Chapter 5 - The Brother Everyone Buried

Nicolas Salazar had died at nineteen.

Officially.

Skiing accident.

French Alps.

No public funeral.

Private cremation.

Luca hated stories without bodies.

Emma was beginning to understand why.

Marco found the truth in forty-three minutes.

A passport under another name.

Private banking records.

A security-company license in Luxembourg.

Photographs.

Nicolas.

Alive.

Older.

Sharper.

Same eyes as Carlo.

Gabriel stared at the file.

“I met him once.”

Emma looked at him.

“When?”

“I was eight.”

“Do you remember?”

“Only that Carlo hated him.”

Belini sat nearby.

Still in red.

Still furious.

“Carlo told me Nicolas was dead.”

Luca looked at her.

“Carlo may believe that.”

That changed the room.

If Carlo thought Nicolas was dead, then someone had been using even him.

Vale pointed to the ledger.

“Roberto always preferred layers.”

Luca turned.

“Where is Roberto?”

Vale’s expression hardened.

“Retired in Naples.”

Marco checked.

“No.”

Everyone looked at him.

“His jet left Naples four days ago.”

“Destination?”

“New York.”

Emma closed her eyes.

Of course.

Luca’s phone buzzed.

A video.

Carlo.

Tied to a chair.

Blood at his temple.

Alive.

Beside him stood Nicolas.

No disguise now.

Same black onyx signet.

Nicolas looked directly into the camera.

“Mr. Moretti.”

Luca did not react.

“Emma Navarro.”

She felt the room tighten.

Nicolas continued.

“You have something my father wants.”

Vale’s ledger.

Emma looked at Luca.

Nicolas smiled.

“Bring the original register to Warehouse Nine. One hour.”

Belini leaned closer.

“And Adrian?”

Nicolas’s smile changed.

“Still breathing.”

So her brother was real leverage too.

The video ended.

Gabriel stood.

“We go.”

Luca looked at him.

“No.”

Gabriel stared.

“You cannot keep saying that.”

“I can.”

Emma almost smiled.

Wrong moment.

Vale spoke.

“Warehouse Nine belongs to a Salazar shell company.”

Marco nodded.

“Old cold-storage site.”

Luca looked at the ledger.

“They expect the original.”

Emma touched the cover.

“Then give them one.”

Everyone looked at her.

“A copy?”

“No.”

She looked at Vale.

“Can the ownership transfer be enforced without this ledger?”

“Yes.”

“Where?”

“State registry. Federal securities archive. Two banks.”

Emma nodded.

“Then the paper is evidence, not power.”

Luca understood.

“You want to bait them.”

“No.”

She looked at him.

“I want them to stop treating me like bait.”

That silenced him.

At Warehouse Nine, the cold-storage floor was empty except for four people.

Nicolas.

Carlo.

Adrian.

Roberto Salazar.

Seventy-two.

Silver hair.

Perfect suit.

Emma recognized him from old photographs.

Daniel’s attorney.

The man who had signed condolence paperwork after Daniel died.

Her stomach turned.

Roberto smiled.

“Emma.”

She held the ledger.

“You knew my father.”

“Very well.”

“You killed him.”

Carlo’s head snapped toward his father.

“What?”

Roberto did not look at him.

Emma saw it.

Carlo truly did not know.

Nicolas did.

That was worse.

Roberto held out his hand.

“The ledger.”

Emma did not move.

“You spent eleven years stealing from our company.”

“Correcting an imbalance.”

“You mean stealing.”

“If you prefer emotional vocabulary.”

Carlo stared at him.

“Dad.”

Roberto ignored him.

Luca’s voice stayed quiet.

“You framed Gabriel and Emma.”

Roberto smiled.

“Nicolas did the performance beautifully.”

Gabriel’s face hardened.

Carlo looked at his brother.

“You were dead.”

Nicolas smiled.

“To you.”

The cruelty landed.

Carlo’s entire loyalty cracked in one second.

Emma saw it.

Roberto did too.

“Carlo,” he warned.

But Carlo looked at Emma.

“My father killed Daniel?”

Roberto sighed.

“Do not become sentimental.”

That was the mistake.

Carlo laughed once.

Then looked at Luca.

“You want evidence?”

Roberto’s face changed.

Carlo continued.

“I have eleven years of offshore payment instructions.”

Silence.

Nicolas moved.

Marco’s men appeared from both sides.

No gunfire.

No dramatic charge.

Just doors closing.

Roberto stared at Luca.

“You recorded this.”

Luca almost smiled.

“No.”

He looked at Emma.

“She did.”

Emma held up the small recorder Vale had given her.

May you like

[COMPLETED] “GET YOUR HANDS OFF MY DRESS! YOU’RE NOTHING BUT AN OLD SEAM...

[COMPLETED] At the Mafia Boss's Engagement Party, I Served His Hungry So...

[COMPLETED] The Mafia Boss’s Fiancée Tried to Dismiss His Father’s Loyal...

For once, the Mafia boss had not built the trap.

She had.