The phone lay on the floor between them.
Neither of them moved.
The silence in the apartment was heavier than any gunshot.
Alisha's ears rang as Luca's final words echoed again and again in her mind.
The man Marco killed five years ago… was your father.
"No."
The word escaped her lips before she could stop it.
Marco was still staring at her.
Not with anger.
Not even with suspicion.
With something worse.
Uncertainty.
"That's not true," she said again, her voice trembling slightly. "My father died in a car accident."
Marco didn't answer.
Alisha noticed the hesitation in his eyes and her chest tightened.
"Marco."
Still nothing.
Her heartbeat quickened.
"You believe him?"
Marco finally exhaled slowly.
"I don't know what to believe."
The words cut deeper than she expected.
Enzo stepped forward, breaking the frozen tension.
"This could be a lie," he said. "Ricci loves mind games."
Marco nodded slightly.
"Yes."
But the doubt was already there.
Alisha could see it.
She bent down and picked up the phone from the floor with shaking hands.
"My father was a professor," she said quietly.
"He taught economics at the university. He wasn't involved with criminals."
Marco rubbed his forehead slowly.
"Sometimes the people we trust most are the ones hiding the biggest secrets."
The sentence made her stomach twist.
"You're saying my father was working with the Ricci family?"
"I'm saying we don't know the truth yet."
Alisha turned away from them and walked toward the window.
The morning sun had fully risen now, but the light didn't make the room feel any warmer.
Her father's face appeared in her memory.
Kind.
Patient.
The man who used to help her with school projects and read books to her when she was younger.
There was no way he was part of this world.
"No," she whispered to herself.
Marco watched her carefully.
"What do you remember about the night he died?"
She frowned slightly.
"I was in college."
"And?"
"I got a call from the police."
"What did they say?"
"That his car crashed outside the city."
Marco's eyes narrowed slightly.
"Did you see the body?"
Alisha froze.
She had never thought about that before.
"They told me the crash caused a fire," she said slowly.
"The body was… unrecognizable."
The room went silent again.
Marco exchanged a quick look with Enzo.
Alisha noticed.
"What?"
Marco hesitated.
Then he spoke carefully.
"When someone dies in a fire… it's easier to hide their identity."
Her chest tightened.
"You think the accident was fake?"
"I think it's possible."
Enzo crossed his arms.
"And if Ricci is telling the truth… then someone replaced the body."
Alisha felt dizzy.
"This doesn't make sense."
Marco stepped closer to her.
"Five years ago there was a war between my family and the Ricci organization."
"I know that."
"But what you don't know is why it started."
She looked at him.
"Why?"
"Because someone leaked confidential financial records."
Her heart skipped.
"The same kind of records I've been investigating."
"Yes."
Alisha's thoughts started racing.
"You think my father was the one who leaked them?"
Marco's expression remained serious.
"It's possible."
"No," she said immediately.
"You didn't know him."
Marco didn't argue.
But the silence felt like disagreement.
Alisha ran a hand through her hair in frustration.
"This is insane."
Enzo spoke again.
"Maybe Ricci is lying about who Marco killed."
Marco shook his head slowly.
"I saw the man myself."
Alisha turned toward him.
"And you're sure it was my father?"
Marco's voice was quiet.
"I'm sure it wasn't Ricci."
The air seemed to disappear
from the room.
Alisha took a step back.
"You killed someone you thought was Ricci."
"Yes."
"And now he's saying it was my father."
Marco nodded slowly.
"Yes."
The weight of the possibility crushed her chest.
"You think I'd still be standing here if I believed that?" Marco asked quietly.
Alisha didn't answer.
Her emotions were too tangled to understand.
Anger.
Confusion.
Fear.
And something else.
Pain.
Marco studied her face carefully.
"You deserve the truth."
"And what if the truth is exactly what Ricci said?"
Marco didn't hesitate.
"Then we face it."
Alisha laughed bitterly.
"That's easy for you to say."
"No," he said softly.
"It isn't."
Their eyes met.
For the first time since they met, Marco looked genuinely vulnerable.
"If your father was involved in the war…"
She shook her head.
"I don't want to hear this."
"But if he was," Marco continued, "then Ricci's return isn't just about revenge."
"Then what is it about".
Marco's eyes darkened.
"It's about finishing what your father started."
Alisha's stomach dropped.
"What did my father start?"
Before Marco could answer—
Enzo's phone buzzed loudly.
All three of them turned toward him.
He looked at the screen.
His expression changed instantly.
"That's one of our men," he said.
Marco frowned.
"What happened?"
Enzo answered the call quickly.
"Yes?"
Silence.
Then his face went pale.
"What?" he said.
Marco stepped closer.
"What is it?"
Enzo lowered the phone slowly.
His voice came out tense.
"There was an explosion."
Alisha's heart jumps.
"Where?"
Enzo looked directly at her.
"At your apartment building."
The words slammed into the room.
Alisha felt the ground disappear beneath her feet.
"My apartment?"
Marco grabbed his coat immediately.
"Is anyone hurt?"
Enzo checked his phone again.
"The police are on the scene."
Alisha's hands began to shake.
"Why would someone bomb my apartment?"
Marco's expression turned cold again.
"Because Ricci wants to prove something."
"What?"
Marco looked directly into her eyes.
"That no matter where you go…"
"He can reach you."
Alisha felt a chill crawl down her spine.
Marco turned toward the door.
"We're going there."
Enzo nodded.
"I'll get the car."
Alisha grabbed her jacket quickly.
"Wait."
Marco looked at her.
"You're staying here."
"No," she said firmly.
"This is my home."
"It was your home," Marco corrected.
"Now it's a crime scene."
"I don't care."
Marco stepped closer, his
voice lowering.
"You're not safe out there."
Alisha met his gaze stubbornly.
"And hiding here won't make me safe either."
For a moment neither of them moved.
Then Marco sighed.
"Fine."
But his next words were a warning.
"You stay next to me the entire time."
Alisha nodded.
"Deal."
They headed toward the door.
But just as Marco opened it—
His phone vibrated again.
Another unknown number.
Marco stared at it.
Alisha's heart pounded.
"Is it him again?"
Marco answered the call slowly.
"Yes?"
Luca's voice returned.
Calm.
Amused.
"I see you heard about the explosion."
Marco's voice turned icy.
"If she was inside that building—"
"Relax," Luca interrupted
"That wasn't meant to kill her."
Alisha stepped closer.
"Then what was it for?"
Luca's voice dropped into a whisper.
"To show you something."
Marco's eyes narrowed.
"What?"
Luca chuckled softly.
"Look outside."
Marco walked to the window slowly.
Alisha followed.
Both of them froze.
Because across the street—
A black car had just stopped.
And a man stepped out.
A man whose face Marco recognized instantly.
A man he had buried five years ago.
Marco's voice barely escaped his lips.
"That's impossible."
Because standing on the sidewalk…
Looking directly at them…
Was the man Marco believed he killed.
Alisha's father.
Alive.