Page 5 of Bound By Honor

The scar. Only family would know about that childhood accident. The irony burns—that same scar came from him taking a punch meant for me when we were kids. Now here he is, the brother I couldn’t save. Or maybe the brother who never wanted saving.

“Merda.” I grip the phone tighter. “Send him up.”

I move to the bar, pouring a second glass. My hand doesn’t shake—I won’t allow it. The elevator’s soft hum counts down the moments, each second heavy with all of my questions.

Alessandro is supposed to be dead, killed in a Rossi raid that took three of our men and fractured our alliances. I’d mourned him, raged at his loss. But questions lingered—questions that surfaced again after Maria’s death. Questions I’d buried because they led nowhere.

Ding.

The doors slide open. Time stops.

Alessandro steps out, exactly as I remember and completely changed. The same devastating charm in his smile, but his eyes... they’re colder now. Harder.

“Ciao,big brother.” His voice carries that familiar musical lilt. “Miss me?”

“You’re dead.” The words come out flat.

He laughs, the sound both warm and chilling. “Clearly not.” He moves into my space with fluid grace, taking in the penthouse. “Nice place. Very you.”

“Why now?”

“What, no hug? No‘welcome back from the dead’?” He picks up the scotch I poured, examining it in the light. “Single malt. You always did have expensive taste.”

“Cut the bullshit, Alessandro. Five years of silence, and you show up now?”

His smile shifts, something darker bleeding through.

“Maybe I missed my family. Maybe I heard interesting rumors.” He takes a slow sip. “Maybe I wanted to meet my new sister-in-law. Oh wait—there isn’t one. Still carrying that torch for Maria,fratello?”

Images flash through my mind—Maria’s last morning, the scent of her perfume still lingering in our bedroom, the way she’d hesitated before leaving. Now Aurora carries that same hesitation sometimes, that same look of knowing too much and too little. The parallel makes my blood run cold.

My hands curl into fists. “You don’t say her name.”

“No?” He sets down the glass, all pretense dropping. “Then let’s talk about Aurora Salvatore instead. Beautiful girl. Spirited. Not really your usual type, but then again?—“

His casual mention of her name carries hidden thorns. There’s calculation in his eyes, a predatory awareness that makes my protective instincts surge. He’s always been skilled at finding weaknesses, and somehow he’s identified mine before I’ve fully admitted it to myself.

I move before thinking, grabbing his collar. “Stay away from her.”

His grin widens. “There he is. The real Luciano.” He doesn’t resist my grip. “We have so much to catch up on, brother. Starting with what really happened the night Maria died.”

The words hit like ice water. I release him, stepping back. “What are you talking about?”

“Oh, you don’t know?” His eyes glitter with malice. “That’s going to make this so much more interesting.” He straightens his jacket with casual elegance. “Family secrets have a way of destroying everything they touch. Just ask Aurora about her mother.”

He pulls out his phone, showing me a photograph that stops my breath—Maria, on the day she died, outside the Rossi compound. “Your wife, her mother... patterns repeat,fratello. How many more women need to die before you see the truth?”

“Get out.”

“I’m hurt.” He moves to the elevator, pausing at the threshold. “But don’t worry, I’ll be around. There’s a storm coming, Luciano. Better decide which side you’re on before it hits.”

The doors close on his smile, leaving me alone with questions that taste like ash. I grab my phone, dialing Dominic’s number.

“He’s alive.” The words feel foreign on my tongue. “Alessandro’s alive. And he knows something about Maria.”

Silence stretches across the line. Finally, Dominic speaks, his voice grave. “Lock down the estate. No one in or out without my approval.” A pause. “Especially Aurora.”

The call ends. I stare at the city lights, Alessandro’s words echoing in my head.Family secrets have a way of destroying everything they touch.

---