Page 207 of This Life of Mine

“Problems handled quietly. No questions asked. No trails left behind.”

I already don’t like where this is going.

“Human trafficking and contract killings,” he says.

My pulse spikes.

Beside me, Lina goes still.

“I did not approve this,” he says firmly. “I would never allow something so reckless. It draws attention. It destabilizes everything I’ve spent a lifetime building.”

I search his face.

He’s telling the truth. Or at least he believes he is.

The puzzle remains incomplete.

But pieces are sliding into place. Slowly. Inevitably.

Then he looks back at me.

“I found you years ago,” he admits. “I knew where you were. Who you became.”

Lina stiffens beside me.

A strange silence breezes over the table, and I study him carefully.

“Who I became?” I ask.

My father holds my gaze. Briefly, I believe he intends to retreat. Deflect. Give me one of his carefully crafted half-truths.

Instead, his words come out low and rough. “The Wraith.”

The name lands like a stone, sending quiet ripples through the room.

Lina’s breath catches.

I don’t move. Don’t react. Years of practice make that easy. But inside, every instinct sharpens.

My father watches me with the same measured calm he’s always had.

“You were not difficult to find, Alessandro,” he says. “At least not at first.”

A wry smile touches his mouth.

“The man Alex Lombardi was. But not the vigilante.”

My jaw goes taut. He knows.

“I heard the stories years before I found proof,” he continues. “Criminals disappearing. Smugglers abandoning routes. Men suddenly deciding retirement was in their best interests.”

His eyes narrow slightly.

“Bodies never found. Witnesses terrified to speak. Entire organizations changing behavior because they feared a ghost in the darkness.”

I listen intently.

“You built a reputation.”