Chapter 1 - The Little Girl Pointed at the Man Who Took Her Mother
My three-year-old daughter had never been afraid of anyone in our house—until the night she saw Vittorio walk through my study door.
She buried her face against my chest so quickly that the little brown rabbit in her arms nearly fell to the floor.
Then she pointed toward the snowy driveway.
Her tiny finger trembled.
“Uncle Al... that man took Mommy.”
For three seconds, I didn't move.
The fire burned quietly behind me.
Snow drifted past the floor-to-ceiling windows.
And Vittorio stood ten feet away with the same polished smile he had worn for years whenever he wanted me to believe everything was under control.
My name is Alessandro Moretti.
People called me a mafia boss.
They were not wrong.
But inside that room, none of that mattered.
I was a father.
And my daughter had just accused one of my most trusted men of taking her mother.
I slowly shifted Mia behind me.
My hand rested near my jacket.
“You're back early from the docks, Vittorio.”
His smile barely moved.
“Just checking on the family, Boss.”
I watched his eyes.
Not his mouth.
His eyes.
They flicked toward Mia for less than a second.
Then toward the window.
Then back to me.
A lie.
I had seen enough lies in my life to recognize one before the sentence was finished.
But Mia suddenly tugged at my coat.
“Daddy.”
I looked down.
She was clutching her torn brown rabbit.
Her favorite toy.
The rabbit's left ear had been ripped almost completely away.
Mia pressed her tiny thumb into the opening.
Something metallic flashed beneath the stuffing.
My heart stopped.
“Mommy put the key in Bunny,” she whispered.
She pushed the rabbit against my hip.
I felt a small hard object beneath the fabric.
A USB drive.
I looked back at Vittorio.
His face had changed.
The smile was gone.
Only fear remained.
“She left me a message before she disappeared,” I said quietly.
Vittorio took one involuntary step backward.
“Alessandro... listen to me—”
I wrapped one arm around Mia.
My other hand disappeared beneath my jacket.
“You're not leaving this room.”
For the first time in fifteen years, Vittorio looked genuinely afraid of me.
And that told me something worse than my daughter's accusation.
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He knew exactly what was inside that rabbit.
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