Chapter 5 - The Brother Who Sold Them Out
Maria was dead.
Easy target.
Convenient villain.
Luca refused to let grief become proof.
They opened old records.
Her phone logs.
Security.
Accounts.
Maria did create shell entities.
She authorized payments.
She opposed Luca’s reforms privately.
All true.
But murder?
No.
Then an old voicemail surfaced.
Nico to Luca.
Never delivered.
Server archive.
Time: 9:41 p.m. night he died.
“Lu, I was wrong.”
Static.
“Mom isn’t running it.”
Luca gripped desk.
Nico continued.
“She thinks she is.”
What?
“Someone built network around her anger. Used her approvals. She thinks she’s restoring Dad’s business, but she doesn't know what they're moving.”
Nico coughed.
Background wind.
“Salvatore knows.”
Then:
“Anthony knows part.”
Anthony closed eyes.
Luca looked at him.
“What part?”
Anthony sat.
Years earlier, Maria asked him to create private acquisition funds.
He did.
No questions.
Funds later financed warehouses.
He believed real estate.
Some became trafficking routes.
Weapons.
Drugs.
“When did you learn?”
“After Nico died.”
“And you stayed silent.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Anthony looked at Cassandra.
“To protect her.”
Cassandra cried.
Again.
Everyone protected someone by sacrificing truth.
“Did you sell Nico out?”
Luca asked.
Anthony's face broke.
“No.”
“Did you tell Maria what he was doing?”
“Yes.”
There.
Silence.
“When?”
“Week before he died.”
“Why?”
“She was our aunt. I thought she could stop him from making everything public.”
“You gave her his plan.”
“Yes.”
Luca wanted to hit him.
Nico had asked restraint.
He held it.
“Did Maria pass it on?”
“I don't know.”
“Who else knew?”
“Salvatore.”
“Cass?”
“No.”
Cassandra said nothing.
Ava watched all.
“What happened at Bellini House?”
Anthony looked at Luca.
“Nico asked me to meet him.”
“You went?”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Cassandra went into labor.”
They had lost pregnancy that night.
So Cassandra’s clinic story was true.
Pain and betrayal same date.
Anthony stayed hospital.
Could verify.
“Salvatore went.”
“Yes.”
“Maria?”
“No.”
“Who else?”
Anthony hesitated.
“Matteo.”
Mateo stepped into room.
Everyone turned.
He did not look surprised.
Luca stared.
“You went.”
“Yes.”
“Why didn't you tell me?”
“Because Nico asked me not to.”
Rage.
“Enough with that.”
Mateo took it.
“He believed someone on my team was compromised.”
“Were they?”
“Yes.”
“Who?”
“My deputy.”
Name:
Gavin Cross.
Dead now.
Killed in warehouse accident year later.
“Did Gavin follow you?”
“I think.”
Mateo described night.
He reached Bellini House.
Nico.
Salvatore.
Argument.
Nico accused Salvatore of allowing network.
Salvatore denied leadership.
Then lights went out.
Shots.
Mateo returned fire.
He was hit in shoulder.
When lights returned, Nico gone.
Salvatore injured.
A vehicle fled.
“How did Nico end up burned in car?”
“I don't know.”
“You told me he died in crash.”
“I found car next morning.”
“You lied.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because body identification came back Nico.”
Dental.
Ring.
But if shooting occurred first—
“Did you verify body yourself?”
“No.”
Luca stared.
Something moved.
Ava whispered:
“What if it wasn't him?”
Impossible.
Yet dental could be altered.
Ring planted.
Nico had used false identities.
Luca felt heart pounding.
“Exhume.”
No theatrics.
Legal petition.
They had enough questions.
Two days later, forensic review of retained samples.
DNA comparison.
Body was not Nico Moretti.
Luca stopped breathing.
Ava sat down.
“No.”
Lily’s father might have survived.
The dead man was identified as Gavin Cross.
Mateo’s deputy.
Same build.
Dental records had been swapped.
Who had authority?
Moretti family physician.
Dr. Paul Renner.
Retired in Maine.
They found him.
He confessed after attorney.
Salvatore paid him.
Not to murder.
To switch identification.
“Why?”
Renner said:
“Because Nico was alive.”
Ava cried.
“Where?”
“I don't know.”
Salvatore arranged extraction.
Nico survived Bellini House wounded.
He asked Salvatore to fake death.
Why?
Because he believed enemy wouldn't stop while he was alive.
He planned to disappear, gather final evidence, then return for Ava and Lily.
He never did.
“What happened to him?”
Renner didn't know.
Salvatore did.
They found Salvatore at New York apartment.
Luca confronted him with police? Given crimes, yes counsel present.
“Where is Nico?”
Salvatore looked old.
“You found body problem.”
“Yes.”
“Then you know.”
“No.”
Salvatore closed eyes.
“I helped him leave.”
“Where?”
“Canada.”
“When last contact?”
“Eleven months after fake death.”
“What happened?”
“He said he found leader.”
“Who?”
“He wouldn't say over phone.”
“Then?”
“He sent package.”
“To?”
“You.”
Luca stared.
“I never received.”
“Exactly.”
Package tracking reached Moretti headquarters.
Signed for by executive assistant.
Whose?
Luca’s own assistant at time.
A man named Daniel Costa.
Daniel vanished after Maria’s death.
There it was.
Someone intercepted final evidence.
Who supervised Daniel?
Anthony.
Again.
Anthony shook his head.
“I didn't know.”
Maybe.
Then Salvatore said:
“Nico was coming back.”
Ava covered mouth.
“When?”
“The week your mother died.”
“Then where is he?”
Salvatore looked at Luca.
“I think the person who killed Maria took him.”
Luca froze.
“My mother wasn't stroke?”
“No.”
“How do you know?”
“Because she called me before she died.”
“What did she say?”
May you like
Salvatore whispered:
“Tell Luca I was wrong.”
