Chapter 10 – THE BROTHER’S RETURN

The silence in the room was deafening following the click of the disconnected call.

“Antonio,” Teresa breathed, clutching her chest. “My boy is alive.”

Luca’s face was an unreadable mask of stone, but his good hand gripped the edge of the table so hard his knuckles turned white.

“He’s alive,” Luca repeated, his voice cold. “And he just brought a war to our front door.”

I tightened my grip on Sophie, who was now fully awake, her wide, innocent eyes darting between us.

“Mommy, who are the bad men looking for?” Sophie whispered.

“Nobody, sweetheart,” I lied, my voice shaking. “You’re safe.”

Luca turned to his security chief, who had just rushed back into the room. “Lock down the city. I want every man we have on the perimeter. If a Rossi so much as breathes near this estate, put them in the ground.”

“Yes, Boss,” the man nodded, sprinting out.

Luca turned to me, the coldness in his eyes vanishing instantly. “Emily. I need you to listen to me.”

“I’m listening,” I said, trying to keep the panic from swallowing me whole.

“Andrew kept Sophie’s true identity a secret to extort my mother,” Luca explained quickly. “But with Andrew dead, the Rossis will tear this city apart looking for Antonio’s heir. They want to eliminate her to end our bloodline.”

I looked down at Sophie, my heart breaking. She was just a little girl who loved drawing and eating ice cream. Now she was the center of a mafia blood feud.

“We have to run,” I said, standing up, pulling Sophie into my arms. “I’ll take her away. We’ll change our names.”

“No,” Luca said firmly, stepping into my space. He placed his good hand gently on the back of Sophie’s head, stroking her hair. “If you run, you’ll spend the rest of your life looking over your shoulder. I won’t let you live in fear.”

“Then what do we do?” I pleaded.

Before Luca could answer, the front doors of the mansion were thrown open.

Guns were drawn instantly. Luca pushed me behind him, shielding us with his body.

A man walked into the foyer, his hands raised in surrender. He was battered, bruised, and looked like he had aged twenty years, but the resemblance was undeniable.

It was Antonio Moretti.

Teresa let out a piercing cry and ran toward him. Antonio collapsed to his knees, burying his face in his mother’s shoulder, sobbing.

Luca didn’t move. He kept himself firmly between his brother and me.

“You’ve been alive for ten years,” Luca said, his voice laced with betrayal and anger. “And you let Mother mourn you.”

Antonio looked up, tears streaming down his bruised face. “I was a prisoner, Luca! The Rossis kept me chained in a basement in Chicago. Andrew Bennett was my guard. He took my child the day she was born and used her to keep me compliant. He said if I ever tried to escape, he’d kill my little girl.”

Antonio’s eyes shifted past Luca, landing on me.

And then, his gaze dropped to Sophie.

The air in the room stood still.

Antonio slowly stood up, ignoring his injuries, and took a hesitant step toward us.

“Is that her?” Antonio whispered, his voice cracking. “Is that my daughter?”

I instinctively stepped back, tightening my grip on Sophie. “She’s my daughter.”

Antonio stopped, raising his hands gently. “I know. I know you raised her. I know you protected her. Andrew bragged about how you loved her as your own.”

He dropped to his knees in front of us, tears spilling freely down his cheeks.

“I don’t want to take her from you,” Antonio wept, looking up at me with profound gratitude. “I just wanted to see her face. I just wanted to know she was safe.”

Sophie peeked out from behind my shoulder, looking at the crying man.

“Mommy, why is he sad?” Sophie asked.

“Because he lost something very important a long time ago,” I said softly, my heart breaking for the man who had been tortured for a decade.

I looked at Luca. He gave me a slow, reassuring nod.

I gently set Sophie down on her feet. “Sophie, this is Antonio. He’s a friend.”

Sophie took a hesitant step forward. She reached into her pocket and pulled out a small, slightly squished chocolate candy from the dinner party.

She held it out to Antonio.

“Don’t be sad,” Sophie said sweetly. “You can have my candy.”

Antonio let out a broken sob, taking the candy with trembling hands. “Thank you, little one. You are very brave.”

For a moment, there was peace in the room.

But it shattered instantly when the glass of the grand living room windows exploded inward, showering the room in deadly shards.

The Rossis had arrived.