Inside lay every object except one.
The broken silver chain.
Luca mobilized half the estate.
Gates closed.
Cars searched.
Staff detained.
Matteo rushed into the security room.
“What happened?”
“Sofia is missing.”
“Jesus.”
“Find her.”
Matteo immediately began making calls.
For once, his fear looked genuine.
An hour passed.
Then two.
At 11:43 a.m., security found Sofia’s shoe beside the old greenhouse.
Luca felt something inside him snap.
“Seal every road.”
Matteo knelt beside the shoe.
“There are cameras near here.”
“Check them.”
“The feeds are dead.”
Luca turned slowly.
“Since when?”
A guard swallowed.
“Forty minutes before the girl disappeared.”
Luca’s eyes went to Matteo.
Matteo looked back.
And for the first time in years, the brothers saw each other not as family—
but as enemies.
“You think I did this,” Matteo whispered.
“I think you’ve been poisoning me.”
The color drained from Matteo’s face.
“What?”
Luca pulled the laboratory reports from inside his jacket and threw them onto the table.
Matteo read the first page.
Then the second.
His expression shifted from confusion to horror.
“You think this is me?”
“The shell company belongs to you.”
“No.”
“It traces back to you.”
“Then someone wanted it to.”
“Bellini works for you.”
Bellini suddenly stopped moving.
Everyone noticed.
Luca turned.
The doctor stood near the door.
His right hand had slipped inside his coat.
“Pietro?”
Matteo’s voice barely rose above a whisper.
Bellini drew a pistol.
Chaos exploded.
Guards reached for weapons.
Bellini seized Elena by the throat and pressed the gun against her temple.
“Stop!”
Everyone froze.
Luca stared at the man who had treated his family for twelve years.
“Where is the girl?”
Bellini’s hand trembled.
“You should have taken the pills.”
“Where is Sofia?”
“I told them this would happen.”
Luca’s blood turned cold.
“Them?”
Bellini realized his mistake.
Matteo stepped forward.
“Who are you working for?”
Bellini laughed.
The sound was almost hysterical.
“You still think this is about control of a company?”
He backed toward the door with Elena.
“You Rinaldis never understood what you built.”
Luca’s voice became deadly calm.
“Touch that woman and you die before you reach the gate.”
“You’re already dead.”
Bellini smiled.
“You just haven’t been told yet.”
A gunshot cracked.
Bellini screamed.
His pistol fell.
Matteo had fired into his shoulder.
Elena tore free.
Guards tackled the doctor.
Luca wheeled forward.
“Where is Sofia?”
Bellini looked up from the floor.
Then he smiled through the pain.
“Ask her father.”
Sofia woke in darkness.
Her hands were not tied.
That confused her.
She sat up.
The room smelled like oil and salt water.
Somewhere nearby, waves struck metal.
A lamp switched on.
Sofia screamed.
A man stood across from her.
Thin.
Older than she remembered.
A scar crossed his forehead.
But the eyes were the same.
“Sofi.”
Her mouth opened.
No sound came.
The man began crying.
“Mi pequeña.”
“Papa?”
Gabriel Alvarez dropped to his knees.
Sofia ran into his arms.
He held her as though trying to recover three lost years in one embrace.
She hit his chest with tiny fists.
“You left!”
“I know.”
“Mama cried!”
“I know.”
“We thought you were dead!”
“I know.”
“Why?”
He held her tighter.
“Because if they knew I was alive, you and your mother would have died too.”
Sofia pulled back.
“Who?”
Gabriel looked toward the steel door.
“The people who really own Luca Rinaldi.”
Bellini refused to speak.
So Luca broke his fingers.
Matteo watched.
He said nothing.
On the third finger, Bellini laughed.
“You still think violence is power.”
“Where is Sofia?”
“I told you.”
“Gabriel Alvarez is dead.”
“No.”
Elena gasped.
Bellini looked at her.
“No, Mrs. Alvarez. Your husband is very much alive.”
Her knees weakened.
