Chapter Two
760 Words
Cassian
Rain streaked down the floor-to-ceiling windows of the Moretti Tower, blurring Manhattan into a sea of lights.
Cassian Moretti barely noticed.
He stood with one hand tucked into the pocket of his tailored charcoal suit, his gaze fixed on the city below. Somewhere beyond the storm, millions of people were living ordinary lives.
He had forgotten what that felt like.
Behind him, the office remained silent.
No one dared speak unless spoken to.
Not because Cassian demanded it.
Because they knew better.
A sharp knock broke the silence.
"Come in."
The heavy door opened, and Luca DeLuca stepped inside, shrugging rainwater from his black overcoat. His expression was unreadable, but Cassian noticed the slight tension in his shoulders.
Something had changed.
"You found something," Cassian said.
Luca nodded once.
"We found someone."
For twenty-one years, those words had meant nothing.
Witnesses lied.
Informants disappeared.
Evidence vanished.
Every lead ended in another dead end.
Cassian turned from the window.
"What makes this one different?"
Without a word, Luca crossed the room and laid a worn manila folder on the desk.
"I've said that exact sentence to you forty-three times," Luca admitted.
Cassian raised an eyebrow.
"I counted."
A faint smile tugged at the corner of Cassian's mouth before disappearing.
"And this time?"
Luca slid a photograph from the folder.
"This time... he made a mistake."
Cassian looked down.
Instead of the face he'd imagined seeing for most of his life, a young woman smiled back at him.
She stood outside a university building with textbooks tucked against her chest, laughing at something outside the frame.
She looked...
Happy.
Untouched by violence.
Untouched by loss.
Untouched by the world Cassian had spent his life surviving.
"Who is she?" he asked.
"Isabella Romano."
"I asked who she is."
Luca met his eyes.
"She's Vincent Romano's daughter."
The room fell silent.
For a long moment, Cassian said nothing.
Vincent Romano.
The name echoed through memories stained with blood.
His father's final breath.
His mother's scream.
The marble floor beneath his knees.
A promise whispered over two coffins.
I'll find him.
No matter how long it took.
Cassian picked up the photograph.
"You're certain?"
"We confirmed it through independent sources and DNA obtained from one of Romano's known relatives."
"And Romano?"
Luca exhaled.
"Still invisible."
Cassian wasn't surprised.
Vincent Romano had built an empire by making himself impossible to find.
No digital footprint.
No financial records.
No photographs in nearly two decades.
The man had become a ghost.
"What do we know about her?"
Luca opened the file.
"Twenty-one."
He turned the page.
"Senior at St. Catherine's University."
Another page.
"Volunteers twice a week at St. Vincent Children's Hospital."
Another.
"No criminal history."
Another.
"No connections to organized crime."
Another.
"Student teacher."
Cassian studied the photograph again.
She smiled too easily.
People like her believed the world was kind.
He almost envied that.
"She doesn't know," Luca continued.
"We've watched her for three weeks. If she knows who her father really is, she's never shown it."
Cassian remained quiet.
His captains exchanged uneasy glances.
Everyone in the room knew what came next.
No one wanted to say it aloud.
Luca finally broke the silence.
"If Romano won't come to us..."
Cassian finished the sentence.
"...we make him come for her."
The words settled heavily over the room.
Luca didn't argue.
Neither did anyone else.
Because they all understood.
Romano had survived twenty-one years by hiding.
But no father ignored a daughter forever.
Cassian carefully returned the photograph to the folder.
"Increase surveillance."
Luca nodded.
"No contact?"
"Not yet."
Cassian walked back toward the windows overlooking the city.
"I want every detail."
"What time she leaves class."
"What coffee she drinks."
"Who she trusts."
"Where she feels safest."
His voice never rose.
It never needed to.
"When the time comes..."
He paused.
"...I don't intend to make mistakes."
Luca hesitated.
"There's one more thing."
Cassian looked over his shoulder.
"She noticed the surveillance team today."
The room stiffened.
"She looked directly at them outside the hospital."
"Did they compromise themselves?"
"No."
"But she felt something."
Cassian considered that for a moment.
Then, for the first time that evening, a genuine smile crossed his face.
"Good."
Luca frowned.
"You wanted her to notice?"
"No."
Cassian's smile disappeared as quickly as it came.
"I wanted to know whether she pays attention."
He looked back at the photograph one last time.
"Innocent people survive by luck."
His expression hardened.
"Dangerous people survive by instinct."
He slid the folder shut.
"We'll find out which one Isabella Romano really is."
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