Chapter 6 - Bloodlines and Betrayals
The name *Falcone* exploded in the air like a live grenade.
Santino gasped, instinctively reaching for his sidearm. The Falcone family was Luca Moretti’s fiercest rival, controlling the northern ports and half the city's narcotics trade. For two decades, a fragile, blood-soaked truce had kept the Morettis and Falcones from turning Manhattan into a warzone.
And Emily was carrying a Falcone heir.
Luca stood motionless, processing the magnitude of the truth. If the Falcone family knew Emily was carrying Julian’s child, they would either hunt her down as a threat or use the baby as a hostage to force Luca’s surrender.
"Did you know who he was when you met him?" Luca asked, his voice steady despite the storm raging inside him.
"No!" Emily pleaded, grabbing her father’s lapels. "We met at an art gallery where I worked. He went by Julian Vance. He hid his name from me just like I hid mine from him. We just wanted to be normal people! By the time we found out who our fathers were, it didn't matter. We loved each other. He was going to give up everything for me, Dad. You have to believe me!"
Luca placed his broad, scarred hand over hers. "I believe you."
"You... you do?"
"You have your mother's heart, Emily. You love completely, without calculating the cost," Luca said softly, his thumb wiping away a tear from her cheek. "If Julian Falcone loved you enough to walk away from his blood, he is a man of honor. And if someone took him to destroy that future... then we will find him."
His phone buzzed sharply in his pocket. Luca answered, putting it on speaker.
"Boss," Marcus’s voice crackled through. "Vanessa broke. When we showed her the seized financial records from Maple Street, she realized the game was up. She wants to negotiate."
Luca’s eyes darkened into black ice. "Negotiate? Put her on."
A scuffle sounded over the line, followed by Vanessa’s breathless, venomous voice. The sweet, innocent fiancée was entirely gone.
"Luca? Listen to me, you arrogant bastard," Vanessa spat, laughing hysterically. "You think you’ve won because you found Elena’s little scrapbook? My father already knows you didn't announce the engagement tonight. The Falcones know about Emily's little bastard too. You think Julian disappeared by accident? My father handed him to his older brother, Dominic Falcone! Dominic hated Julian for being weak! They’re going to bleed him dry, and then they're coming for your pregnant little princess!"
Luca didn't flinch. He brought the phone closer to his lips.
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"Vanessa," Luca said, his voice dropping into a chilling whisper that made the line go dead silent. "Tell your father to enjoy his final sunrise. Because before this week is over, I will burn down everything with the name Bellini on it, and I will personally close your coffin."
Luca hung up and tossed the phone onto the concrete floor, crushing it beneath the heel of his boot.
