Chapter 6 - THE FAMILY PORTRAIT
The damp, suffocating air of the underground bunker seemed to vanish, replaced by a chilling silence.
Luca stared at the boy. His mind rebelled against the words, searching for a lie, a trick, a manipulation. But the boy’s jawline, the shape of his dark eyes, the defiant tilt of his chin—it was a ghost from Luca’s own past. It was Vincenzo Moretti staring back at him.
"You're lying," Luca said, though his voice lacked its usual deadly conviction.
The boy didn't flinch. He reached up and unclasped the string around his neck, handing the folded child's drawing to Luca.
"Unfold it," the boy said softly.
Luca took the paper. The edges were frayed, the paper yellowed with time. He opened it carefully.
It was a crayon drawing of a woman with bright blonde hair, holding the hand of a little girl. But on the back of the drawing, pasted with yellowing glue, was a small, square Polaroid photograph.
Luca held the flashlight over it.
The photograph showed Evelyn Mitchell, heavily pregnant. Standing beside her, his arm wrapped protectively around her shoulders, was Vincenzo Moretti. Luca’s father.
"Evelyn didn't have an affair with the Bellini patriarch," the boy said, his voice bitter. "She had an affair with the Don. With your father."
Lauren fell back against the cold concrete wall, sliding down until she hit the floor. "No... no, she was a maid for the Bellinis. Why would she..."
"Because it was a cover," Luca realized, the puzzle pieces clicking together in horrifying clarity.
He looked at the boy. "My father couldn't keep a mistress in our territory without my mother finding out. So he paid the Bellinis to hire her. To hide her in plain sight."
"Until she got pregnant," the boy finished. "Your mother found out. She demanded Evelyn be eliminated to protect your family's honor and inheritance. Your father couldn't bring himself to kill the woman he loved. So he made a deal with Vanessa's father."
"Lock her away," Luca whispered. "Fake her death on a train to Pennsylvania. Let her give birth in secret. And the Bellinis get paid handsomely for keeping the secret."
"I was born in this room," the boy said, looking around the miserable concrete walls. "My mother named me Leo."
Lauren looked up, her eyes wide with shock. "If you were born here... where is she? Where is my mother?"
Leo’s expression softened as he looked at Lauren. "You're Lauren, aren't you? She talked about you every single day. She drew that picture of you from memory."
"Where is she, Leo?" Lauren pleaded, pushing herself up from the floor.
"She's alive," Leo said. "When Vanessa's father died six months ago, the payments from the Moretti estate stopped. Vanessa found out about the bunker. She realized who I was—a Moretti bastard who could potentially claim half of your father's empire."
Luca’s eyes darkened. "So Vanessa took Evelyn."
Leo nodded. "She moved my mother to a secondary location. She kept me here as leverage. Vanessa knew that if she married you, Luca, she would control the Moretti wealth. But she needed a foolproof insurance policy."
"A baby," Luca said.
"Yes," Leo said. "Vanessa told me last week that once she secured a child, she would kill my mother, kill me, and solidify her place as the undisputed queen of the Chicago underworld."
Luca closed his eyes. The sheer depth of the betrayal was staggering. The woman he was supposed to marry had manipulated his life, held his half-brother captive, and kidnapped the mother of his maid.
And his own father had started it all.
"Come with us," Luca said, stepping forward and offering Leo his hand. "We are leaving this place. And you are never coming back."
Leo hesitated, looking at Luca’s outstretched hand. "You're the Don now. Why should I trust you? I'm a threat to your power."
"Because you are my brother," Luca said firmly. "And Morettis do not lock their blood in cages."
Leo slowly reached out and took Luca’s hand.
As they walked up the narrow stone stairs back into the greenhouse, they found Daniel waiting exactly where he was told.
But Vanessa was gone.
"Boss," Daniel said, pointing to a slashed zip-tie on the dirt floor. "She had a concealed blade in her heel. She bolted into the woods the second I turned to check the perimeter. Do you want me to hunt her down?"
Luca looked at the rain lashing against the glass roof of the greenhouse. He looked at Lauren, who was holding her newly found brother's hand, weeping quietly.
"No," Luca said softly. "Let her run. Because she has nowhere to hide. She’s going to go to the only leverage she has left."
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Luca reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone.
"Get the cars ready, Daniel. Vanessa is going to Evelyn Mitchell. And we are going to follow her."
