My Stepbrother's Dirty Little Secret novel Chapter 646

Chapter 646

Raphael

Gianna ran, not toward me, but toward the man standing at the edge of the cemetery.

“…Daddy.”

The word carried across the graves. I looked at him properly. Black overcoat, no unnecessary movement, no bodyguard standing shoulder to shoulder with him. And the way he carried himself told me exactly who he was before my brain even finished putting the pieces together.

Don Giovanni Toricelli.

Head of the Toricelli Syndicate.

Every instinct inside me sharpened. My pulse didn’t rise, it slowed. My training always did that.

I watched Gianna throw herself into his arms. He caught her immediately. One arm wrapped around her shoulders. The other protected the back of her head. He closed his eyes as though holding her was the only thing in the world that mattered.

Then…

Everything around us changed. I saw it before I heard it. Vincenzo calmly lifted two fingers to the earpiece beneath his collar.

That was all it took.

The metallic clicks of safety catches echoed quietly through the cemetery.

Our men.

Every Capone guard surrounding the cemetery moved at the same time with a single look from Vincenzo. Rifles and pistols were raised within seconds, nearly two dozen guns were aimed at one man.

Nobody fired, but every finger rested exactly where it needed to be.

Ready.

I wasn’t the only one who had recognized him. Adriano took one step forward. Dante mirrored him from the opposite side. Silvio’s eyes swept across the tree line instead of Giovanni.

How?

The question hit me almost immediately.

How did he get inside?

The Capone estate wasn’t somewhere a man accidentally wandered into. The cemetery was worse, every entrance was monitored, every vehicle logged, every visitor cleared. No exceptions, especially not today.

Hazel’s funeral had doubled security, motion sensors, thermal cameras, facial recognition, outer patrols, inner patrols, root teams.

I set the security measures myself.

So how had Giovanni Toricelli crossed every layer without a single alarmn reaching me?

All of us turned at the same time. Luca walked toward us with his usual unhurried pace. His expression was as unreadable as ever, as though he were discussing tomorrow’s weather instead of explaining why another Don was standing inside our cemetery.

Adriano’s eyes narrowed, “You did what?”

“I cleared him.”

Dante stared at him, “You let Don Giovanni Toricelli walk through our gates?”

“I did.”

Adriano let out a short, humorless laugh, “Have you lost your mind?”

Luca sighed, “If I had, I wouldn’t have told you.”

His eyes shifted toward Giovanni, who still hadn’t looked away from Gianna.

“He didn’t come here making demands. He didn’t come here to negotiate. He didn’t come here to challenge us. He didn’t even know Hazel died yesterday. He came here for one reason only… to see his daughter. And he came respectfully, considering we’re

not at war with him.”

“Not yet,” I said quietly.

Luca continued, “And before any of you ask…” His eyes settled on Vincenzo. “He didn’t arrive empty-handed.”