Chapter 2 - THE BROTHER WHO KNEW TOO MUCH
Alessio lifted his empty hands.
“Before you decide I’m part of this, get Sophia inside the stone shed.”
“The gate is locked,” Sophia said.
“I know another way.”
Vittorio caught his brother by the collar. “How do you know what’s happening?”
Marco moved toward the sedan. Isabella remained beside him, one hand resting against the open door.
Alessio lowered his voice. “Renzo called me at six-forty.”
Sophia’s face changed. “My dad called you?”
“He sent one word. Orchard.”
Vittorio knew it. Their father had used the word years earlier when a meeting place had been compromised.
Alessio guided Sophia through an opening in the hedge toward an old irrigation passage. Vittorio followed, hating that his brother knew the property better than he did.
Behind them, Isabella called his name.
“Vittorio?”
He heard fear now, but it was fear of a ruined plan, not fear for her husband.
The irrigation passage ended inside the locked equipment shed. Sophia ran to the workbench.
Her father was gone. His truck remained outside. His lunch sat untouched beside a thermos.
A smear of dirt crossed the floor toward the service entrance. Near it lay Renzo’s pruning shears and one broken shirt button.
Sophia picked it up. “This is his.”
Alessio shut the door.
“Marco has been using the family’s freight company to move money through shell vendors,” he said. “Renzo noticed unfamiliar men meeting near the greenhouse. He started writing down plates and delivery times.”
“You knew?”
“For six weeks.”
“And you said nothing to me?”
“You stopped listening to anyone who wasn’t afraid of you.”
The words landed because they were true.
Outside, an engine started.
Vittorio looked through a narrow window. Marco was pulling the sedan away from the villa. Isabella had disappeared inside.
A message appeared on Sophia’s cracked phone.
It showed Renzo tied to a chair in front of a corrugated metal wall. His shirt was stained dark at the shoulder, but his eyes were open.
GET IN THE CAR, OR THE GARDENER DIES.
Sophia pressed both hands over her mouth.
Vittorio took the phone before she dropped it.
Alessio studied the image. “That isn’t about getting you into the car anymore.”
“Then what is it about?”
“Making sure you follow them somewhere without your men.”
Sophia wiped her cheeks with her sleeve. “Uncle Alessio knows where they took him.”
The title stopped both brothers.
Vittorio looked down at her. “Why did you call him that?”
May you like
She glanced toward Alessio, realizing too late that she had revealed something.
“My dad meets him sometimes,” she said. “After you go to sleep.”
