Chapter 526: The Brother in the Shadows
Chapter 526: The Brother in the Shadows
Chapter 526: The Brother in the Shadows
The phone kept ringing.
Dante stared at the screen.
His name glowed against the darkness.
DANTE.
No one in the room moved.
Isabella watched him carefully. The last call had been from her mother. This one was different.
It was personal.
It was deliberate.
“Answer it,” Voss said.
Dante's eyes remained fixed on the phone.
“Why?”
“Because whoever is calling wants you to know they can reach you.”
Dante picked up the phone.
“Who is this?”
Static answered.
Then a man's voice.
“You found the ledger.”
Dante's expression changed.
“Who are you?”
“You already know.”
“No, I don't.”
A quiet laugh came through the speaker.
“You knew me before you knew my name.”
Dante looked at Isabella.
She could see the realization forming in his eyes.
“The boy in the photograph.”
The voice became colder.
“Finally.”
Isabella stepped closer.
“Put it on speaker.”
Dante did.
The man's voice filled the warehouse.
“You've spent your entire life believing you were Antonio Moretti's only son.”
Dante said nothing.
“You were wrong.”
“Where are you?”
“Somewhere your father could never find me.”
“He's dead.”
“I know.”
There was something unsettling about the way the man said it.
Not sadness.
Not anger.
Satisfaction.
Dante tightened his grip on the phone.
“What do you want?”
“What belongs to me.”
“The ledger?”
“No.”
The man paused.
“You.”
Isabella's stomach tightened.
Dante's eyes narrowed.
“You're going to have to be more specific.”
“You're sitting in a warehouse owned by Gabriel Voss, holding evidence that could destroy Blackwater.”
Dante looked toward Voss.
“How do you know that?”
“Because I've been watching you since you left Lakewood.”
Everyone became still.
Dante looked toward the broken windows.
“Then come inside.”
“I already have.”
The call ended.
Dante immediately turned.
“Check the building.”
Marco and Victor spread out.
Samuel moved toward the upper level.
Voss remained where he was.
Isabella looked at him.
“You knew this would happen.”
“I knew someone would come.”
“That's not what I asked.”
Voss looked at her.
“Elena was afraid of this moment.”
“Why?”
“Because she knew the truth would bring him back.”
“Who is he?”
Voss hesitated.
“His name is Luca Moretti.”
Dante turned sharply.
“Luca?”
Voss nodded.
“He was born two years before you.”
Dante stared at him.
“My father had another son.”
“Yes.”
“Why did he hide him?”
“Because Luca wasn't supposed to exist.”
Isabella frowned.
“What does that mean?”
Voss looked toward the rain outside.
“Antonio was building Blackwater when Luca was born. There was a war between several families. Your father believed having another son would make his enemies vulnerable to him.”
Dante shook his head.
“That doesn't explain why Luca disappeared.”
“No.”
Voss looked at him.
“It explains why Antonio gave him away.”
Dante's face hardened.
“Gave him away?”
“To another family.”
Silence.
“Which family?”
Voss didn't answer.
Dante stepped toward him.
“Which family?”
“The Ravellos.”
Marco swore.
Everyone knew the Ravellos.
They had been one of Chicago's most violent organized crime families before disappearing from the city years ago.
Dante's voice dropped.
“My father gave his son to the Ravellos?”
“He believed they could protect Luca.”
“Instead they trained him.”
Voss nodded.
“To become something your father could never control.”
Isabella looked at Dante.
“That's why he's after you.”
“No.”
Dante's eyes remained cold.
“He isn't after me.”
He looked at the ledger.
“He's after Blackwater.”
A gunshot erupted from the upper floor.
Everyone ducked.
“Move!” Victor shouted.
Dante grabbed Isabella and pulled her behind a concrete pillar.
Marco fired toward the staircase.
Samuel shouted from above.
“Two men!”
Victor ran upstairs.
Dante looked at Isabella.
“Stay here.”
She shook her head.
“Not again.”
“This time I'm serious.”
“So am I.”
She reached into her coat and pulled the small pistol Dante had given her earlier.
“I can protect myself.”
Dante stared at the weapon.
Then at her.
“Fine.”
They moved together.
They reached the second floor as Victor dragged one unconscious gunman into the hallway.
“Where's the other?”
“Gone.”
Dante looked around.
A window stood open.
Rain blew across the floor.
“He was never here for a fight.”
Isabella noticed something on the floor.
A photograph.
She picked it up.
It showed Antonio Moretti, Elena Romano, and a young boy.
Luca.
Written across the back were three words.
HE REMEMBERS EVERYTHING.
Isabella's skin prickled.
“Dante.”
He read the message.
His jaw tightened.
“What does he remember?”
Voss appeared behind them.
“The night your father died.”
Dante turned.
“You said Luca was gone.”
“He was.”
“Then how does he know?”
“Because he was there.”
Dante stared at him.
Voss continued.
“Luca was fifteen when Antonio discovered that Blackwater had been infiltrated from inside.”
“Salvatore,” Dante said.
“Yes.”
“And Luca saw him?”
“Yes.”
“Then why didn't he tell anyone?”
Voss's expression darkened.
“Because Salvatore found him first.”
Dante went silent.
“Your uncle threatened to kill him.”
“Instead he sent him to the Ravellos.”
Voss nodded.
“Luca survived.”
Isabella looked at Dante.
“And now he's back.”
Before Dante could answer, the warehouse lights came on.
Every gun in the room rose.
A man stood at the bottom of the staircase.
He wore a black suit soaked with rain.
His dark hair fell across his forehead.
His face looked strangely familiar.
Not identical to Dante.
But close enough.
Same eyes.
Same sharp jaw.
Same Moretti blood.
Luca Moretti smiled.
“Hello, little brother.”
Dante raised his gun.
“Don't call me that.”
Luca laughed softly.
“Still angry.”
“You don't know me.”
“I know you better than you think.”
Luca slowly raised his hands.
“I'm not here to kill you.”
Dante didn't lower his weapon.
“Then why are you here?”
“To warn you.”
“About what?”
“Salvatore.”
Dante's expression hardened.
“My uncle?”
“Your uncle isn't working alone.”
Luca's eyes shifted toward Isabella.
“Neither is Adrian.”
Isabella stepped forward.
“What does my mother have to do with this?”
Luca studied her.
“More than you realize.”
“My mother called me.”
“I know.”
“She told me not to trust Dante.”
Luca smiled.
“She was right.”
Dante looked at him.
“You're lying.”
“Am I?”
Luca took one step forward.
“Your father ordered someone to kill Elena.”
Isabella's face went pale.
Dante lowered his weapon slightly.
“No.”
Luca nodded.
“Yes.”
“Who?”
“Salvatore.”
Dante stared.
“He wanted Elena dead because she knew the truth.”
“What truth?”
“That Blackwater was never created by your father.”
Luca's expression changed.
“It was created by mine.”
Isabella frowned.
“Your father?”
Luca looked directly at Dante.
“Our father.”
The words hit Dante like a physical blow.
Antonio Moretti hadn't created Blackwater.
Someone else had.
Someone whose identity had been hidden for decades.
Someone whose blood ran through both brothers.
Luca reached inside his coat.
Dante raised his gun again.
“Slowly.”
Luca pulled out an old envelope.
He tossed it onto the floor.
“Read it.”
Dante didn't move.
Isabella picked it up.
Her name was written across the front.
Not Isabella Romano.
Not Isabella Moretti.
Just Isabella.
She looked at Dante.
He nodded.
She opened it.
Inside was a single letter.
The handwriting was Elena's.
Isabella read the first line.
Then her face changed.
“What?”
Dante moved closer.
“What does it say?”
She looked up.
Her eyes were filled with disbelief.
“It says my mother knew Antonio before she met my father.”
Luca nodded.
“She knew him before Blackwater.”
Dante stared at the letter.
“And before either of us.”
The room went silent.
Then Isabella reached the final sentence.
Her voice trembled as she read it aloud.
“If my daughter ever discovers the truth, tell her the Moretti family destroyed ours long before she was born.”
Dante looked at Isabella.
She looked back.
For the first time since they had met, something stood between them that neither could fight with a gun.
The past.
And somewhere in that past was the truth about their families, Blackwater, and the reason their lives had been tied together from the beginning.
Luca turned toward the door.
Dante raised his gun.
“Where are you going?”
Luca stopped.
“To find Salvatore.”
“Why?”
Luca looked over his shoulder.
“Because he knows where Elena is.”
Isabella's heart stopped.
“She's alive?”
Luca nodded.
“And if you want your mother back, Isabella, you have one night to decide whether you trust the man standing beside you.”
Then Luca disappeared into the rain.
Dante lowered his weapon.
Isabella stared at the empty doorway.
For the first time, neither of them knew which was more dangerous—
the enemy outside,
or the secrets standing between them.