"Take the girls upstairs. Lock the nursery door. Two guards outside, two inside the corridor. Nobody enters without my authorization."
Margaret nodded.
Alessandro crouched one last time.
"I have to go somewhere."
Isabella looked worried.
"You promised you'd come back before dinner."
He touched her cheek.
"I remember."
"Don't forget."
"I won't."
Sofia lifted Mr. Buttons.
"Take him."
Alessandro looked at the teddy bear.
"Why?"
"Because he keeps people safe."
A faint smile crossed his face.
He accepted the toy.
"Then I'll bring him back."
He stood and walked away.
Behind him, the girls watched until he disappeared.
Neither understood why their father had suddenly become afraid.
But they understood something else.
Their mother had left them a secret.
And the adults in their house were frightened of it.
By early afternoon, the Moretti security team had traced Elena's telephone to an abandoned office building in the Bronx.
The building had once belonged to a company controlled by Victor Salerno.
It had been empty since the year Lucia died.
Alessandro arrived with Marco and six men.
He stepped out of the car.
Rain had begun to fall.
The street was quiet.
Too quiet.
"Two teams," he ordered. "Check the entrances."
Marco nodded.
Within minutes, the building was surrounded.
Alessandro entered through the front door.
The lobby smelled of damp concrete and old paper. Broken furniture had been pushed against the walls. An elevator stood open, its lights dead.
He walked toward the staircase.
On the second floor, he heard a woman's voice.
"Please. I did what you asked."
Then a man's reply.
"You did what you were paid to do."
Alessandro stopped.
He recognized Elena's voice.
He entered the room.
Elena was sitting in a chair with her hands tied.
Across from her stood a man in a gray coat.
Victor Salerno.
Older than the photographs. Thinner. A scar crossed his left cheek.
But alive.
Victor turned.
For a brief moment, neither man spoke.
Then Victor smiled.
"Alessandro."
Alessandro's expression remained cold.
"I watched them bury you."
"People bury the wrong men every day."
"You were my wife's cousin."
Victor's smile faded.
"That was a long time ago."
"Where is the journal?"
Victor glanced toward Elena.
"She has it."
Alessandro looked at her.
"Give it to me."
Elena shook her head.
"I don't have it."
Victor laughed softly.
"She always was a poor liar."
Alessandro stepped closer.
"Where is it?"
Elena's eyes filled with tears.
"Your wife gave it to me."
The room went silent.
Alessandro looked at her.
"What?"
"Three days before the accident. She told me to hide it. She said that if anything happened to her, I had to give it to you."
"Then why didn't you?"
Elena lowered her head.
"Because Victor threatened my brother."
Victor shrugged.
"She had a choice."
Alessandro looked at him.
"Did you kill Lucia?"
Victor did not answer.
He walked toward a desk and picked up a glass of water.
"You always thought your wife was innocent."
"She was."
"She was smarter than you."
Alessandro's jaw tightened.
Victor took a drink.
"Lucia discovered that your organization was being used to move money through companies connected to politicians, judges, and people who were supposed to be untouchable. She found out that several of your own men had been selling information."
"Names."
"Not so fast."
"Names."
Victor set the glass down.
"She wanted you to leave the business. She believed you could still have a normal life."
Alessandro stared at him.
"She knew what I was when she married me."
"She knew what you pretended to be."
Victor stepped closer.
"Your wife wanted to take your daughters away from this family. She had already arranged everything. New identities. A house overseas. A bank account you couldn't trace."
Alessandro said nothing.
"She was going to leave you."
"She would have told me."
Victor smiled.
"Would you have let her?"
The question remained between them.
Alessandro did not answer.
Because he knew the truth.
He might have tried to stop her.
He might have threatened to follow.
He might have convinced himself that keeping his family together was the same thing as protecting them.
Victor saw the doubt.
"That's what she feared."
Elena began crying.
"Stop."
Victor ignored her.
"She found out I was working with your enemies. She confronted me. I told her to forget everything. She refused."
Alessandro stepped forward.
"What happened that night?"
Victor's expression hardened.
"She was supposed to be frightened. That was all."
Alessandro's eyes turned dark.
"Explain."
"The driver was paid to make her car leave the road. The plan was to scare her, take the documents, and bring her somewhere safe until she agreed to cooperate."
"She died."
Victor looked away.
"Yes."
"Who was driving?"
"One of your own men."