Chapter 5 - THE BROTHER WHO DIED BEFORE SHE WAS BORN
“Impossible.”
Morgana repeated the word until it lost meaning.
Roman’s brother Gabriel had supposedly died in 2002.
Morgana was born in 2004.
Two years later.
Jason smiled bitterly.
“That’s the story Antonio told.”
Roman turned on him.
“What story?”
Jason looked terrified again.
“Gabriel didn't die then.”
Roman moved so quickly Morgana barely saw it.
He grabbed Jason by the collar.
Jason gasped.
“Roman.”
Morgana’s voice.
One word.
Roman stopped.
Released him.
Stepped back.
Jason coughed.
“Talk.”
According to Jason, Gabriel Costa had refused to join the family business.
He studied music.
Wanted out.
Then became involved with Elena, who was already doing bookkeeping for Antonio.
Antonio disapproved.
Enzo hated it.
Why?
Because Gabriel knew too much about Enzo’s operations.
Gabriel planned to leave the city with Elena.
Before that happened, a warehouse fire supposedly killed him.
No identifiable body.
Only jewelry.
Roman had been fifteen.
He believed it.
“So he lived?” Roman whispered.
“For a while.”
“How long?”
“Another three years.”
Morgana’s heart hammered.
“Long enough to be my father.”
Jason looked at her.
“Yes.”
Roman sat down.
For the first time since Morgana met him, the mafia boss looked genuinely broken.
“My brother had a child.”
Morgana's anger flared.
“Don't.”
He looked at her.
“Don't turn me into some missing piece of your family.”
Roman’s expression steadied.
“You're right.”
Good.
Jason continued.
Gabriel lived under another name.
Elena met him secretly.
Then Gabriel vanished again shortly before Morgana’s birth.
“Did Enzo kill him?”
“I don't know.”
“Did my mother know?”
“Yes.”
“Why did she marry you?”
Jason’s shame looked almost real.
“To protect you.”
Morgana stared.
“I had a clean name.”
He said it like an offering.
A gift.
“She thought if you were Blake instead of Costa, Enzo wouldn't care.”
“And you?”
“I loved her.”
Morgana laughed so sharply it hurt.
“No.”
“I did.”
“You sold her location.”
Jason started crying again.
“I was jealous.”
There it was.
Not just money.
“She never loved me like she loved him.”
Roman looked disgusted.
Jason continued.
“I thought Gabriel was dead.”
“When you found out he wasn't?”
“She kept meeting him.”
“So you punished her.”
“I wanted her to choose me.”
“And when she didn't, you gave Enzo her location.”
Jason lowered his head.
Morgana wanted to scream.
Instead:
“Where is the birth certificate?”
Jason hesitated.
Roman’s expression hardened.
“Jason.”
“Enzo has it.”
“Why?”
“He took everything after Elena died.”
“Then how do you know what it says?”
“I saw it.”
Father:
Gabriel Antonio Costa.
Morgana closed her eyes.
Her identity had become evidence.
She hated it.
Roman seemed to understand.
“We don't need to prove anything now.”
She looked at him.
“Thank you.”
Jason stared.
“You don't want the Costa name?”
Morgana turned on him.
“You think after everything, I want another man’s name to tell me who I am?”
Silence.
Security entered.
Roman looked at Morgana.
“Your choice.”
“What?”
“Jason.”
She understood.
Police had enough for domestic abuse allegations from past statements, unlawful coercion evidence from the debt exchange, and now potential obstruction connected to Elena's death.
The older homicide case would require more.
Morgana looked at her father.
The man who raised her.
The man who hit walls beside her head.
Took her wages.
Sold her.
Betrayed her mother.
“I want him to give a formal statement.”
Jason whispered:
“Morgana.”
“And I want him alive when he gives it.”
Roman nodded.
Jason was escorted out.
Not beaten.
Not killed.
Delivered to attorneys and investigators.
Morgana watched the car leave.
Then turned to Roman.
“Do you believe him?”
“About Gabriel?”
“Yes.”
Roman looked toward the window.
“I don't know.”
“You want it to be true.”
“Yes.”
“I don't know whether I do.”
“That’s allowed.”
She looked at him.
“If Gabriel was my father…”
Roman waited.
“That doesn't make you anything to me automatically.”
“I know.”
“Not uncle.”
“I know.”
“Not family.”
“I know.”
She swallowed.
“Maybe later.”
Roman’s face softened.
“Maybe.”
The next clue came from Elena’s photographs.
One showed a young man holding baby Morgana.
Half his face turned away.
Dark hair.
Roman’s jawline.
On the back:
G + M — 6 weeks
Roman sat down.
He touched the edge.
“Gabriel.”
Morgana stared at the man.
Her biological father.
Apparently.
A stranger.
Then Teresa brought in an envelope delivered by courier.
No return address.
Inside:
The missing birth certificate.
And a note.
Roman—You wanted the truth. Come take the rest from me yourself.
Signed:
Enzo
An address followed.
Old Costa Social Club.
Midnight.
Morgana read it.
“No.”
Roman looked at her.
“I didn't say—”
“You were going.”
“Yes.”
“Alone?”
“Probably.”
“That is stupid.”
“Also probably.”
She folded the note.
“We do this legally.”
Roman smiled faintly.
“You've known me five days and already sound disappointed.”
“I’m not disappointed.”
She met his eyes.
“I’m refusing to attend another funeral caused by men proving something.”
That silenced him.
For the first time, Roman Costa called the federal prosecutor his attorney had been quietly cooperating with for months.
Not because he trusted the system completely.
May you like
Because Morgana had made something clear.
Ending Enzo mattered more than defeating him personally.
