Chapter 4 - THE FILE
The room erupted into chaos.
Luca’s guards raised their weapons, aiming directly at the woman on the couch.
Sofia didn’t even flinch. She just kept her eyes on me.
"You hired me?" I managed to say, my voice trembling. "My agency sent me."
"Your agency was bought out three weeks ago," Sofia said calmly. She reached into her pocket. The guards tensed, but she only pulled out a folded piece of paper. She tossed it onto the table.
I recognized the letterhead immediately. It was my husband’s life insurance policy. The one that had been denied two years ago because of a technicality, leaving me drowning in debt.
"Your husband, David," Sofia said. "He was a good mechanic. Kept to himself. Never asked questions when a car came into his shop with bullet holes."
My breath caught in my throat. David never told me that.
"Three years ago, I brought him a Mercedes," Sofia continued. "I was bleeding. I had nowhere to go. He fixed my car, patched my arm, and gave me his heavy winter coat so I wouldn't freeze walking to the train station."
She gestured to a hook by the warehouse door.
Hanging there was a faded green canvas coat. David’s coat. The one I thought he had lost on a fishing trip.
"He saved my life, Rebecca. And when he died, I promised myself I would repay the debt." She looked at Luca. "I needed a nurse I could trust. Someone who wouldn't be bought by Frank or Vitiello. Someone who would actually notice the poison on your wrist."
Luca lowered his guard’s rifle with a swift motion. "If you're protecting me, why did you lie about being Elena?"
"Because if you knew I was alive, you would have told Father. And Father would have finished the job he started twenty-six years ago."
Teresa let out a stifled cry.
"What are you talking about?" Luca demanded. "Father died thinking of you. He wept for you."
"Father put a hit on me, Luca!" Sofia shouted, her composure finally breaking. "When I was seventeen, I found out he was selling out our own captains to the Feds to save his own skin. He found out I knew. He told you I died of leukemia. In reality, he sent two men to drown me in the lake."
The silence in the warehouse was suffocating.
Luca looked at his mother. Teresa was weeping into her hands, refusing to meet his eye.
"Mama," Luca whispered. "Is it true?"
Teresa nodded slowly. "I helped her escape. I made your father believe it was done."
Luca staggered back, his entire worldview shattering.
I looked at Sofia. "If you escaped... why come back now? Why risk it?"
Sofia’s tough exterior melted. She looked toward a closed door at the back of the warehouse.
The door slowly creaked open.
A little boy stepped out. He was no older than six, wearing pajamas that were a size too big. He rubbed his eyes, looking terrified by the men with guns.
But what caught my eye was his wrist.
He was wearing a delicate gold bracelet. The clasp was broken, tied together with a piece of red thread.
"Because of Leo," Sofia whispered. "Vitiello found out he exists. And they know who his father is."
The little boy looked up, his dark eyes locking onto Luca.
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"Hi, Uncle Luca," the boy said quietly.
Luca dropped his gun.
