Chapter 9: The Enemy Inside the Family
The message on every screen stayed there for exactly ten seconds.
Long enough for everyone to read it.
Long enough for everyone to understand.
Long enough for fear to enter the room.
Then the screens changed.
A video appeared.
An old man sat in a dark office.
The quality was poor, but there was no mistaking the face.
Gabriele’s father.
Antonio Romano.
Dead for twelve years.
Federica felt the room change.
Not because of the video.
Because of Gabriele.
The man who had faced gunfire without blinking.
The man who had stared down enemies twice his size.
The man who had walked through Chicago like the city belonged to him.
Now looked like someone had reached inside his chest and removed something.
Antonio Romano looked directly into the camera.
“My sons.””
A pause.
“If you are watching this, then everything I built has already started collapsing.””
Matteo stepped closer.
“That recording…”
Gabriele didn’t answer.
His eyes never left the screen.
Antonio continued.
“I spent my life protecting this family. But protection creates weakness. People become dependent. They forget how to survive.””
Federica frowned.
The words sounded wrong.
Not like a father.
Like a man giving instructions.
“He knew,” she whispered.
Everyone looked at her.
She pointed at the screen.
“He knew this would happen.””
Matteo nodded slowly.
“That’s why I found the files.””
The video continued.
“I created a system. A test.””
Gabriele’s expression hardened.
“A test?””
Antonio smiled faintly.
“Every person around you has a price. Every person has a breaking point. Trust is only valuable when it survives pressure.””
Federica felt sick.
Because she understood what she was hearing.
Antonio Romano had not built a family.
He had built a machine.
And everyone inside it was a piece.
The video shifted.
Documents appeared.
Names.
Accounts.
Photos.
One by one.
Damian Voss.
Marco Bellini.
Others Federica recognized from company records.
Then the final image appeared.
Her own.
Federica froze.
No one spoke.
Antonio’s voice continued.
“And then there was the accountant.””
The room became silent.
“She was the unexpected variable.””
Gabriele looked at Federica.
Not with suspicion.
With confusion.
Antonio continued.
“I needed someone outside the family. Someone who would follow the numbers instead of the power.””
Federica stared at the screen.
“What?””
Matteo looked at her.
“I don’t understand.””
Antonio’s recorded voice continued.
“Federica Ferrari was never meant to be involved in this way.””
A pause.
“She was meant to discover the truth.””
Federica felt the air leave her lungs.
The attacker standing near the door lowered their weapon slightly.
Everyone looked at them.
Because suddenly, nothing made sense.
The person who had betrayed them was no longer looking confident.
They looked afraid.
Antonio continued.
“The person controlling the operation was not one of my sons.””
The screen went black.
Then one final sentence appeared.
*FIND THE PERSON WHO KILLED ME.*
Nobody moved.
Then Gabriele slowly turned toward Matteo.
“You said you found files.””
“Yes.””
“You said someone was using my father’s name.””
“Yes.””
“You never said he planned this.””
Matteo looked away.
“Because I didn’t know.””
Federica looked between the brothers.
“Wait.””
Everyone looked at her.
She walked toward the screen.
“Your father’s death.””
Gabriele looked at her.
“What about it?””
“Everyone assumed he died naturally.””
“Yes.””
“But if this was recorded before he died…”
She pointed at the screen.
“Then he knew.””
Matteo’s face changed.
“Federica.””
She was already thinking.
Numbers.
Dates.
Patterns.
The things everyone else ignored.
“Your father died twelve years ago.””
Gabriele nodded.
“The company records show the leadership transfer happened six months before his death.””
Matteo frowned.
“So?””
“So why?””
Nobody answered.
Federica continued.
“Why transfer power early?””
Gabriele stared.
Because he understood.
The official story had a hole.
A large one.
Antonio Romano had not retired.
He had prepared.
“He knew someone was coming for him,” Federica said.
The attacker near the door finally spoke.
“I tried to stop it.””
Everyone turned.
The person looked exhausted.
“I was ordered to protect Federica.””
Gabriele’s eyes narrowed.
“By who?””
A painful silence.
Then:
“By Antonio.””
The name felt impossible.
Again.
Federica looked at the attacker.
“You were at the warehouse.””
They nodded.
“Yes.””
“You helped them?””
“No.””
Their voice cracked.
“I was trying to get her out.””
Gabriele stepped forward.
“Then why did you let her get kidnapped?””
The answer came quietly.
“Because if I interfered too early, Damian would have killed Leo.””
Nobody spoke.
Federica remembered.
The timing.
The guards.
The escape.
The delivery truck.
The strange mistakes.
She had thought they were accidents.
They weren’t.
Someone had been opening doors for her.
Someone had been guiding her.
The attacker looked at Federica.
“You were never supposed to carry Leo out alone.””
Federica swallowed.
“Then why did I?””
A sad expression crossed their face.
“Because you were the only person stubborn enough to do it.””
For the first time in hours, nobody knew what to say.
Then the final security alarm sounded.
Not a breach.
A countdown.
Ten minutes.
Gabriele looked at the control panel.
“What is that?””
The attacker answered.
“Your father’s final security measure.””
Matteo’s face went pale.
“No.””
Federica looked at him.
“What?””
“He built a dead-man system.””
“What happens when it reaches zero?””
Matteo looked toward the walls.
“The safe house burns.””
Everyone froze.
Gabriele looked at Federica.
“Can you stop it?””
She looked at the system.
Then at the files.
Then at the countdown.
She hated these moments.
The moments where everyone wanted an answer immediately.
But numbers needed time.
And time was exactly what they didn’t have.
“I need access to the main server.””
Gabriele nodded.
“Take her.””
They moved.
For the first time, nobody questioned Federica.
Nobody called her an accountant.
Nobody underestimated her.
Because they finally understood.
The woman who carried a baby out of a kidnapping wasn’t just surviving.
She was solving the only mystery that could save them.
But when Federica opened the final server file, she saw one last name.
The name of the person who activated the countdown.
And her hands stopped.
Because the traitor was not Damian.
Not Marco.
Not even family.
It was the person she had trusted most since entering the Romano world.
The person who had signed every financial report she ever reviewed.
May you like
Her own boss.
Gabriele Romano.
