Chapter 4 - The Brother Hidden Inside the Empire
Elena attacked the monitor.
Not rationally.
Not carefully.
She slammed both hands against the desk.
“Where is he?”
Vittorio remained calm on the screen.
“That depends.”
“On what?”
“Whether Adrian cooperates.”
Adrian pulled Elena gently backward.
“What do you want?”
Vittorio smiled.
“The same thing I’ve always wanted.”
“My empire.”
“Our empire.”
“It stopped being yours fourteen years ago.”
“Because I allowed a grieving boy to believe he was king.”
Adrian’s expression remained cold.
“And now?”
“Now I’m correcting that mistake.”
The screen changed.
Daniel appeared again.
Alive.
Blood on his forehead.
Hands tied.
Elena cried out.
Vittorio spoke.
“He’s alive for now.”
“Release him,” Elena said.
Vittorio ignored her.
“Adrian, you’ll transfer controlling ownership of Moretti Shipping to three companies I’ve prepared.”
“No.”
Elena turned.
“Adrian!”
He didn’t look at her.
Vittorio laughed.
“You see? This is why men like us survive.”
Adrian continued.
“I sign those papers, you kill Daniel anyway.”
“Perhaps.”
“You kill Elena.”
“Possibly.”
“You kill me.”
“Eventually.”
“So the answer is no.”
Elena grabbed Adrian’s arm.
“He’s my brother.”
Adrian turned toward her.
“I know.”
“Then do something.”
“I am.”
“What?”
“Keeping Vittorio talking.”
The smile disappeared from Vittorio’s face.
Adrian looked at Marco.
Marco understood.
The transmission.
Trace it.
Vittorio understood a moment later.
“You always were clever.”
“You always talked too much.”
The screen went black.
Marco moved to the computer.
“I caught part of it.”
“Location?”
“Signal bounced twice.”
“Final?”
Marco stared.
“The yacht.”
Elena froze.
“What?”
“He’s transmitting from the Imperatrice.”
Adrian’s expression became deadly.
Vittorio had never stayed in the villa.
The footage had been pre-recorded or routed.
The real operation was still aboard Adrian’s yacht.
He had brought them to the island to separate Adrian from his crew.
Adrian looked at Marco.
“Return.”
They moved immediately.
Back through the tunnel.
Across the island.
Down the cliff path.
The Imperatrice waited offshore.
Dark.
Too dark.
Only emergency deck lighting remained.
Marco used binoculars.
“No visible crew.”
Adrian checked his weapon.
“Board quietly.”
They approached from the stern.
The swim platform was empty.
Adrian climbed aboard first.
Blood marked the deck.
One of his guards lay unconscious near the stairs.
Alive.
Marco checked him.
“Drugged.”
They entered the salon.
Crew members were gathered on the floor.
Hands tied.
Mouths covered.
Adrian cut them free.
“Where’s Vittorio?”
The captain shook his head.
“Never saw him.”
“Who did this?”
“Mr. Daniel.”
Elena stopped.
“What?”
The captain pointed toward the upper deck.
“Daniel and two security men.”
Elena looked at Adrian.
“No. Daniel wouldn’t—”
Adrian raised a hand.
“Let him finish.”
The captain continued.
“They took control around twenty minutes after you left.”
“Vittorio?”
“Never saw him.”
Adrian considered it.
Could Daniel be working with Vittorio?
Had Elena been deceived by her own brother?
They found Daniel in the engine control room.
Alone.
Holding a gun.
Adrian entered first.
Daniel raised it.
Elena stepped into the doorway.
“Danny.”
His face broke.
For several seconds, he was no longer Adrian’s security operative.
He was Elena’s younger brother.
“Elena.”
She approached.
“What have you done?”
“Stay back.”
“Why?”
“Because I don’t know who’s watching.”
Adrian scanned the room.
“Lower the gun.”
Daniel looked at him.
“Boss, I’m sorry.”
“For?”
“Everything.”
“Specificity helps.”
Daniel almost laughed.
Then footsteps approached outside.
Daniel fired suddenly.
Not at Adrian.
Past him.
A man entering the corridor fell.
One of the yacht guards.
Marco rushed forward.
The fallen man had a second pistol and a communication device.
Daniel lowered his weapon.
“He works for Vittorio.”
Adrian looked at him.
“How many?”
“At least six.”
“Why did the captain say you took control?”
“Because I did.”
Elena stared.
Daniel continued.
“Vittorio ordered me to.”
“Why?”
“Because he thinks I’m his.”
“Are you?”
“No.”
“Then why obey?”
Daniel looked at Elena.
“Because he told me Elena was alive.”
Her eyes filled.
“You knew?”
“I thought you were dead.”
Elena froze.
“What?”
Daniel’s voice cracked.
“Five years ago, you disappeared. Then I got photographs. Blood. Your necklace. They told me Adrian had ordered you killed.”
Elena looked at Adrian.
The same lie.
Different victim.
Daniel continued.
“Vittorio found me afterward. Told me our father had been murdered by Carlo Moretti and that Adrian had finished the job.”
“Luca Ferraro is alive,” Adrian said.
Daniel stared.
“What?”
“I don’t know where. But Vittorio wouldn’t be using his son if Luca were simply dead. He needs you for something.”
Daniel’s expression changed.
A speaker crackled.
Vittorio’s voice filled the engine room.
“Touching.”
Everyone looked upward.
“I had hoped brother and sister would eventually reunite.”
Daniel shouted, “Where’s my father?”
Vittorio laughed.
“You’re finally asking the correct question.”
Adrian moved toward the control panel.
“Show yourself.”
“You first.”
A monitor activated.
Vittorio appeared.
This time live.
Behind him was a dark room.
Daniel stared.
“That’s the old lower storage deck.”
Adrian knew it.
A sealed compartment below the waterline.
Vittorio stepped aside.
A chair appeared.
A man sat in it.
Older.
Thin.
Gray hair.
Beard.
But Daniel recognized him before Elena did.
A childhood photograph.
A face he had spent his life imagining.
“Dad?”
Luca Ferraro opened his eyes.
Daniel collapsed against the console.
Elena covered her mouth.
Luca looked into the camera.
“My children…”
Vittorio placed a hand on his shoulder.
“Family reunions are beautiful.”
Adrian’s voice became ice.
“Let him go.”
“I’m afraid Luca knows too much.”
“He’s known too much for fourteen years.”
“Exactly.”
“Why keep him alive?”
Vittorio smiled.
“Because Carlo Moretti left something behind.”
Adrian’s expression shifted.
“What?”
“A list.”
“Of?”
“Every politician, judge, businessman, and criminal who helped build your father’s network.”
“I don’t have it.”
“No.”
Vittorio leaned toward the camera.
“But Luca knows where it is.”
Luca suddenly spoke.
“Adrian.”
Vittorio looked down sharply.
Luca continued.
“Your father didn’t hide the list.”
“What?”
“He gave it to someone.”
“Who?”
Luca smiled weakly.
“Your mother.”
Adrian stopped breathing.
Vittorio struck him.
“Enough.”
The screen cut.
Elena looked at Adrian.
“Your mother received that payment.”
Adrian remembered.
Five hundred thousand euros.
One week after Carlo died.
Not payment.
A transfer.
Possibly instructions.
Possibly protection.
Marco spoke quietly.
“Where did your mother keep personal belongings?”
Adrian answered instantly.
“Lake Como.”
Vittorio’s voice came through the speaker again.
“Very good.”
Adrian looked upward.
“You wanted me to figure that out.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because Sofia never trusted me. Whatever Carlo gave her, she hid it somewhere only Adrian would recognize.”
Daniel raised his gun.
“If you hurt my father—”
“Daniel, please. You’ve spent seven years working beside the man you believed murdered your sister. Surely patience is one of your strengths.”
Adrian looked toward the monitor.
“You need me alive.”
“For now.”
“And Elena?”
“Unfortunately, no.”
A red light suddenly began flashing.
Marco looked at the control board.
“What did you do?”
Vittorio laughed.
The yacht engine warning system activated.
Daniel stared.
“He opened the fuel suppression valves.”
“What does that mean?” Elena asked.
Daniel’s face changed.
“It means he can flood the engine compartment.”
“With what?”
“Fire suppressant.”
Marco looked toward the sealed doors.
“And suffocate everyone inside.”
The doors slammed shut.
Locks engaged.
A countdown appeared on the control screen.
02:00
Elena looked at Adrian.
May you like
Two minutes.
Then the oxygen would begin disappearing.
