Chapter 19 Luca
LUCA
Once Katerina and Enzo are gone, I push through the chaos, toward Uncle Matty. The sight that greets me turns my blood to ice.
His lifeless eyes staring at nothing, foam crusting at the corners of his mouth, his skin already taking on the waxy pallor of death.
"It's poison," I announce. "Nobody touch your food or drinks."
I scan the table where Uncle Matty was sitting next to Alessandro. A full wine glass sits next to his plate.
So where did the glass he drank from come from?
That’s when I see that Alessandro’s glass is missing. My gaze darts to Alessandro as I realize the truth.
"Alessandro, that glass was meant for you.” My eyes sweep across the room, taking in every face.
Someone here killed Uncle Matty by mistake.
Or maybe they poisoned all our glasses.
I have this vision of all of us dead, except Enzo, who doesn’t drink wine.
God, how could he survive the trauma of seeing a table full of his family die?
With sickening clarity, I understand that whoever is behind this won't stop until the Dante leadership is destroyed.
And I've just been welcomed back into the fold. At least temporarily.
I catch Victorio's gaze across the room.
He gives a shrug as if to say this is a shitshow.
I glance over at Alessandro, and understanding passes between us.
We might disagree on everything, but we both know that someone's trying to destroy our family, and neither of us will stand for it.
"Everyone stay calm," Alessandro commands. "Security, seal the exits. Nobody leaves."
“We need to meet,” I tell Alessandro, not caring if he’ll think I’m overreaching my authority by telling him what to do. Luckily, he gives a curt nod.
The four of us, Alessandro, Adriano, Valentina, and I, along with Uncle Salvatore, file into our father's study.
"That wine was meant for you," I say to Alessandro, watching his face carefully. "Uncle Matty just happened to drink from the wrong glass."
Valentina paces. "The gall of someone. To kill one of us in our own home. First Father and now this attempted hit on Alessandro."
"Someone wants the Dantes gone," Adriano mutters, leaning against the desk.
“It confirms that Pyotr wasn’t working alone. And whoever this is, they’re close enough to know our movements, our security protocols. Someone we trust."
Alessandro's jaw tightens. "And I want them found yesterday."
"I'll find them," I promise. "And when I do, they'll wish they'd never heard our name."
Alessandro drops into our father's chair. His face, usually composed, betrays flickers of fear.
Not for himself. Alessandro has never feared death. But for what this means for our family.
"I was distracted, talking to Adriano," Alessandro begins. "Otherwise, I might have noticed Matty took my wine.”
The room falls silent as the ramifications of Uncle Matty’s mistake take hold. It could be Alessandro dead in the dining room.
Fucking hell, what a nightmare that would have been.
Not that Matty’s death isn’t tragic, but Alessandro is the Don.
His death would create problems I don’t know that the Dante family is ready to handle.
Adriano isn’t quite ready to lead. I’d probably be blamed.
"By the time I realized what was happening, he was already on the floor. Foam coming from his mouth. His eyes…" Alessandro stops, composing himself. "It was fast. Whatever he took, it was fucking instantaneous."
I suppose that’s a good thing. Matty didn’t suffer long.
“Like I said, when I find who did this, they'll beg for a death as quick as Uncle Matty's."
“What if it was in all the wines?” Valentina asks with a shudder. “What if everyone was the target?”
“It’s possible,” Adriano agrees. “I’ll have it all tested—”
“I’ll go make sure everything is untouched,” Uncle Salvatore, who’s been strangely quiet so far, says. “Let’s hope whoever it is hasn’t cleaned it up yet.”
Alessandro shakes his head. “They'd better not. I said not to touch anything.”
"We need to review the security footage," I tell Alessandro.
Alessandro nods grimly. "Can you do that, Adriano?"
“Yes.”
I rest my hands on my hips, feeling bone tired. "Whoever did this, they're still here. Still watching us."
“I’ll go get that footage,” Adriano says, heading to the door.
“I’ll go help Uncle Salvatore.” Valentina follows him out, leaving me alone with Alessandro.
“We should look for that file Pyotr wanted,” I say.
Alessandro rubs his hand over his face. “That can wait—”
“That could help us find out who is fucking with the family. Pyotr wanted it badly enough to kidnap Enzo. That didn’t turn out and tonight, Uncle Matty is dead.”
He nods. “You’re right.” He pulls drawers out from the desk, searching through papers.
I go to the row of file cabinets and begin looking through the files, realizing the search is going to be like trying to find a needle in a haystack.
There are so many pieces of paper and we don’t know what we’re looking for.
As the hours pass, I grow increasingly frustrated.
I slam the final cabinet shut, not finding the file that could explain everything.
"It has to be here somewhere," I growl, running my hands through my hair. "Pyotr wouldn't have risked kidnapping Enzo over nothing."
Alessandro looks up from the stack of folders he's sorting. "You're sure Katerina said it was a file? Not a ledger or a thumb drive?"
"A file. Something physical." I glance over to my father’s portrait hanging above the desk behind Alessandro.
The man is dead, and yet I still feel his judgement, his disappointment in me.
"Wait." Alessandro turns to look at the portrait too. "The safe.” Moving to the portrait, he lifts it from the wall, revealing a small wall safe I'd forgotten existed.
"You know the combination?" I ask.
Alessandro shakes his head. "I tried his birthday, Mom's birthday, all the usual suspects. Nothing worked."
I stare at the keypad, thinking. "Try 1-0-2-5.”
"What's that?"
"October 25. The day he exiled me."
Alessandro's eyebrows rise, but he punches in the numbers.
The safe clicks open.
Inside lies a single manila folder, unmarked except for a small black dot in the corner.
Alessandro pulls it out, lays it on the desk, and we both stare at it like it might explode.
When he finally opens it, we find a list of names.
Next to each name are dates, locations, and brief notes in our father's precise handwriting.
"Jesus," Alessandro whispers, scanning the pages. "He thought all these people were working with the Russians?"
I lean closer, searching for Pyotr's name. It's not there.
"No Pyotr," I confirm, frowning. "That doesn't make sense. If he wasn't on Dad's radar, why was he so desperate to get this file?"
“Maybe he didn’t want us to see who was on it," Alessandro suggests.
“And to protect his partner, although I don’t see anyone on this list who was here tonight.”
“I wonder if this is why he was killed?”
“I imagine there are many who wanted him dead, but there’s no reason this might not be it.” We need to investigate these names to know for sure. “Let me take this. I’ll figure out who they are. What Dad was into.”
At first I think Alessandro is going to refuse to let me have the list.
“You charged me with finding the mole,” I remind him.
“Fine.” But I still see a storm in his eyes.
“What?” I ask, not in the mood to deal with his suspicions. “You don’t think I—”
“Not you. Katerina. She and Pyotr were close. I know you’re fuck—”
“Watch yourself,” I growl in warning.
He holds his hands up in surrender. “The point is, she could know more than she’s let on.”
He’s not wrong, although I can’t bring myself to believe it. “If she did, she’d have said something when Enzo was taken. She might have been close to Pyotr, but Enzo is her son.”
He studies me. “And yours. What do you plan to do about it?”
I frown. “What do you mean? I’m going to be a father.”
He tenses. “So you’re staying?”
“I didn’t say that. And for fuck’s sake, stop worrying that I’m going to challenge you. I don’t want to run the family.”
He relaxes as he goes to sit in his chair, scanning the list of names on the paper again. “You might have to if whoever is after us succeeds in killing me.”
I shake my head. “Prepare Adriano if you’re worried. You’re family and so I’ll always have your back, but no offense, this place isn’t home for me.”
Alessandro’s expression almost seems regretful. Apologetic even. Almost, but not quite. “Right now, we need to focus on the mole.”
“They know they failed, so they’ll likely lie low for a bit, but I’ll find him.”
His brow furrows as his finger stops by a name near the bottom of the page. “What the fuck? Eva Santoro?"
I glance at the name that caught his attention.
It means nothing to me, but Alessandro's reaction tells me I should.
"Who is she?" I lean in, studying the cryptic notes beside her name. Dates, locations, and one word circled repeatedly. Compromised.
“Adriano's girl. The one who vanished three or four years ago."
"Adriano was involved with someone on Dad's watchlist?" The revelation is shocking.
Adriano has always been the most loyal, the most dedicated to family, and definitely not one to fall in love.
"He was completely gone for her," Alessandro explains, his voice softening as if he feels sympathy for Adriano.
"Small thing. Quiet, but had this way about her that made you trust her instantly.
" He shakes his head. "When she disappeared, we got word she'd been killed shortly after. Adriano… he’s never been the same. "
"Should we tell him?" I ask. "If Dad suspected her—"
"No." Alessandro's response is immediate, firm. "What good would it do? She's been dead for years, so she can't be our current mole. And Adriano…" He trails off, then continues more quietly, "I've never seen him break the way he did when we got word. Took three of us to pull him off the messenger."
I nod, understanding perfectly. Some wounds shouldn't be reopened, especially when there's nothing to gain.
"Besides," Alessandro continues, "we've got better leads right here." He taps several other names on the list. "These people are still alive, still in our orbit. One of them might lead us to who’s betraying us."
I scan the names.
Two low-level associates who handle shipments, a bartender at one of our clubs, a distant cousin who's always been too eager to please are the ones who stand out.
They seem to be closest to us and will be my first stop in my investigation.
"I'll start with these three," I decide, marking the names with my finger. "They're the most accessible."
Alessandro nods in agreement. "I concur.”
I fold the list and tuck it inside my jacket, feeling a strange sense of duty.
Yes, I’m loyal to my family, but I’ve long been the odd one out.
Now I’m a part of it again.
I don’t necessarily feel that I need to prove anything to my family, and yet, I want them to see that I’m not the man they think I am.
I won’t fuck this up for them, or for Katerina and Enzo.
"I'm going to check on Katerina and Enzo," I announce, needing to see them safe.
Alessandro studies me and I brace myself for a snarky or insulting comment. “Dad always liked her and the boy.”
Okay, so I wasn’t expecting that.
“I wonder if he knew?” He finishes. “About their being yours, I mean.”
I shrug. “It’s strange that it would matter to him if he did.”
Alessandro laughs. “True.”
“I’ll get on this,” I say, patting my pocket with the paper.
I’m good at what I do, but as I slip out of the room, I can't shake the feeling that we're playing in a game in which we’re blind, missing important pieces, and that we’re running out of time to figure it out.