Chapter 5 - MALTAThey flew forty-eight hours later.
Against Dr. Cole’s advice.
Against Enzo’s advice.
Against common sense.
Alessia wore a rigid brace beneath loose trousers and used crutches through the private terminal.
Valerio watched her struggle into the car.
“This is stupid.”
“You’ve mentioned that.”
“Repeatedly.”
“And yet here we are.”
“That is because you threatened to fly commercial alone.”
“Effective.”
“Manipulative.”
“Also effective.”
He looked at her.
“You enjoy this.”
“Immensely.”
For the first time in days, they both smiled.
It did not last.
Lorenzo’s yacht was anchored outside Valletta.
But when Valerio’s men reached it, the vessel was empty.
One laptop remained on the table.
One bottle of wine.
Two glasses.
And an envelope addressed to Alessia.
Inside:
YOUR FATHER TRUSTED THE WRONG MORETTI.
SO DID MINE.
Below it was an address.
An abandoned coastal villa.
They went at dusk.
Valerio entered first.
Alessia hated that.
She also understood it.
The villa smelled of salt and dust.
A projector switched on automatically.
Lorenzo appeared on the wall.
Recorded.
Older.
Calm.
“Valerio.”
Valerio stopped.
His brother’s voice hit harder than his face.
“You always were the obedient one.”
Valerio’s jaw tightened.
Lorenzo continued.
“Alessia, your father was not supposed to die.”
She went still.
“He was supposed to be frightened.”
Valerio whispered:
“Coward.”
The recording continued.
“Antonio discovered Lucia’s laundering network. She had been moving money through charitable foundations with help from people inside Moretti shipping.”
Images appeared.
Accounts.
Signatures.
Lorenzo.
Lucia.
Several officials.
Then another signature.
Salvatore Romano.
Alessia closed her eyes.
Her uncle too.
Lorenzo continued.
“Salvatore joined later. He was useful. Greedy. Easy.”
“So all three,” Alessia whispered.
Valerio said nothing.
“Antonio planned to expose them. I ordered Bell to sabotage the boat so Antonio would be forced ashore before reaching a meeting.”
The image changed.
A repair report.
“The fuel system ignited earlier than expected.”
Alessia felt sick.
Lorenzo’s voice softened.
“I did not intend to kill him.”
She almost laughed.
That was supposed to matter?
“You sabotaged a boat.”
Valerio looked at her.
She knew the recording couldn’t hear.
Still, she needed to say it.
Lorenzo continued.
“Lucia used Antonio’s death to tighten control over Salvatore. Your uncle spent years believing she knew more than she did.”
Then:
“Matteo discovered me.”
Valerio froze.
“Our father.”
“Yes.”
The recording changed.
A photograph of Matteo Moretti meeting Lorenzo secretly in 2016.
“You saw me buried because he needed the world to believe I was dead. He exiled me.”
Valerio stared.
“Our father knew you were alive.”
“He protected you by keeping me away.”
Valerio’s face became unreadable.
“But in 2019, I came back.”
Another photograph.
Lorenzo entering a Moretti warehouse.
“He had become weak.”
Valerio’s eyes hardened.
“Our father died in 2023.”
“Yes.”
The recording paused.
Then Lorenzo smiled faintly.
“I helped.”
Valerio moved toward the screen as though he could reach through it.
“You killed him.”
“He was going to turn over the accounts.”
Alessia looked at Valerio.
His face had changed.
This was no longer investigation.
It was grief.
Again.
Lorenzo continued.
“Lucia and I built the network together. Salvatore thought he was a partner.”
“Where is Lucia?” Alessia demanded.
The recording kept going.
“By the time you see this, Lucia will already have solved the biggest problem.”
A new image appeared.
Bianca.
The bride.
Alessia’s cousin.
Taken from security footage at the airport.
Alessia stood too quickly.
Pain shot through her leg.
“Bianca.”
Valerio caught her.
The recording ended with one sentence:
FAMILIES SURVIVE BY SACRIFICING THE RIGHT PERSON.
Alessia stared at the blank wall.
“No.”
She called Bianca.
No answer.
Again.
Nothing.
Then Veronica.
Veronica answered immediately.
“What?”
“Where is Bianca?”
“What do you mean?”
“Is she with you?”
“No. She left the hotel with Marco yesterday.”
“Where?”
“Honeymoon.”
“Where?”
“Rome.”
Alessia looked at Valerio.
“Check flights.”
Enzo did.
Then looked up.
“They never boarded.”
Veronica’s voice sharpened through the phone.
“What’s happening?”
Alessia closed her eyes.
“Your mother has Bianca.”
Silence.
Then Veronica whispered:
“No.”
The woman who had pulled a chair from beneath Alessia had suddenly become something else entirely.
Not enemy.
Not rival.
A terrified sister.
“Tell me where.”
“We don’t know.”
Veronica’s voice broke.
“Find her.”
May you like
And for the first time, Alessia heard no arrogance.
Only fear.
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