Chapter 1 - The Sealed Envelope
I stared at the weathered envelope in the director's trembling hand.
My fingers brushed against the thick paper.
Alina had touched this exact letter eighteen months ago.
I tore it open with a racing heart.
The handwriting was rushed and erratic.
"Marco, if you are reading this, I am likely dead."
I stopped breathing entirely.
"I never wanted to leave you, but I had to protect our daughter."
"Four years ago, I overheard a conversation in our own home."
"Someone was planning to murder Sophia to break your spirit and take over the Chicago syndicate."
"I could not tell you because the man plotting against us was the only man you trusted more than me."
"It was Matteo."
The paper slipped from my numb fingers.
Matteo Rizzo was my oldest friend and my most trusted lieutenant.
He was the man who convinced me to stop looking for my family.
He had manipulated my grief to blind me to his treason.
I looked down at Sophia, who was holding tightly to my heavy coat.
A sudden, terrifying realization hit my mind.
If Matteo knew Alina was hiding Sophia, he might have been tracking her all along.
The heavy wooden doors of the orphanage suddenly violently exploded inward.
Splinters of wood and glass rained down across the polished floor.
May you like
Five men in tactical gear stepped through the thick smoke with assault rifles raised.
And leading them was the man I had called my brother for twenty years.
