Chapter 5 - The Woman in Red Finally Called Luca

They returned to Chicago with one truth and three worse questions.

Alessandra was alive.

Matteo Rinaldi had tried to kill her eight years earlier.

And Luca’s father had helped fake her death.

The payroll theft was not Alessandra’s plan.

But she had entered Luca’s office disguised as Belini.

She had used his token.

She had created the one-euro deduction rule.

Then Matteo changed it.

Luca did not forgive the method simply because the motive improved.

“She could have called me.”

Marco looked at him.

“Would you have believed a dead woman?”

“Yes.”

Marco raised one eyebrow.

“Eventually.”

Emma pretended not to smile.

Belini did.

Only briefly.

Then Luca’s phone rang.

Unknown number.

He answered.

Silence.

A woman breathed on the other end.

Then:

“You still tap your thumb when you’re angry.”

Luca stopped.

Marco looked at him.

Emma knew.

“Alessandra.”

The voice laughed softly.

“Hello, little brother.”

Eight years disappeared from Luca’s face.

Not visibly to most people.

Emma saw it.

His shoulders became perfectly still.

His eyes lost focus for one second.

Then control returned.

“Where are you?”

“Safe.”

“You were in my office.”

“Yes.”

“You used my signing token.”

“Yes.”

“You created a payroll rule.”

“One euro.”

“It became six hundred.”

“I know.”

His jaw tightened.

“Forty-one employees suffered because of your warning.”

“I did not know Matteo still had live admin access.”

“That is not an apology.”

“No.”

Pause.

“I’m sorry.”

Luca closed his eyes briefly.

Belini looked away.

Alessandra continued.

“I needed the system to expose the reserve account automatically.”

“You could have sent me the account number.”

“No.”

“Why?”

“Because Matteo reads your investigations.”

Marco’s expression sharpened.

Luca looked at him.

“Inside my organization?”

“Yes.”

“Who?”

“I don’t know.”

“That is convenient.”

“It is why I stayed dead.”

Silence.

Emma understood.

If Alessandra surfaced, whoever had protected Matteo would move.

Luca asked, “Why Belini?”

Belini looked furious before Alessandra answered.

“Because everyone watches her.”

Belini folded her arms.

“I am flattered.”

Alessandra heard.

“You should not be.”

Belini stepped closer to the phone.

“You wore my face.”

“No. I wore your hair, your coat, your posture. Security did the rest.”

Emma almost smiled.

Belini did not.

Luca’s voice cooled.

“Dario thought you were her.”

“That helped.”

“You let him.”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“Because Dario reports to Matteo.”

Dario, in custody downstairs, had claimed otherwise.

Marco immediately left the room.

Luca continued.

“What does Matteo want?”

Alessandra’s voice became quieter.

“The employee money is cover.”

“For what?”

“Your father’s contingency fund.”

Luca frowned.

“What contingency fund?”

“He created one after the car explosion. Enough money to disappear family members if Matteo moved against them.”

Belini stared.

“How much?”

“Twenty-six million.”

Marco returned at the exact moment.

His expression said the number was real.

Luca spoke.

“Where is it?”

“Inside the reserve structure.”

“So Matteo has been moving vendor money into it.”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“To make it look like theft before he empties it.”

Emma understood.

If Luca discovered the account after the money vanished, the paper trail would show fraudulent deductions, forged Moretti authorization, and a dead sister’s shell company.

Everyone could blame everyone else.

Matteo could disappear with legitimate-looking chaos behind him.

Luca asked, “Why now?”

Alessandra did not answer immediately.

Then:

“Because he knows you’re replacing him.”

Luca frowned.

“Replacing him in what?”

“He still controls the old Moretti emergency network.”

Marco went still.

Luca’s father had never dismantled it.

Safe houses.

Off-book medical accounts.

Transportation.

False identities.

Infrastructure designed for family survival.

Matteo had spent years controlling it from retirement.

Luca’s expression became colder.

“He has access to people.”

“Yes.”

“Names.”

“Yes.”

“Locations.”

“Yes.”

Alessandra’s voice lowered.

“And one person you think died five years ago.”

Emma felt the room change.

Luca did not move.

“Who?”

Alessandra whispered:

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“Dad.”

The call ended.