Chapter 6
I moved Luke and Grace into the east wing.
Luke refused the bed at first.
“It’s too clean,” he said.
I did not understand.
Grace did.
She knelt beside him.
“It’s allowed to stay clean, honey.”
His eyes filled.
I left before he could feel watched.
In the hall, Lucia grabbed my arm.
“You have to be careful.”
“With Carlo?”
“With yourself.”
I looked at her.
She had cried through most of the night.
Lucia loved Isabella once.
Then believed what Milena told us.
We all did.
“Did you know?” I asked.
Her face crumpled.
“No. But I should have wondered more.”
That answer was honest enough to hurt.
Rocco found three guards missing by dawn.
Carlo was also gone.
The men assigned to watch him claimed confusion.
I had them locked in the lower office until federal lawyers arrived.
Yes.
Federal.
I had spent half my life avoiding outside law.
That morning, I called it myself.
Not because I had suddenly become clean.
Because Carlo’s crimes crossed into murder, extortion, human trafficking, and fraud.
And because Luke needed records, not whispers.
By noon, Dr. Vale confirmed the DNA officially.
Luke was mine.
At three, my attorney, Matteo Shaw, arrived.
He brought trust papers.
Old amendments.
My father had created a protected account for “future issue of Angelo Torrisi and Isabella Romano.”
The account had vanished after his death.
Not legally.
Stolen.
Milena had signed the transfer as my spouse.
Carlo had notarized.
My father had tried to protect Luke from beyond the grave.
Milena and Carlo had robbed him before he knew his own name.
I took the papers to Milena.
She sat in the guest parlor under guard, still wearing pearls.
“Where is my son’s money?”
She laughed.
“Your son? You met him last night.”
“Where?”
Her eyes narrowed.
“You loved me once.”
“I loved a story.”
That hit.
Her mouth tightened.
“You would have thrown me away for Isabella.”
“No,” I said. “I would have told the truth. That is what frightened you.”
For the first time, she looked wounded.
Then she whispered, “Carlo knows where her grave really is.”
My blood chilled.
“What?”
May you like
Milena smiled.
“You buried an empty memory, Angelo. Isabella is not where Luke thinks she is.”
