodded.
“You’re right.”
That was one thing about him I was beginning to notice.
He did not like being challenged.
But when the challenge was fair, he listened.
Salvatore was moved to a private hospital under heavy security.
He looked furious about being there.
“I am not dying in a room with beige walls.”
“You’re not dying at all,” Gabriel said.
Salvatore pointed at me.
“You. Tell him I can go home.”
“No.”
His eyebrows rose.
I continued.
“You’re being poisoned. Stay in the hospital.”
He muttered something rude in Sicilian.
I answered with something ruder.
Gabriel stared at both of us.
“This is my life now.”
Salvatore almost smiled.
Then I asked about Luca.
The smile disappeared.
“My younger son has made mistakes.”
Gabriel’s jaw tightened.
“What kind?”
Salvatore avoided his eyes.
That told us more than an answer would have.
“What did Luca do?” I asked.
Salvatore finally spoke.
“Three years ago, he borrowed money from Vittorio.”
“For what?” Gabriel demanded.
“Gambling.”
Gabriel stood so fast his chair moved backward.
“You knew?”
“I handled it.”
“No. You hid it.”
Salvatore slammed his cane against the floor.
“He was ashamed.”
“He was compromised.”
The room went silent.
Then Salvatore looked older than he had at the restaurant.
“I did not want you to hate your brother.”
Gabriel laughed without humor.
“So you let Vittorio own him instead?”
A nurse entered.
Salvatore’s medication schedule had been changed.
Gabriel checked the name of the ordering physician.
It matched one in Angelo’s ledger.
A doctor who had received payments from a company connected to Vittorio.
Gabriel immediately stopped the medication.
Within hours, hospital security detained the physician for questioning.
But when investigators examined the electronic order, the authorization had come from an account belonging to Luca Rossi.
Gabriel stared at the screen.
I remembered my mother whispering his name.
Everything pointed toward Luca.
Too neatly.
I opened Angelo’s ledger again.
One coded passage mentioned the second son.
I translated it slowly.
The younger boy is weak, but weakness is not betrayal. Someone will use his name when the old wolf begins to fall.
Gabriel looked at me.
“Angelo knew.”
“Knew what?”
“That someone would frame Luca.”
Salvatore closed his eyes.
Then I read the next line.
If poison enters Salvatore’s blood, look not at his sons. Look at the man who owns the doctor.
Vittorio.
Gabriel immediately called his security team.
But before they could move, the hospital door opened.
A young man stood there.
Dark suit.
Dark eyes.
Gabriel’s face with softer edges.
Luca Rossi.
He looked at his father.
Then at Gabriel.
Finally, at me.
“I heard you found Uncle Angelo’s book.”
Nobody spoke.
Luca closed the door behind him.
“You should know something before Vittorio finds you.”
He reached into his coat.
Gabriel moved instantly.
Luca slowly pulled out a photograph.
It showed my mother standing beside Salvatore Rossi.
And between them was the manager of Ilvento.
Richard.
May you like
Luca looked at me.
“Your boss has been working for my uncle for twelve years.”
