Luca’s voice was urgent, his face pale as he rushed into the security room.
“I found something,” he said, breathless.
Marco and Carmen turned to him immediately, their eyes sharp and desperate.
“What is it?” Marco demanded.
Luca didn’t waste time. He pulled up a video file on the screen.
“It’s from a security camera two blocks away from the school,” he explained. “The school’s footage was wiped, but this camera wasn’t.”
Carmen’s heart pounded.
“Play it,” Marco ordered.
Luca hit play.
The footage started.
It showed a quiet street, nothing unusual at first. Cars passed by. A few people walked along the sidewalks.
Then—
A man appeared. A tall figure, wearing a long coat and holding a black umbrella. But that wasn’t what made Carmen’s breath catch in her throat.
It was the child walking beside him.
“Matteo,” she whispered. Marco’s entire body tensed.
They watched in horror as their son walked calmly, his small hand in the man’s grip. Like he wasn’t being taken. Like he wasn’t scared.
And next to them—
A woman followed closely behind. A woman they knew too well. Ella.
Carmen gripped Marco’s arm.
“It’s her,” she breathed. “She has him.”
But Marco barely reacted.
His eyes were glued to the screen. To the man. Something about him—
The way he walked. The shape of his face. The familiar posture.
Marco’s gut twisted painfully.
“Sharpen the image,” he said, his voice barely above a whisper.
Luca nodded quickly, zooming in on the male figure’s face.
The footage became clearer.
And then—
The blood drained from Marco’s face. Carmen froze. Her breath caught in her lungs. Because the man walking with their son—
Was someone who was supposed to be dead.
Rafael Moretti.
Ella’s son.
Marco’s old enemy.