All Chapters of Blood and Badge : Chapter 21 - Chapter 30

84 Chapters

Chapter 21: The Return

Swiss AlpsSpring, a year laterThe snow was slowly melting on the mountain slopes when Elena received the call.The phone vibrated on the kitchen table as she prepared breakfast. Dante was in the garden with Matteo, teaching him how to plant tomatoes, a terribly ordinary activity that still seemed like a miracle to them.The name on the screen: MOM.Elena answered with a smile. "Mom, how are you?"But the voice that answered wasn't her mother's."Mrs. Rossi?" A man's voice, professional, tense. "This is Dr. Verdi, from the hospital in Crotone. Your mother... has been in an accident."The world stopped."What kind of accident?""A fall. On the stairs at her house. She has a fractured hip and a minor head injury. She's stable, but..." The voice hesitated. "She's asking about you. Constantly."Elena leaned against the counter, her legs suddenly unable to support her."I'll be right there."She hung up. She walked out into the garden with a determined stride, though inside she was trembl

Chapter 22: The Last Moretti

Swiss AlpsThree Months LaterSummer had arrived in the mountains.Elena sat in the small garden of the apartment, an open book on her lap that she hadn't read in an hour. Her eyes followed little Matteo, the youngest, who was learning while playing with a dog they had adopted two months earlier.A German Shepherd named Bruno.The boy laughed. He laughed genuinely.Dante appeared beside her, two cups of coffee in his hands. He sat in the chair next to her without saying a word, offering her a cup.Elena accepted. "Look at him."Dante obeyed. "He's fine.""Yes." Elena smiled. "He's fine."They had enjoyed three months of peace. Three months without threatening calls, without envelopes of roses, without ghosts from the past. Marco and Luca were in South America, building something new with the money they had managed to salvage from the disaster. Alessia wrote articles in Barcelona about women, about justice, about second chances.And they were here. In the Alps. With a dog and a child a

Chapter 23: The Brothers’ Dinner

Villa Isabella, Sabine MountainsEveningThe dining table could seat twenty people.Today there were only four.Elena sat between Dante and the boy, across from Enzo. Salvatore's place. The boss's place. The black roses in the central vase seemed to watch them, their velvety petals shimmering in the candlelight.Enzo poured wine with the calm of someone who had waited decades for this moment."You know," he said, filling his glass, "I always imagined this dinner." Ever since I was a child. Ever since I knew you existed. He took a sip. "They're smaller than I expected."Dante didn't touch his glass. "What do you want, Enzo?""I want what was stolen from me." Enzo put down his glass. "My name. My place. My heritage. Everything Salvatore denied me because my mother wasn't good enough for his family.""Your mother was a mistress. Like others." Dante held her gaze. "Salvatore had many.""But I'm the only one who survived." Enzo smiled, a cold smile. "The others... disappeared. Accidents, i

Chapter 24: The Weight of Blood

Villa Isabella, Sabine Mountains One week later Enzo's letter was still in Elena's pocket, the paper worn from so much reading. Dante had returned to his routine: meetings with the bosses, calls with lawyers, visits to Matteo's center in Switzerland. Life went on, as always, as if nothing had happened. But Elena couldn't forget Enzo's eyes. That mixture of hatred and loneliness. That emptiness she had seen so many times in other men. In Dante, at first. In Luca. In Marco. In herself. The boy was in the garden with Bruno, throwing a ball to him again and again. Elena watched him from the terrace, a steaming cup of coffee in her hands. "You think about him." Dante appeared beside her, leaning against the railing. Elena nodded. "I can't help it." "Me neither." Dante looked at her. "But we can't just stay here waiting. We have to live." "And if he comes back?" "Then we'll welcome him." Dante took her hand. "Together." Elena wanted to believe him. She wanted to believe that thi

Chapter 25: The Buried Truth

Villa Isabella, Montes SabinosOne week laterThe library smelled of dust and secrets.Elena had spent three days going through boxes they'd found in the basement: old files, yellowed photographs, letters that no one had opened in decades. Dante was in Rome, negotiating with the mob bosses. The boy was in Switzerland, with Bruno.Alone.Perfect for what she needed to do.Box number seven was different from the others. Smaller, heavier, with a lock that gave way at the first kick.Inside, a single envelope."For Dante. Only for him."The handwriting was feminine, old-fashioned, shaky.Elena hesitated. It wasn't her letter. It wasn't her secret.But secrets killed. She'd learned that all too well.She opened the envelope."Dear Dante:If you're reading this, it's because I'm no longer here. And because someone finally dared to tell you the truth I had to keep silent for years.I'm not your mother.Isabella, the woman who raised you, who loved you like a son, didn't give birth to you. Sh

Chapter 26: The Return of the Past

Villa Isabella, Montes SabinosThree weeks laterAutumn had arrived in the mountains.Elena watched from the library window as the cypress leaves slowly fell, forming a golden carpet on the dirt road. The boy was in Switzerland with Bruno, in his new routine of school and therapy. Dante had gone to visit him.She was alone.She needed to think.Francesca's letter was still in its box, on its shelf, in its place. But its contents resonated within her like an echo she couldn't silence. Dante wasn't a Moretti. He was the son of rape, stolen from a convent, raised by mistake.And yet, he was still Dante. The man she loved. The one who had killed Salvatore. The one who had saved the boy.Blood wasn't everything.The phone rang.Elena looked at the screen. Unknown number. She answered."Hello?""Elena Rossi?" A male voice, unfamiliar, professional. "This is Detective Marchetti, from the Rome police. I need to speak with you urgently."Elena tensed. "About what?""About your sister. Sofia Ro

Chapter 27: The Weight of Truth

Villa Isabella, Montes SabinosOne week laterSummer had arrived with its burden of heat and silence.Elena was in the garden, watching Matteo play with Bruno. The boy had grown in recent months, not only physically, but in that quiet way that traumatized children learn to survive. His gray eyes no longer held that blood-curdling coldness. Now they shone with something akin to peace.Dante arrived from the house, two glasses of lemonade in his hands."Everything alright?"Elena nodded, accepting the glass. "Yes. For the first time in a long time, yes."Dante sat down beside her. "I'm glad."The silence was comfortable, necessary. The kind of silence you only have when you have nothing to hide.Or so they thought.Elena's phone rang. She looked at the screen: UNKNOWN.She answered. "Hello?""Miss Rossi?" A young, trembling female voice. "My name is Carla. Carla Moretti."Elena tensed. "Moretti?""Yes. I'm... I'm Salvatore's daughter." Pause. "Dante's sister. Or half-sister. I'm not sur

Chapter 28: The Blood Legacy

Villa Isabella, Sabine MountainsThree days after the funeralThe house was silent.Elena hadn't left her room since the burial. Dante brought her food she didn't touch, water that remained untouched, words that bounced off the silence like stones against a wall.Matteo asked about her every morning. Carla tried to distract him with games, with Bruno, with anything.But the emptiness grew.In the library, Dante reviewed Carla's documents again and again. The list of women. The names. The dates. And at the end, always, the name of Giulia Rossi.Elena's mother.Murdered by Salvatore when Elena was seven years old."How could he?" he murmured to himself. "How could he kill a mother with a young daughter?"Carla appeared in the doorway. "Monsters don't think like that. They just eliminate obstacles."Dante looked at her. "Elena was just a child. She wasn't an obstacle.""Her mother was." Carla sat across from him. "My mother died young too. Not directly because of Salvatore, but… the deca

Chapter 29: The Price of Freedom

Villa Isabella, Montes SabinosThree weeks laterSummer was drawing to a close.Elena was in the garden, pruning red roses—always red now—when the car appeared on the dirt road. She recognized it immediately. Dante's black Maserati, but it wasn't Dante behind the wheel.It was Marco.Beside him, Luca.And in the back seat, a figure Elena never expected to see again.Enzo.Elena put down her shears, wiped her hands on her pants, and walked toward them with a determined stride. She didn't know what to feel: anger, relief, fear, hope. All mixed in a knot in her stomach.Marco got out first. "Elena.""Marco." Her voice was neutral. "What's he doing here?""He has something to tell you." Marco opened the back door.Enzo got out slowly. He was dressed casually: jeans, a t-shirt, and sneakers, not the prison uniform Elena had expected. He was thinner and paler, but his gray eyes were still the same."Hello, Elena."Elena didn't answer."I got out of prison a week ago." Enzo took a step forwa

Chapter 30: Day of the Dead

Villa Isabella, Montes SabinosNovember 1Day of the Dead dawned cold and golden.Elena was in the kitchen making coffee when she felt a presence behind her. It didn't return. She knew that breath, that silence."Don't you ever sleep?" she asked.Enzo leaned against the doorframe. "Little. Since prison, I sleep little."Elena nodded, poured two cups, and offered him one. He accepted it with surprise."Thank you.""It's not for you. It's to keep you quiet while I think."Enzo smiled a small, almost human smile and drank in silence.Outside, the garden was covered in frost. The red roses had lost their petals, but the stems remained firm, waiting for spring."Today is the day," Elena said finally."The day?""Of the dead. Let's go to the cemetery. To visit Sofia. My mother." She looked at him. "The woman your father killed."Enzo held her gaze. "Do you want me to come?""No."He nodded, put down his cup, and turned toward the door."But Matteo wants to," Elena added. "And Carla too. The

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