Chapter 8 - The Father's Confession
They returned to the Moretti estate before sunrise.
Luca barely spoke during the flight.
He stared at the photograph of Vincent and Salvatore, his expression growing colder with every passing minute.
Luna sat opposite him.
“Do you think Vincent betrayed us?”
“I don't know.”
“He could have been following orders.”
“That's what I'm afraid of.”
When they arrived, Salvatore was waiting in his study.
He looked at the document in Luca's hand.
Then he closed his eyes.
“You found it.”
Luca placed the paper on the desk.
“Tell me everything.”
Salvatore remained silent.
“Now.”
The old Don slowly sat down.
“Your grandfather ordered the twins separated because he believed Isabella's daughter would become leverage against the family.”
Luna's stomach tightened.
“Leverage?”
“He wanted to control Rafael. He believed Rafael would eventually challenge his authority.”
Luca leaned forward.
“And Vincent?”
“Vincent was twenty-two. He was ordered to transfer the baby to a private clinic.”
“Did he know what was going to happen?”
“No.”
“Did you?”
Salvatore looked at his son.
“I suspected.”
Luca struck the desk.
“You suspected someone was going to kill my sister, and you did nothing?”
“I was trying to protect you.”
“By letting her disappear?”
Salvatore's eyes filled.
“I was afraid my father would kill both of you.”
Luna stepped forward.
“So you let my grandmother raise me in another country without knowing who I was?”
Salvatore nodded.
“I thought you were safe.”
“You didn't even try to find me?”
“I searched for years.”
“But you never came.”
He had no answer.
Luna turned away.
She had imagined many possible explanations for her childhood.
None had prepared her for the idea that the family who had taken her from her mother had also employed her for three years without telling her the truth.
Then the study door opened.
Vincent walked inside.
Two guards followed him.
Luca immediately reached for his weapon.
“Don't move.”
Vincent raised both hands.
“I came to explain.”
“Start talking.”
Vincent looked at Luna.
“I signed the transfer document. I was ordered to move the baby from one room to another. I thought it was a protective relocation.”
“Who ordered you?”
“Don Enzo.”
“Why did you never tell me?”
Vincent swallowed.
“Because I was ashamed.”
Luca stepped closer.
“You've been standing beside my family for twenty years.”
“I know.”
“And you let me believe my sister was dead.”
Vincent lowered his head.
“I was told she had died.”
Luna looked at him.
“Did you ever see the baby?”
Vincent nodded.
“She had a tiny silver rosary wrapped around her wrist.”
Luna touched the rosary beneath her blouse.
It was the same one her grandmother had given her.
Vincent's eyes filled.
“I knew you were alive when you started working here.”
Luca went still.
“What?”
Vincent continued.
“I recognized the rosary. I told Salvatore.”
Luna's voice became barely audible.
“You knew?”
Vincent nodded.
“I wanted to tell you. But your father ordered me not to.”
Luna turned toward Salvatore.
“You knew I was your daughter?”
Salvatore stood.
“Yes.”
The silence that followed was unbearable.
“For three years?” she whispered.
“Yes.”
“You watched me clean your floors. Carry your food. Work for your family. And you knew?”
Salvatore's face crumpled.
“I didn't know how to approach you.”
Luna laughed bitterly.
“You could have started by telling me who I was.”
He looked down.
“I was wrong.”
Luca stepped between them.
“Get out.”
Salvatore looked at him.
“Son—”
“Get out of this room.”
The old Don slowly left.
Vincent remained.
Luca turned toward him.
“You're suspended. Until I know exactly what happened, you don't come near Luna.”
Vincent nodded.
“I understand.”
After everyone had left, Luna sat by the window.
Luca approached carefully.
“I should have protected you.”
“You didn't know.”
“But I knew something was wrong, and I let the family keep secrets.”
She looked at him.
“We can't keep living like this.”
He nodded.
“I agree.”
Luna wiped her eyes.
“I want to leave the mansion.”
Luca's expression tightened.
“Where will you go?”
“Somewhere I can think.”
“I'll arrange protection.”
“I don't want guards following me everywhere.”
“Luna—”
“I need to know who I am outside this family.”
He looked at her for a long moment.
Then he nodded.
“I'll respect that.”
He arranged a secure apartment for her and Rosa.
Before she left, he handed her a small velvet box.
Inside was Isabella's wedding ring.
“I found it in the old hospital records.”
Luna touched the delicate gold band.
There was an inscription inside.
Forever, even when the world forgets us.
She slipped it onto her finger.
Then she hugged Luca.
Not as the woman who had once dreamed of marrying him.
But as the sister she had only just discovered.
“Maybe we can start over,” she whispered.
Luca held her carefully.
“Maybe we can.”
Neither noticed the security camera outside the study.
Someone had been watching the entire conversation.
And when the footage was transmitted to a private office downtown, Dmitri Kosoff smiled.
He picked up his phone.
“It's time,” he said.
“Tell the council that the Moretti family is officially finished.”
Then he opened a drawer.
Inside lay a photograph of a man wearing the Moretti family ring.
A man whose face looked exactly like Salvatore's.
May you like
Except this photograph had been taken three days earlier.
And the man in it was supposed to have been dead for fifteen years.
