Chapter 8 - The Last Moretti Dinner
Antonio had been taken.
The security cameras showed three men entering through the underground garage. Their faces were hidden, but one wore a distinctive silver watch.
Gabriel recognized it.
“Richard's personal guard.”
Luca ordered the mansion secured and summoned the remaining family members.
Elena arrived with a small suitcase.
Vanessa came with Adrian.
Sofia brought a laptop.
Nobody spoke during dinner.
For the first time in decades, the Moretti family sat around the same table without pretending everything was normal.
Luca placed the microfilm in the center.
“We're going to end this tonight.”
Adrian leaned back.
“You still think this is about Richard?”
“Isn't it?”
Adrian shook his head.
“Richard works for someone.”
Sofia opened the laptop.
She displayed a list of companies connected to the original family trust.
Most were registered under false names.
But one belonged to a foundation established by Luca's grandfather.
Its current director was Edward Hart.
Vanessa stood.
“My father is alive.”
Sofia nodded.
“And he controls the trust.”
Vanessa looked at Adrian.
“You told me he was dead.”
Adrian didn't answer.
Luca turned toward him.
“What else have you been hiding?”
Adrian looked at his brother.
“Edward offered to return Noah if I helped him take control of the trust.”
Vanessa slapped him.
“You used our son?”
“I was trying to protect him!”
“You were trying to become powerful!”
Adrian stood.
“Do you think Luca would have given me anything? He inherited the mansion, the company, the family. I was supposed to disappear quietly.”
Luca didn't respond.
He looked at his mother.
“Is there anything else I need to know?”
Elena slowly removed a small key from her necklace.
“Your grandfather left something in the family crypt.”
She placed it on the table.
“The original trust document. It identifies the true beneficiary.”
Sofia examined the key.
“Why didn't you give this to Antonio?”
“Because he was afraid of what it would reveal.”
Luca stared at her.
“What would it reveal?”
Elena's voice trembled.
“That the trust was never meant for either of you.”
The room went silent.
She explained that the original agreement had named a third child as the beneficiary.
A child born to Antonio before his marriage to Elena.
Luca looked at his father’s empty chair.
“Dad had another son?”
Elena nodded.
“He was born in New York. His mother died shortly after giving birth. Antonio believed the child had died too.”
Sofia pulled up a scanned document.
There was a name.
MARCUS BELLINI.
And a birth date.
Twenty-nine years earlier.
The same year Luca and Adrian were born.
Adrian stared.
“That means there were three of us?”
Elena nodded.
“Triplets.”
Luca felt the world shift again.
“Where is he?”
Elena looked at the key.
“I don't know.”
Before anyone could speak, a phone rang.
It belonged to Vanessa.
She answered.
A man's voice came through.
“Hello, sweetheart.”
Vanessa went rigid.
“Dad?”
Edward Hart laughed.
“Bring me the key. Bring me the watch. And bring both boys.”
Luca reached for the phone.
“Where's my father?”
“Your father is alive, for now.”
“Where is Noah?”
“Safe.”
Edward paused.
“Unlike your grandfather's little secret.”
The call ended.
Sofia immediately traced the signal.
It came from the Moretti family crypt.
Luca grabbed his coat.
Adrian stood.
“I'm coming.”
Luca looked at him.
“Why should I trust you?”
Adrian met his gaze.
“Because if Edward gets that trust, he'll own my son.”
For a moment, neither moved.
Then Luca handed him a spare weapon.
“Don't make me regret this.”
The brothers drove through the night.
At the crypt, they found the entrance open.
A candle burned beside Antonio's photograph.
And beneath it lay a bloodstained wedding ring.
Elena's wedding ring.
Luca picked it up.
May you like
A small note was attached.
Your mother has been lying about the third child.
