Chapter 9 - The Night the Moretti Empire Fell
The first explosion shook the apartment at 2:13 a.m.
Luna woke to the sound of breaking glass.
Rosa screamed from the adjoining bedroom.
Luna jumped out of bed and reached for her phone.
No signal.
A second explosion rocked the building.
The emergency lights came on.
Then someone knocked violently.
“Miss Reyes! Security!”
Luna opened the door.
A guard rushed inside.
“We have to move. Now!”
“Where's my grandmother?”
“She's downstairs.”
They hurried toward the service elevator.
But before they reached it, gunfire erupted from the lobby.
The guard pulled Luna behind a concrete pillar.
“Stay down!”
He returned fire.
Luna covered her ears.
Then she saw Rosa being dragged through the opposite corridor by two men wearing maintenance uniforms.
“Abuela!”
She broke away from the guard.
One of the men turned.
He raised his weapon.
Before he could fire, a shot struck the wall beside his head.
Luca emerged from the stairwell.
“Get away from her!”
The attackers scattered.
Luca reached Luna and pulled her into his arms.
“Are you hurt?”
“No. My grandmother!”
They found Rosa hiding in a storage room.
Luca ordered the security team to evacuate the building.
Within minutes, the three of them were inside an armored vehicle.
Luca called Vincent.
“Where are they coming from?”
Vincent's voice was tense.
“Everywhere. The council has turned against us.”
“Why?”
“Dmitri has circulated documents claiming Salvatore ordered Isabella's murder and concealed the evidence for twenty-five years.”
Luca looked toward the window.
“Some of that is true.”
“There's more. Dmitri claims he has proof that the Moretti organization was built on stolen Kosoff territory.”
Luca ended the call.
Rosa looked at him.
“Dmitri wants the family destroyed before anyone can expose him.”
“Why?”
“Because Isabella discovered that his father was involved in the original conspiracy. Your grandfather wasn't acting alone.”
Luna frowned.
“Who else was involved?”
Rosa opened the wooden box.
She removed the last photograph.
It showed Isabella standing with three men.
Salvatore.
Enzo Moretti.
And a younger man Luna had never seen.
But Luca recognized him immediately.
“That's Councilman Victor Bellini.”
Rosa nodded.
“He was the attorney who arranged the original hospital transfers. He later became the head of the family council.”
Luca's expression hardened.
“He's been pretending to be neutral for twenty years.”
“Not neutral,” Rosa replied. “Patient.”
They arrived at a secure estate outside the city.
Luca gathered the remaining loyal captains.
He explained the evidence and ordered them to protect the legitimate businesses while suspending all retaliatory operations.
Several men protested.
“You can't surrender territory now,” one said.
“We're not surrendering anything,” Luca replied. “We're removing the people who have been poisoning this family from the inside.”
Then he looked at Luna.
“There's one more thing.”
He handed her a sealed envelope.
It contained a letter from Isabella.
The final page had been hidden inside the lining of the wooden box.
Luna opened it.
My little girl, if you are reading this, then you survived. I wish I could have watched you grow up. I wish I could have held your hand on your first day of school and danced with you at your wedding.
Luna's tears fell onto the paper.
There is one person you must never trust. Not your grandfather. Not the council. Not even the man who tells you he saved you.
She looked up.
“Who does she mean?”
Luca read the final line.
The man who separated you from your brother was not acting alone. Someone in the family helped him. Someone who will still be standing beside your brother when the truth comes out.
Before either could speak, the television switched on.
Every news channel was broadcasting the same breaking story.
MORETTI FAMILY UNDER INVESTIGATION AFTER MYSTERIOUS EXPLOSIONS AND ALLEGED CRIMINAL CONSPIRACY.
Then a photograph appeared.
Salvatore Moretti was being escorted into a police vehicle.
Luca grabbed the remote.
“What happened?”
Vincent rushed into the room.
“Boss, they've arrested your father.”
“On what charges?”
“Murder, conspiracy, and obstruction of justice.”
Luca looked at Luna.
She was staring at the screen.
Behind the police officers stood Dmitri Kosoff.
He was smiling.
Then the broadcast changed.
A reporter announced that an anonymous witness had come forward with evidence linking Luca Moretti personally to the murder of his mother.
Luca went still.
“That's impossible.”
Vincent looked at him.
“There's another problem.”
“What?”
“The witness has already signed a sworn statement.”
He placed a document on the table.
At the bottom was a familiar signature.
Rafael Reyes.
Luna felt her stomach drop.
Her biological father had just accused her brother of murdering their mother.
May you like
And the final sentence of the statement was even worse.
I personally witnessed Luca Moretti order the execution.
