Chapter 4 - The Web of the Twelve Families
By Sunday morning, Villa Moretti had transformed from a luxurious estate into an armed military garrison.
Enforcers patrolled the perimeter with tactical rifles; security cameras were upgraded, and every phone line was tapped. In the east suite, which was surprisingly spacious and adorned with warm rugs and children's books, Emma was happily coloring with crayons while I paced the hardwood floor like a caged animal.
“We are prisoners,” I muttered, wringing my hands.
“We are guests of the most dangerous man in Italy,” a calm voice answered from the doorway.
I spun around. Alessandro stood there, holding a silver tray with breakfast for Emma and me. He had changed into a dark grey cashmere sweater, his sleeves rolled up slightly, revealing the faint, jagged scar of a bullet graze along his left forearm.
“I don’t want your protection, Mr. Moretti,” I said, my voice shaking with accumulated fear and exhaustion. “I want to go home. I want my normal, boring life back where nobody shoots at us or accuses us of being syndicate spies.”
Alessandro set the tray down on the table, stepping closer. There was a quiet weariness in his dark eyes that the outside world never saw.
“Normal life doesn't exist for people like me, Clara,” he said softly. “And as for you... do you honestly believe those thugs in Turin were just ordinary loan sharks?”
I froze. “What do you mean?”
“My intelligence network ran a trace on your late husband’s employment records last night,” Alessandro continued, his voice steady. “David Bennett wasn't an ordinary rail worker. Three years ago, he was a low-level accountant for the Romano shipping firm—Vivian’s family. He discovered a massive embezzlement scheme linked to the Ghost Syndicate. And when he tried to back out, they staged his ‘industrial accident.’”
The room seemed to spin. My knees buckled slightly, and I caught the edge of the dining table for support.
“David... my husband... was murdered?” I whispered, the long-buried grief crashing over me like a tidal wave.
“He was silenced,” Alessandro corrected gently. “And when you fled to Turin, they hunted you because they thought David gave you the ledgers before he died. They didn't find them on you. But when that woman handed Emma that rabbit at the train station... she wasn't giving her a toy. She was passing the encrypted microchip hidden inside the rabbit’s stuffing.”
I stared at Emma, who was humming a little tune while coloring a yellow sun. All this time, the very thing that had destroyed my family—and the thing that threatened my daughter’s life—had been sitting right inside her innocent little stuffed animal.
May you like
“What are you going to do?” I asked, my voice barely a breath.
“I am going to tear the twelve families apart from the inside out,” Alessandro replied, his jaw tightening with cold fury. “Starting with Don Romano.”
