Chapter 4 - The Father Who Had Been Dead for Nine Years
Mila read the message twelve times.
Each time, the words felt less real.
Her father.
Alive.
She wanted to believe it.
She wanted to reject it.
She wanted to scream.
Instead, she stood in Luca’s courtyard with one hand pressed over her mouth and tried to make the world fit around a truth too large for it.
Nine years.
Nine birthdays.
Nine Christmases.
Nine anniversaries of his death.
Her mother had visited his grave every Sunday for three years.
Mila had spoken to a headstone when she graduated college.
When she got her first job.
When she was hired by Romano Holdings.
She had cried beside that grave, apologizing that she had forgotten the exact sound of his laugh.
And now a photograph suggested he had been alive.
“Could it be fake?” she asked.
Luca studied the image.
“Yes.”
“You don’t sound convinced.”
“I’m not.”
Mila looked at him.
“Do you think it’s him?”
“I think whoever sent this knew exactly what would make you act without thinking.”
Her jaw tightened.
“I am thinking.”
“You want to go.”
“Yes.”
“No.”
“Luca.”
“Mila.”
“Stop doing that.”
“What?”
“Saying my name as if it ends the conversation.”
“It often does.”
“Not today.”
He stared at her.
She stared back.
“I have to know.”
“And if it’s a trap?”
“Then we prepare.”
“The message says alone.”
“Since when do you follow instructions from people threatening you?”
“That is precisely why you are not going alone.”
Mila looked down at the photograph.
“What if he really is alive?”
Luca’s tone softened.
“Then we bring him home.”
We.
Not you.
We.
The word almost broke her.
Two hours later, Luca’s security team traced the message to a disposable device.
The sender had instructed Mila to go to a train station locker.
Inside was an envelope.
No one stopped her.
No one approached.
Luca remained hidden with his team nearby despite Mila’s irritated warnings that if the sender noticed him, they might lose their chance.
The envelope contained an address.
An abandoned church outside the city.
And a note.
Midnight. Come alone if you want answers about Michael Bennett.
Mila returned to Luca’s car.
He read it.
“No.”
She crossed her arms.
“You haven’t even considered it.”
“I considered it while reading the word abandoned.”
“Luca.”
“No.”
“Fine.”
His eyes narrowed.
“That sounded suspicious.”
“It was agreement.”
“You do not agree that easily.”
“Maybe I’m growing.”
“You’re planning to leave without me.”
Mila remained silent.
Luca sighed.
“Your face is terrible at lying.”
“I learned from you.”
“No, you didn’t.”
That evening, Mila pretended to sleep.
At eleven thirty, she climbed out the guest-room window.
It was undignified.
Her sweater caught on a branch.
She landed badly.
And when she stood, brushing dirt from her knees, Luca was waiting beside the garden wall.
Arms crossed.
Black coat.
Deeply unimpressed.
Mila stared.
“How long have you been standing there?”
“Long enough to be embarrassed for you.”
She closed her eyes.
“You knew?”
“You asked Elena where the side gate was.”
“I was curious.”
“You also stole the keys to the spare car.”
“I borrowed them.”
“You can’t drive that car.”
“Why?”
“It’s armored.”
“That seems safer.”
“It weighs almost four tons.”
Mila held up the keys.
“I still would’ve figured it out.”
Luca stepped closer.
“You are not going without protection.”
“It says alone.”
“And I’m saying no.”
“Luca, if my father—”
He interrupted softly.
“If your father is alive, I will help you find him. But I will not let you become another person this family fails to protect.”
Mila stopped.
“This family?”
“My family.”
His expression hardened.
“Your father worked for us. If Victor hurt him, that makes this my responsibility.”
“I’m not your responsibility.”
“No.”
The word came quietly.
Mila waited.
Luca’s gaze held hers.
“You’re not.”
But something unsaid remained between them.
Not responsibility.
Something else.
Midnight came.
Mila entered the abandoned church alone.
Technically.
Luca and six men were hidden outside.
A tiny microphone rested beneath Mila’s collar.
She hated it.
But she had accepted the compromise.
The church smelled like dust.
Moonlight fell through broken stained glass.
“Mila.”
A man’s voice echoed.
She turned.
A figure stood near the altar.
Older.
Thin.
Gray hair.
He stepped into the light.
Mila stopped breathing.
“Dad?”
Michael Bennett’s face broke.
“Mila.”
Her knees nearly gave out.
She crossed the church before she could think.
He opened his arms.
She hit his chest and sobbed.
Not graceful tears.
Not restrained tears.
Nine years tore out of her all at once.
Michael held her.
“My little girl.”
“You’re alive.”
“I’m sorry.”
She pulled back and struck his chest.
“You’re alive!”
“I know.”
“You let us think you were dead!”
“I know.”
“Mom died thinking you were dead!”
His face collapsed.
“What?”
Mila froze.
“You didn’t know?”
“When?”
“Three years ago.”
Michael staggered backward.
“No.”
“She got sick.”
His eyes filled.
“I didn’t know.”
“You never called.”
“I couldn’t.”
“You could have done anything!”
“They were watching you.”
“Who?”
Michael looked toward the shadows.
“Victor Romano.”
Mila swallowed.
“He threatened you?”
“He threatened both of you.”
“Why?”
“Because I found the theft.”
“The forty million?”
Michael stared.
“You know.”
“Yes.”
He looked suddenly afraid.
“You shouldn’t.”
“Too late.”
Michael grabbed her shoulders.
“Listen to me. Luca cannot be trusted.”
Outside, through the microphone, Luca heard every word.
Mila pulled away.
“Why?”
“Because the money wasn’t Victor’s plan.”
“What do you mean?”
“Victor stole it, but he wasn’t acting alone.”
“With who?”
Michael shook his head.
“I never learned the name.”
“Then why blame Luca?”
“Because after your father—after Luca’s father—discovered what Victor had done, everything became violent.”
Mila frowned.
“What happened?”
“Luca’s father planned to expose Victor.”
“And?”
“He died before he could.”
Luca’s father had supposedly died of a heart attack seven years ago.
Mila felt cold.
“You think Victor killed him too?”
“Yes.”
“So why can’t Luca be trusted?”
Michael looked directly into her eyes.
“Because Victor’s partner was someone inside Luca’s house.”
Mila’s heartbeat slowed.
“Who?”
“I don’t know.”
A creak sounded behind them.
Michael’s face changed.
“Mila.”
“What?”
“You were supposed to come alone.”
“I did.”
“No.”
He stared toward the side doors.
“They know.”
Gunfire exploded outside.
Mila screamed.
Luca’s voice came through her earpiece.
“Down!”
She dropped.
Glass shattered.
Michael covered her.
The church doors burst open.
Luca entered with two security men.
“Mila!”
“I’m okay!”
Michael saw him.
His face twisted.
“Romano.”
Luca lowered the weapon in his hand.
“Michael Bennett.”
“You’ve become your father.”
“I’m trying not to.”
Footsteps sounded in the church basement.
Luca looked toward the floor.
“They’re below us.”
Michael turned pale.
“There’s a tunnel.”
“Where?”
“Behind the altar.”
The group moved quickly.
The tunnel led toward the cemetery behind the church.
Halfway through, Michael stopped.
A man appeared at the far end.
Older.
Silver hair.
Elegant coat.
Luca became still.
“Victor.”
The man smiled.
“Nephew.”
Mila stared.
Victor Romano was alive.
The family ghost.
The man connected to her father’s disappearance.
Victor looked at Michael.
“You should have stayed dead.”
Then at Mila.
“And you should have stayed invisible.”
Luca stepped in front of her.
Victor smiled.
“There it is.”
“What?”
“The weakness.”
Luca’s jaw tightened.
Victor’s gaze moved between Luca and Mila.
“Your father had one too.”
“Don’t speak about him.”
“He cared too much. Trusted too much. And in the end, that made him easy to control.”
Luca lifted his chin.
“Who is your partner?”
Victor smiled wider.
“You still don’t know?”
Footsteps approached behind them.
Luca turned.
Someone from his own security team entered the tunnel.
A familiar face.
A man who had been inside Luca’s home for more than a decade.
Samuel Crane.
Head of household security.
The man Luca trusted with every door, every camera, every visitor.
Samuel raised a gun.
Not at Victor.
At Luca.
Mila’s stomach dropped.
Victor laughed softly.
“You invited the traitor into your home years ago, Luca.”
Samuel’s finger tightened on the trigger.
May you like
And then the tunnel went black.
---
