Chapter 4 - THE UNCLE WHO CALLED LILY A PROBLEM
Raffaele Vitale had been Alessandro’s father’s older brother.
That made him dangerous in a way Carlo Mancini could never be.
Carlo was a traitor.
Raffaele was family.
Family came with access.
History.
Keys people forgot to change.
Permissions nobody remembered giving.
He had taught Alessandro how to shoot at fourteen.
Taught him how to negotiate at seventeen.
Stood beside him when his father died.
Sat beside Ella at her wedding and told her Alessandro had finally found someone strong enough to survive him.
Ella had liked Raffaele once.
That memory now felt embarrassing.
“You are not going there alone.”
She stood inside the medical apartment while Alessandro changed into a clean shirt.
His shoulder had been stitched six hours earlier.
He was already putting on a jacket.
“I’m not going alone.”
“Dante doesn’t count.”
From the doorway Dante looked offended.
“I count.”
Ella ignored him.
“Police.”
Alessandro buttoned his cuff.
“Not yet.”
“Federal agents.”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because I don’t know whether Raffaele is involved.”
Ella laughed.
“Tomas Greco and Carlo Mancini are hiding in his house.”
“It’s a forty-room estate with twelve staff and three separate guest structures.”
“That sounded like the lying version of you.”
Alessandro stopped.
“What?”
“When you’re telling the truth, you’re brief.”
“When you’re trying to convince yourself, you add architecture.”
Dante coughed.
Alessandro looked at him.
“Leave.”
“I’m enjoying this.”
“Dante.”
He left.
Ella crossed her arms.
“You’re hoping Raffaele doesn’t know.”
“Yes.”
Finally.
Truth.
“Why?”
Alessandro’s expression hardened.
“Because if he does, then the person who raised me after my father died has been helping the man targeting my daughter.”
There it was.
Not a crime boss.
A boy.
Family.
Ella’s anger softened but did not disappear.
“You still don’t go without outside backup.”
“Ella.”
“Lily stays with me.”
“Yes.”
“You’re her father.”
He went still at the word.
“Which means getting yourself killed twelve hours after meeting her is not an acceptable parenting choice.”
Dante’s voice came from the hallway.
“She has a point.”
Alessandro shouted:
“Dante!”
“Leaving.”
Ella almost smiled.
Alessandro did not.
Eventually they compromised.
Private security approached first.
A federal prosecutor Alessandro had dealt with years earlier received anonymous notice that Carlo Mancini, wanted in connection with multiple financial crimes, might be at the property.
No formal cooperation.
Not yet.
Enough that law enforcement remained nearby.
Alessandro entered Raffaele’s estate at 11:20 p.m.
Ella watched through a secure video feed from the medical apartment.
She hated every second.
Lily slept upstairs.
Gabriella Sloan sat in the next room, personally recruited back into protection after learning Tomas had manipulated her reports.
“I should be there.”
Ella whispered.
Gabriella looked at her.
“No.”
“I don’t mean with Alessandro.”
“I mean when someone finally explains why my daughter was watched.”
Gabriella’s expression softened.
“You will.”
“After men decide which version I’m allowed to hear.”
“That is something you should probably stop tolerating.”
Ella almost smiled.
On-screen, Alessandro entered the old estate library.
Raffaele sat beside the fireplace.
Sixty-five.
Silver hair.
Dark suit.
A glass of red wine.
He looked entirely unsurprised.
That answered the first question.
“Where is Carlo?”
Alessandro asked.
No greeting.
Raffaele sipped wine.
“You look tired.”
“Where?”
“You always were impatient.”
“Carlo.”
Raffaele sighed.
“Gone.”
“Tomas?”
“Also gone.”
Alessandro remained standing.
“How long?”
“How long what?”
“How long have you known?”
Raffaele looked toward a security camera.
Directly at it.
Ella felt cold.
Did he know she was watching?
Probably.
“About Carlo?”
Raffaele asked.
“Or the child?”
Ella’s blood stopped.
Alessandro became completely still.
“What child?”
Raffaele smiled.
Mistake.
Small.
Fatal.
“You came here angry, Alessandro.”
“Don’t insult me by pretending.”
“When did you know about Lily?”
No answer.
Alessandro’s voice became quieter.
“When?”
Raffaele put down the glass.
“Before you did.”
Ella closed her eyes.
Of course.
“How long?”
“Eighteen months.”
Lily had been six months old.
Alessandro’s face changed.
“Who told you?”
“Tomas.”
“And Carlo?”
“Eventually.”
“Why hide her from me?”
Raffaele looked almost disappointed.
“Because you were already becoming sentimental over the woman.”
“You spent two years paying men to protect an ex-wife who abandoned you.”
“Imagine what you would have done if you knew she carried your daughter.”
Alessandro stepped closer.
“Answer the question.”
Raffaele’s expression hardened.
“The Vitale structure was built around succession.”
Ella frowned.
Gabriella leaned closer to the monitor.
Raffaele continued.
“Your father’s trust is archaic.”
“Control of Vitale Holdings remains with the primary line while there is a direct biological heir.”
Alessandro’s jaw tightened.
“I know my trust.”
“Clearly not all of it.”
Raffaele smiled.
“If you die without issue, my branch receives temporary voting control.”
“If you have a child…”
“Her trust becomes beneficiary to thirty percent of the legitimate holding companies immediately upon legal acknowledgment.”
Ella went cold.
Money.
Of course money was somewhere inside this.
Raffaele continued.
“Tomas saw hospital records.”
“He recognized the resemblance in photographs.”
“He told me.”
Alessandro’s voice became dangerous.
“And you did what?”
“At first?”
“Nothing.”
“You were divorced.”
“She was gone.”
“The child had another surname.”
“No one knew.”
“That was convenient.”
Ella stared at the screen.
Convenient.
Her daughter’s invisibility described as convenient.
Raffaele continued.
“Then Carlo resurfaced.”
“He wanted leverage against you.”
“I wanted him controlled.”
“So you helped him watch them.”
“I allowed Tomas to feed him limited information.”
Alessandro’s hands curled.
“Someone went to Lily’s school.”
“That was Carlo.”
“The bakery?”
Raffaele’s face changed slightly.
“Not authorized.”
Alessandro laughed once.
“Authorized?”
“You’re discussing someone shooting at my daughter like a contractor exceeded scope.”
Raffaele stood.
“Control yourself.”
There.
Old family authority.
Alessandro did not move.
“You knew about the shooting?”
“After.”
“And now?”
“I told Carlo he had become reckless.”
“Where is he?”
Raffaele did not answer.
Alessandro stepped closer.
Raffaele’s guards shifted.
Dante appeared behind Alessandro.
Not alone.
Six men.
Raffaele noticed.
“You bring soldiers into your uncle’s house?”
Alessandro looked around.
“No.”
“I brought witnesses.”
That unsettled Raffaele.
Good.
Alessandro continued.
“Did you order Tomas to hide Lily from me?”
“Yes.”
“Did you share her location with Carlo?”
“Limited locations.”
“Yes or no.”
“Yes.”
“Did you know Carlo intended to use her against me?”
Raffaele hesitated.
That was enough.
Alessandro looked at the hidden recording device in Dante’s jacket.
Then at his uncle.
“Thank you.”
Raffaele’s eyes sharpened.
“For?”
“Answering clearly.”
Police lights appeared beyond the estate windows.
Raffaele turned.
His face changed.
“You called law enforcement.”
“You involved a child.”
Alessandro’s voice became flat.
“You changed the rules.”
Raffaele laughed.
“You think cops make you legitimate?”
“No.”
“Then what is this?”
Alessandro thought of Lily.
The rabbit against his shoulder.
Daddy has owie.
“This is me learning that not every problem should end with someone disappearing.”
The room went silent.
Raffaele stared at him as if he no longer recognized the nephew he raised.
“Ella did this to you.”
“No.”
Alessandro smiled without humor.
“I did plenty to Ella.”
“That’s why she left.”
The words hit both men.
Even from miles away, Ella felt them.
Alessandro continued:
“My daughter is not a succession problem.”
“She is not a voting percentage.”
“She is not leverage.”
“She is two years old.”
“And if you ever speak about her like an asset again, you will do it through your attorney.”
Federal agents entered the estate.
Raffaele was not arrested that night.
Not enough yet.
Carlo and Tomas had already fled.
But investigators seized phones and financial records under an emergency warrant tied to Carlo’s presence.
Alessandro returned to the medical apartment at three in the morning.
Ella was waiting.
He entered quietly.
She stood from the couch.
For several seconds, they looked at each other.
Then Ella said:
“Thirty percent?”
His face tightened.
“I didn’t know the clause activated that way.”
“Do I care?”
“No.”
“Good.”
She stepped closer.
“You let your uncle talk about Lily like money.”
His jaw hardened.
“I was recording him.”
“I know.”
“You wanted to hit him.”
“Yes.”
“But you didn’t.”
“No.”
Something shifted.
Small.
Not forgiveness.
Evidence.
“He said I changed you.”
Alessandro looked at her.
“You did.”
Ella’s expression tightened.
“Don’t put that on me.”
“I’m not.”
He shook his head.
“You showed me what I was becoming and left.”
“I changed because losing you hurt enough that I finally had to look.”
That answer was better.
Ella looked toward the bedroom where Lily slept.
“Raffaele knew before you.”
“Yes.”
“I’m sorry.”
Alessandro’s eyes narrowed.
“For what?”
“For one part.”
She swallowed.
“I hated you for not knowing.”
His face softened.
“You had every right.”
“No.”
“Maybe not that part.”
He accepted it.
Then Dante called.
Alessandro answered.
His expression hardened almost immediately.
“What?”
He listened.
Then looked at Ella.
“Tomas’s car was found.”
“Where?”
“Outside Gary.”
“Empty?”
“No.”
Her stomach dropped.
“Tomas is dead.”
Alessandro’s jaw tightened.
Dante continued through the phone.
“And there was something in the trunk.”
Alessandro’s face changed.
“What?”
A pause.
Then:
“A blue suitcase.”
Ella stopped breathing.
She knew that suitcase.
She had packed it the night she left Alessandro.
The suitcase she believed she had thrown away in Milwaukee two years earlier after the zipper broke.
And inside it, according to Dante, investigators had found an object Ella had never known was missing.
Her original positive pregnancy test.
May you like
Someone had kept it.
For two years.
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