Chapter 8 – Blood Is Thicker Than Lies
The words on the first page echoed in Alessandro's mind.
Someone inside your own family is working for the Raven Society.
He read the sentence again.
Then a third time.
Marco watched him carefully.
"Do you believe it?"
Alessandro didn't answer immediately.
Instead, he continued reading Victor Haines' handwritten confession.
I never met the leaders of the Raven Society.
Orders always came through intermediaries.
Richard Kane answered to someone else.
That person attended private dinners at the Duca estate several times over the last ten years.
I never learned the name... but I saw the Duca family crest on their invitation.
Alessandro slowly lowered the pages.
"They've been inside my home."
Marco corrected him.
"They've been welcomed into it."
Back at the estate, every member of the Duca family was quietly invited to dinner.
Not because Alessandro wanted a reunion.
Because he wanted to watch them.
His younger brother, Luca Duca, arrived first.
Forty-two years old.
Charming.
Successful.
Always smiling.
Too easily.
Next came his cousin, Isabella Duca Moretti, an attorney known for handling the family's charitable foundation.
Calm.
Elegant.
Impossible to read.
Finally came his seventy-year-old Aunt Lucia.
She embraced Alessandro warmly.
"You look exhausted."
"I haven't been sleeping."
She squeezed his hand.
"Neither have I."
Dinner began normally.
The conversation stayed polite.
Business.
Travel.
Charity events.
No one mentioned poison.
No one mentioned murder.
Marco stood quietly against the wall, pretending to supervise the staff.
In reality...
He watched every expression.
Every glance.
Every hesitation.
Then Alessandro spoke.
"I visited Dr. Victor Haines today."
Three forks stopped moving.
Only for a fraction of a second.
But Marco noticed.
Luca recovered first.
"I heard he disappeared."
"He died."
Silence.
Aunt Lucia crossed herself.
"God rest his soul."
Isabella simply lowered her eyes.
No surprise.
No questions.
Just silence.
Marco wrote that down mentally.
Dessert had barely been served when Emma wandered into the dining room, holding Bunny.
She wasn't supposed to be there.
Sophia hurried after her.
"I'm sorry, Mr. Duca—"
"It's all right," Alessandro interrupted gently.
Emma smiled at him.
Then looked around the table.
Her smile faded.
She stared at Isabella.
Without blinking.
The room grew strangely quiet.
Sophia felt her stomach tighten.
"What is it, sweetheart?"
Emma pointed.
"She smells like the bird man."
Every chair seemed to freeze.
Isabella frowned.
"What does that mean?"
Emma hugged Bunny tightly.
"The same perfume."
Sophia immediately picked Emma up.
"I'm so sorry. She doesn't understand."
But Alessandro had already seen something.
For the first time that evening...
Isabella looked genuinely frightened.
Only for a heartbeat.
Then it disappeared.
Later that night, Marco quietly entered Isabella's guest suite while she attended a charity board meeting via video call.
He wasn't searching randomly.
He was looking for perfume.
Inside her luggage sat an expensive French fragrance.
He sprayed a tiny amount onto a testing strip.
Emma, standing in the hallway with Sophia, wrinkled her nose immediately.
"That's it."
Sophia looked horrified.
"You recognize it?"
Emma nodded.
"The bird man hugged Daddy."
Marco and Alessandro exchanged a look.
That detail had never been mentioned before.
Marco knelt beside Emma.
"Sweetheart..."
"When did the bird man hug your daddy?"
Emma thought carefully.
"Outside."
"Before they argued."
"Was anyone else there?"
She nodded.
"A lady."
"What lady?"
Emma pointed toward Isabella's room.
"The pretty lady."
Marco's pulse quickened.
He immediately searched deeper.
Inside a hidden compartment beneath Isabella's jewelry case...
He found a second cell phone.
No contacts.
No photographs.
Only encrypted messages.
One message had arrived two hours earlier.
Is the child talking?
Another, sent just minutes later:
If necessary... silence her tonight.
Marco's face hardened.
He took screenshots before the phone suddenly went black.
Then the screen displayed one line.
REMOTE WIPE INITIATED
Within seconds...
Every message disappeared.
Every file erased.
Professional.
Fast.
Deliberate.
At the same moment, Isabella quietly ended her video meeting.
She walked to the guest room.
The moment she opened the door...
She knew.
Someone had searched her room.
The jewelry box was closed...
But not the way she had left it.
She didn't panic.
She simply smiled.
Then she whispered,
"So..."
"You finally figured it out."
She reached into the lining of her suitcase.
Pulled out a small satellite phone.
Dialed one number.
"They know about me."
A calm voice answered.
"Then Phase Two begins."
"And Alessandro?"
There was a pause.
"No more warnings."
"This time..."
"...kill everyone."
As Isabella ended the call, she looked out the window toward the guest cottage where Sophia was reading Emma a bedtime story.
For the first time...
There was no hesitation in her eyes.
May you like
Only cold determination.
The war had entered the Duca family itself.
