Chapter 15 - MARCO'S CHOICE
Marco lay in a guarded hospital room beneath a false name.
When Lorenzo entered, Marco smiled weakly.
“So they arrested you.”
“They tried.”
Elena's lawyers had delayed the warrants.
For now.
Lorenzo closed the door.
“You sent the photograph.”
“No.”
“You expect me to believe you?”
Marco looked toward the window.
“I spent twenty-five years betraying you.”
“One thing I learned.”
“You always know when I'm lying.”
Lorenzo watched him.
Marco met his eyes.
“I didn't send it.”
“Who did?”
“My father has people you'll never find.”
“Salvatore is finished.”
Marco laughed painfully.
“My father is never finished.”
“Who created the photograph?”
“I don't know.”
Lorenzo stepped closer.
Marco's expression changed.
“But I know where the original files are.”
“Where?”
“Governor's Island.”
“Old military archive.”
“My father built a data center underneath it in 2012.”
Lorenzo stared.
“You're giving me this why?”
Marco looked at the bandage covering his shoulder.
“Because he shot at a three-year-old child.”
“You knew who he was.”
“I knew who I wanted him to be.”
The words landed quietly.
Marco looked down.
“For years, I convinced myself revenge made sense.”
“Your father killed Isabella's guards.”
“He kidnapped Lucia.”
“He used Sophia.”
“He used Emma.”
“I kept saying it was necessary.”
“Necessary becomes an easy word when you're not the one paying.”
Lorenzo said nothing.
Marco laughed bitterly.
“Sounds like your father.”
“Sounds like all of ours.”
For the first time, Marco looked ashamed.
He gave Lorenzo a code.
Nine digits.
“That's the server access.”
“What's waiting there?”
“Everything Salvatore collected.”
“Including the forged photograph?”
“Yes.”
“And evidence of the convoy attack?”
Marco nodded.
Lorenzo turned toward the door.
“Lorenzo.”
He stopped.
Marco's voice became softer.
“Caterina told me the truth.”
“My mother.”
Lorenzo looked back.
“She never abandoned you.”
“I know.”
Marco swallowed.
“I don't know what to do with that.”
Lorenzo answered quietly.
“Live long enough to figure it out.”
That night, Lorenzo and Antonio entered the hidden archive beneath Governor's Island.
Rows of servers hummed in darkness.
Thousands of files.
Decades of crimes.
Blackmail.
Murders.
Bribes.
They found the forged photograph.
They found orders targeting Sophia.
They found the convoy attack.
Then Antonio discovered a folder labeled LUCIA CONTI-DELUCA.
Inside were surveillance photographs taken yesterday.
Lucia sleeping.
Lucia being carried through the Connecticut estate.
Lucia with Father Gabriel.
Lorenzo's blood froze.
The photographs were new.
Someone knew exactly where his daughter was.
Then the server alarm activated.
A countdown appeared.
00:59.
00:58.
Antonio looked at Lorenzo.
“It's going to wipe everything.”
Lorenzo stared at the screen.
Then another message appeared.
NOT EVERYTHING.
One live camera feed opened.
Connecticut.
May you like
Lucia's bedroom.
A masked man stepped toward the crib.
