CHAPTER 3
CHAPTER 3
The Girl Who Knew Too Much
The first thing Alessandro Moretti noticed about children was that they remembered what adults spent years trying to forget.
Adults buried memories.
They changed names.
They destroyed documents.
They lied until the truth became impossible to find.
Children did something different.
They kept small pieces.
A smell.
A song.
A phrase.
A face.
A promise.
And sometimes...
A warning.
Three days after the attack at Villa Moretti, Alessandro sat across from Emma at the long dining table.
The same table where powerful men had negotiated territory.
The same table where enemies had shaken hands before betraying each other.
Now it held a plate of sliced strawberries, a glass of milk, and a coloring book.
A situation Alessandro would never have imagined.
Not even in his worst nightmares.
Emma was drawing.
Very seriously.
Her tongue stuck slightly out of the corner of her mouth as she concentrated.
Alessandro watched quietly.
"What are you making?"
Emma didn't look up.
"A house."
"Whose house?"
She pointed at the paper.
"Mine."
Then she added another figure.
"And Mommy."
Then another.
Alessandro expected her to draw herself.
Instead...
She drew him.
The figure was tall.
Wearing black.
With a serious face.
A childâs version of him.
But there was one detail that made him stop.
The figure was holding a small blue rabbit.
"Why am I holding Mr. Bunny?"
Emma looked surprised by the question.
"Because Daddy held him."
The room went silent.
Alessandro's hand stopped moving.
Across the table, Clara froze.
"Emma."
The little girl looked up.
"What?"
Clara exchanged a glance with Alessandro.
"Who told you to call him that?"
Emma frowned.
"Nobody."
She looked confused.
"I just know."
Children were not supposed to say things that made Alessandro Moretti uncomfortable.
But somehow...
This one did.
"Emma."
Alessandro leaned slightly forward.
"Tell me about your father."
Her expression softened.
"My daddy?"
"Yes."
"What do you remember?"
Emma looked at the ceiling.
Thinking.
A child trying to organize memories that were too large for her.
"He smelled like coffee."
Alessandro waited.
"He sang badly."
Clara almost smiled.
Despite everything.
"He did?"
Emma nodded.
"Mommy always said he was not allowed to sing."
A small laugh escaped Clara.
The first one Alessandro had heard from her.
Then Emma became serious.
"He told me stories."
"What kind?"
"About a man."
"What man?"
Emma looked at Alessandro.
"A man who saved him."
The air changed.
Alessandro already knew the answer.
But he asked anyway.
"Did he say the man's name?"
Emma nodded.
"Alex."
A strange feeling moved through him.
Not because of the name.
Because of the way she said it.
Like she had known him for years.
"Did your father ever talk about me?"
Emma nodded.
"He said you were scary."
Alessandro almost smiled.
"He was right."
"But he said you had a good heart."
That stopped him.
People did not say that about Alessandro Moretti.
Not anymore.
Clara watched him carefully.
Daniel's words had reached him.
And that frightened her.
Because she knew something Alessandro did not.
Men like him did not save people.
They destroyed enemies.
They protected businesses.
They controlled cities.
They did not become fathers.
That night, Alessandro couldn't sleep.
He stood in his office surrounded by files.
The Romano family.
Daniel Romano.
The Thorn Circle.
Every piece of information he could find.
Every document.
Every photograph.
Every death certificate.
But one thing bothered him.
The official story was too clean.
Too perfect.
A family destroyed.
A body never publicly identified.
A child hidden.
A man who supposedly died.
Nothing about it felt real.
Luca entered without knocking.
Alessandro looked up.
"You need sleep."
"You need boundaries."
Luca smiled.
"You hired me because I don't have them."
He placed a folder down.
"We found something."
Alessandro opened it.
Inside was an old surveillance photograph.
Daniel.
Again.
But this time...
He was not alone.
A woman stood beside him.
Young.
Beautiful.
And familiar.
Alessandro stared.
"Who is she?"
Luca hesitated.
"That's the problem."
"Nobody knows."
"Her face appears in three different investigations."
"Always near the Romano family."
"Always before something goes wrong."
Alessandro looked closer.
"Name?"
"Unknown."
The woman had the same symbol tattooed on her wrist.
The Thorn Circle.
But unlike the others...
She was not hiding it.
She was showing it.
Before Alessandro could answer, a sound came from the doorway.
Small footsteps.
Emma.
She stood there holding Mr. Bunny.
"You're awake."
Alessandro immediately stood.
"Emma, you should be sleeping."
She walked closer.
"I had a bad dream."
His expression softened.
"What happened?"
She looked at the photograph.
Then stopped.
Her little fingers tightened around the rabbit.
"That's her."
Alessandro looked at the picture.
"The woman?"
Emma nodded.
"She was at our house."
Clara appeared behind her.
"Emma."
But the girl continued.
"She came when Daddy was scared."
Alessandro crouched.
"When did she come?"
Emma looked confused.
"Before Daddy left."
Clara went pale.
"Emma, sweetheart, you were very young."
"I remember."
The little girl touched the photograph.
"She had a white coat."
A pause.
"And she told Daddy..."
Her face changed.
Like she was repeating words she didn't understand.
"She said..."
"The little thorn must be removed before the tree grows."
The room became cold.
Alessandro slowly stood.
"What did you say?"
Emma hugged the rabbit.
"That's what she said."
Luca looked at Alessandro.
The meaning was obvious.
Emma was not just a hidden heir.
She was a target.
Later that night, Alessandro called every security team he had.
The orders were simple.
No one entered Villa Moretti without permission.
No one approached Emma.
No one followed Clara.
No exceptions.
But there was one problem.
The enemy was already inside their world.
Because the next morning...
A package arrived.
No name.
No address.
Only a message written on the top.
FOR THE MAN WHO PROMISED TO PROTECT HER.
Inside was a photograph.
Alessandro picked it up.
And his blood froze.
It showed him.
From fifteen years ago.
The night Daniel saved him.
But behind him...
Standing in the shadows...
Was Emma.
Impossible.
The photograph was old.
Older than Emma.
Yet there she was.
A little girl with brown curls.
Holding Mr. Bunny.
On the back of the photograph, another message was written.
Five words.
SHE HAS ALWAYS KNOWN YOU.
Alessandro stared at the photograph for a long time.
Because suddenly...
The question was no longer:
Who is Emma Romano?
The question was:
How long had Emma been connected to him?
And why had Daniel spent years hiding the truth?
That evening, Emma sat beside Alessandro in the garden.
She leaned against his arm.
"Are you sad?"
"No."
"You look sad."
He looked at her.
"You notice everything, don't you?"
Emma nodded proudly.
"Mommy says I ask too many questions."
Alessandro looked toward the dark city.
"Sometimes questions save lives."
Emma thought about that.
Then asked:
"Are you going to leave?"
The question was so simple.
But it struck harder than any threat.
"No."
"Promise?"
Alessandro looked at the little girl.
A child who had lost her father.
A child who carried a war she never chose.
A child who trusted him without knowing why.
"I promise."
But far away...
Inside an abandoned building outside Milan...
The woman from the photograph watched a screen showing Villa Moretti.
She smiled.
"The girl remembers."
A man beside her asked:
"And Moretti?"
The woman looked at Alessandro holding Emma's hand.
"He remembers too."
She touched the Thorn Circle tattoo on her wrist.
"Good."
"Let him protect her."
A pause.
"Protection makes people weak."
She smiled colder.
"And when he loves her enough..."
May you like
"We will know exactly where to hurt him."
End of Chapter 3
