Chapter 13 - The Ghost From His Father's Past
The man in the photograph was Victor Duca.
Alessandro's father had once called him his closest adviser.
Then Victor supposedly disappeared.
Alessandro had been seventeen when his father told him Victor had been killed.
But Grace revealed the truth.
Victor had survived.
He had spent years building influence through contractors, shell companies, and private security firms.
He wasn't trying to destroy Alessandro.
He wanted Alessandro dependent.
The baby scheme was only one part of a larger plan.
Victor wanted access to Alessandro's private business network.
He had used Elena because she was vulnerable.
He had used Luca because Luca knew the wrong people.
He had used Daniel because Daniel discovered the access device.
And he had used Marco because Marco believed he was protecting everyone.
Alessandro felt something cold settle inside him.
His entire organization had been manipulated through fear.
But there was one thing Victor had misunderstood.
Mia.
Victor had assumed Alessandro would see her as a weakness.
Instead, Mia had become the reason Alessandro stopped thinking like a man who solved problems through violence.
He wanted evidence.
He wanted everyone alive.
He wanted Elena safe.
He wanted the truth exposed.
Victor had expected revenge.
He would get something more dangerous.
Exposure.
Alessandro contacted the people he trusted most.
Marco.
Daniel.
Luca.
All three had been hiding for different reasons.
Luca finally appeared at the warehouse.
Elena slapped him.
Once.
Not hard.
Just enough to tell him what three months of fear had cost her.
“You let me think you were dead.”
“I thought it would keep you safe.”
“You don't get to decide that alone.”
Luca lowered his head.
Alessandro watched silently.
Then he received a message.
Victor knew they had found him.
The message contained one final address.
An old private estate outside the city.
Underneath it was a sentence:
COME ALONE, ALESSANDRO. OR ELENA PAYS FOR EVERYTHING.
Alessandro looked at Elena.
She shook her head.
“No.”
He understood.
She wasn't asking him to stay.
May you like
She was telling him she was coming too.
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