Chapter 6 - Blood Does Not Lie
Noah did not understand why everyone stared at him.
He held his toy car against his chest.
“What?”
Evelyn crossed the room.
“Why did you say Luca?”
Noah shrugged.
“He called somebody yesterday.”
Vincent crouched.
“Where?”
“At the funeral.”
“What did he say?”
Noah thought carefully.
“He said, ‘They came.’”
Vincent’s expression changed.
“Anything else?”
“He said, ‘The kid looks like him.’”
Evelyn went pale.
Vincent stood.
Samuel whispered, “That’s not proof.”
“No,” Vincent said. “But it’s enough to stop trusting him.”
Evelyn took Noah upstairs.
Vincent remained.
Luca Moretti had grown up beside him.
They had attended the same schools.
Fought together as teenagers.
Buried Vincent’s mother together.
Luca had been the man Vincent trusted to handle security during the years after Evelyn disappeared.
Which meant Luca had participated in every search.
Every dead end.
Every lie.
Vincent called him.
“Where are you?”
“City.”
“Come to the lake house.”
“Why?”
“Grandfather left something.”
Silence.
Tiny.
But present.
“What?”
“I’ll show you.”
“I can be there tonight.”
“Good.”
Vincent ended the call.
Samuel stared.
“You’re bringing him here?”
“Noah and Evelyn won’t be here.”
Evelyn appeared at the door.
“Yes, we will.”
Vincent turned.
“No.”
“We are finished running because men with your last name decide we should.”
“This is different.”
“It’s always different.”
“Luca may have helped arrange your murder.”
“Then I want to see his face when he realizes I’m alive.”
Vincent studied her.
There was no winning.
He almost admired that.
Before Luca arrived, a doctor came discreetly.
Vincent had arranged DNA testing.
Evelyn agreed.
Noah asked why they needed cotton swabs.
“To check something important,” Evelyn said.
“Am I sick?”
“No.”
Vincent knelt beside him.
“Absolutely not.”
Noah looked suspiciously at the swab.
“Will it hurt?”
“No.”
Noah allowed it.
Then looked at Vincent.
“Are you doing one?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Vincent glanced at Evelyn.
“Because we might be related.”
Noah’s eyes widened.
“Like cousins?”
Evelyn almost laughed and cried simultaneously.
Vincent smiled faintly.
“Something like that.”
The laboratory promised expedited results.
That evening, Evelyn sat beside Noah while he colored at the kitchen table.
Vincent watched from the doorway.
“What?” she asked.
“Nothing.”
“You’re staring.”
“I missed everything.”
Her pencil stopped.
“What?”
“First word.”
She looked down.
“Mom.”
“First step?”
“Eleven months.”
“First day of school?”
“He cried after I left.”
“Noah?”
“No. Me.”
Vincent smiled.
Then the smile disappeared.
“I should have been there.”
Evelyn looked at him.
“I know.”
Not “I’m sorry.”
Not “It wasn’t your fault.”
Just truth.
I know.
The doorbell camera alerted.
Luca.
Vincent’s security disarmed him at the entrance.
He objected.
Vincent insisted.
When Luca entered the study, he saw Evelyn.
His face confirmed everything.
Not surprise.
Fear.
Vincent noticed.
“So,” Luca said quietly. “It’s true.”
“What’s true?”
“You found her.”
Vincent closed the door.
“I didn’t find her.”
Luca looked toward Evelyn.
“She came back.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Grandfather.”
Luca smiled without warmth.
“Of course.”
Vincent placed a photograph of Raymond Costa on the table.
Luca’s eyes flicked downward.
“Know him?”
“No.”
“Wrong answer.”
“Vincent—”
“Try again.”
Luca sighed.
“Costa used to work for Salvatore.”
“Used to?”
“Yes.”
“He shot at Evelyn this morning.”
Luca’s expression genuinely changed.
That was interesting.
“You’re sure?”
“I watched the footage.”
Luca looked angry.
“Salvatore’s losing control.”
Evelyn spoke.
“You knew.”
He looked at her.
“Knew what?”
“That I was alive.”
Luca remained silent.
Vincent’s voice became low.
“How long?”
“Vincent.”
“How long?”
“Almost the entire time.”
Vincent hit him.
One punch.
Luca fell against the desk.
Evelyn flinched but didn’t intervene.
Luca wiped blood from his mouth.
“I deserved that.”
“You deserve much worse.”
“I kept them alive.”
Evelyn stared.
“How?”
“By making Salvatore believe you were dead.”
“You followed me.”
“Yes.”
“For seven years?”
“Yes.”
Vincent grabbed his collar.
“Why?”
Luca looked directly into his eyes.
“Because Dominic told me to.”
Silence.
Vincent released him slightly.
“Explain.”
“After the hospital, Salvatore ordered Costa to verify the bodies.”
“What bodies?”
“Yours and the baby’s.”
Evelyn looked sick.
Luca continued.
“Dominic had people create records. Accident. Burned vehicle. Dental confirmation under another name. Salvatore believed it.”
“Then why watch Evelyn?”
“Because Dominic knew eventually Salvatore would question it.”
Vincent stared.
“And the funeral?”
“Dominic told me six months ago that Evelyn might return when he died.”
“The phone call?”
Luca looked toward Noah.
“He heard?”
“Yes.”
Luca sighed.
“I was calling Dominic’s old security chief. I said you had both arrived.”
“You expect me to believe that?”
“No.”
He removed a phone.
“Check.”
Vincent handed it to Marco.
“Why didn’t Dominic mention you in the recording?”
Luca frowned.
“What recording?”
Vincent played it.
The person closest to Vincent has been working for Salvatore for twelve years.
Luca stared.
“That’s not me.”
“Convenient.”
“I’ve never worked for Salvatore.”
“Then who?”
Luca looked at Vincent.
“You’re asking the wrong question.”
“What’s the right one?”
“Who has been beside you every day for twelve years?”
Vincent thought.
Marco.
His security chief.
The man currently holding Luca’s phone.
Vincent turned.
Marco was gone.
At that exact moment, an alarm sounded upstairs.
Evelyn ran.
“Noah!”
They reached the bedroom.
The window was open.
Curtains moving.
Noah was gone.
On the bed lay Vincent’s DNA test envelope.
And a note.
Blood does not lie. Neither does power. Bring the ledger if you want the boy alive.
Evelyn made a sound Vincent would remember for the rest of his life.
He picked up the note.
His hands stopped shaking.
His expression became frighteningly calm.
For seven years, he had wondered what he would do if he ever learned who stole Evelyn from him.
Now they had taken his son.
May you like
And for the first time, Vincent Moretti understood why Dominic had feared what he might become.
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