Chapter 4 - The Room Beneath the Chapel
The police escort lasted eleven minutes.
Luca knew because he counted every second.
The officers had no intention of arresting him immediately. Their orders were to bring him to the station for questioning, but Dominic quickly discovered that the warrant had been issued through a judge who had been receiving money from Antonio for years.
By the time they reached the city limits, Dominic had found enough inconsistencies to force a temporary delay.
But the damage was done.
Luca Moretti was officially a wanted man.
And Antonio had made sure the entire city knew it.
“Take us to the chapel,” Luca ordered.
Elena turned toward him.
“Your father will be waiting.”
“Good.”
Vanessa sat opposite them, her wrists free but her face exhausted.
“There's something I need to tell you.”
Luca didn't look at her.
“You've had six years.”
“I know where the medical facility was.”
Elena immediately leaned forward.
“Where?”
“An old private hospital near Lake Geneva. Antonio owned it through a holding company. I helped arrange the transportation records.”
Luca looked at her.
“Why didn't you tell me earlier?”
“Because I was afraid you'd kill me before I could explain.”
“That wasn't an unreasonable fear.”
Vanessa nodded.
“I'm not asking you to forgive me.”
“Good.”
“But I can help you find Sofia.”
Elena studied her.
“Why?”
Vanessa's eyes filled.
“Because my sister was taken from me the same way.”
Nobody spoke.
Twenty minutes later, the SUVs arrived at the old Moretti estate.
The chapel stood behind a line of dead oak trees. Its stone walls were covered in ivy, and the wooden doors had not been opened in years.
Luca stepped out first.
A single light glowed inside.
Someone was waiting.
They entered.
At the center of the chapel stood a large marble cross. Beneath it was a wooden floor panel with a small metal handle.
Elena approached it.
“That's where it is.”
Luca looked at her.
“How do you know?”
“I found it once. Your father caught me before I could open it.”
Dominic checked the room.
“No movement outside.”
Luca pulled the handle.
The panel opened with a heavy groan.
A narrow staircase descended into darkness.
They went down together.
At the bottom was a steel door with a number pad.
Vanessa examined the lock.
“Seven-one-four.”
Luca looked at Elena's necklace.
The engraved number.
She removed the ribbon and handed it to him.
A small metal plate was hidden beneath the clasp.
On it were seven numbers.
Luca entered them.
The door unlocked.
Inside was a room filled with filing cabinets, computers, medical records, and dozens of photographs.
Luca walked toward the nearest desk.
There were pictures of his father with politicians, police officers, business executives, and men who had supposedly died years earlier.
Then he found a photograph of himself.
It had been taken six years ago, outside his first wife's hospital room.
Behind him stood Michael.
On the back was a handwritten note.
The first son doesn't know what the second son has done.
Luca felt a chill.
“What does that mean?”
Vanessa opened a cabinet.
Inside were dozens of medical files.
She stopped at one.
Her face changed.
“Luca.”
He turned.
The file carried his mother's name.
ISABELLA MORETTI.
His mother had died when he was fourteen.
He remembered her as a gentle woman who spent her final months in bed.
But the file contained something different.
A diagnosis.
A hospital transfer.
And a photograph of a little boy.
The boy looked exactly like Michael.
Luca turned the page.
There was a birth certificate.
Michael Moretti.
Mother: Isabella Moretti.
Father: Antonio Moretti.
Then another document.
A confidential genetic report.
Luca stared at it.
Michael and Luca were not full brothers.
Michael was Antonio's son.
But Luca's father's name on the birth certificate was different.
Daniel Russo.
Luca felt the room tilt.
“My father isn't my father?”
Elena approached him.
“Luca…”
He raised a hand.
“Don't.”
He turned another page.
A photograph showed a young man standing beside Isabella.
Daniel Russo.
The same face as Luca.
A little younger.
A little softer.
Luca's father had not simply hidden Elena's existence.
He had hidden Luca's entire identity.
At the bottom of the cabinet was a final envelope.
Inside was a letter written in Isabella's handwriting.
My darling son,
If you're reading this, then Antonio has finally lost control of the truth.
I never wanted you to inherit his name, his business, or his hatred. Your real father was a good man. He loved you before you were born. Antonio took him away because he couldn't stand the idea of another man having something he wanted.
There is one more thing you must understand.
Michael is not your enemy.
Luca stopped reading.
A loud metallic sound came from the staircase.
Dominic turned.
“Someone's coming.”
The lights went out.
A gunshot echoed through the underground room.
Then a voice spoke from the darkness.
“Luca?”
Michael.
“Don't move. I have a gun pointed at the door.”
Luca stepped forward.
“Michael, it's me.”
A flashlight switched on.
His brother stood at the entrance, blood running down his temple.
“Good,” Michael whispered.
Then he looked at Elena.
May you like
“Because we have less than five minutes before Father burns this place down.”
---
