Chapter 8 - Blood Doesn't Forgive
Dominic moved in front of Isabella.
“Put the gun down.”
Jonathan Moretti studied him with amused interest.
“You always were the obedient one.”
“I don't know you.”
“Of course you don't. Father made sure of that.”
Jonathan lowered the gun slightly but kept his finger near the trigger.
“I spent twenty years watching him build you into his perfect heir while pretending I didn't exist. You got the mansion. The business. The family name. I got a boarding school and a monthly payment to keep my mouth shut.”
Dominic's expression remained cold.
“Why send the watch?”
“Because I wanted Father to know his time was running out.”
“You could have come to me.”
“And risk being dragged into your little family reunion? No, thank you.”
Jonathan glanced at Isabella.
“She knows what Father did. She also knows what Mother did. The only difference is that she thinks the truth will save you.”
“Where is Anthony?”
“Moving pieces around the board.”
Jonathan finally lowered the gun.
“He knows you've found Isabella. He knows about Rose. And he knows you have the documents from the bank.”
Dominic stepped closer.
“Then help me end this.”
Jonathan laughed.
“You still think this is about justice. It isn't. It's about control. Father built an empire by making everyone afraid of him. I'm going to take it apart and put it back together in my own image.”
“That's not a better future.”
“It's a more profitable one.”
Isabella moved beside Dominic.
“Jonathan, you don't have to become him.”
For the first time, Jonathan's expression flickered.
“You have no idea what he did to me.”
“I know what he did to me.”
“And you still want to save him?”
“No. I want to save the people he hasn't destroyed yet.”
Jonathan looked away.
For a moment, Dominic saw something other than ambition in his half brother's face.
Then Jonathan raised his gun again.
“There's a private security team on the road. Father sent them to collect Isabella. You have ten minutes before they arrive.”
“Come with us.”
“Why would I?”
“Because once Anthony is gone, you'll be free of him.”
Jonathan's smile turned bitter.
“I don't want to be free of him. I want him to know exactly who defeated him.”
He stepped toward the door.
“Go to the old Moretti estate tomorrow night. Father is hosting a private gathering. Every person who helped hide Isabella will be there.”
“How do you know?”
“Because I'm the one who arranged it.”
Jonathan disappeared into the darkness.
Dominic helped Isabella to the SUV and drove her to a secure apartment Marcus had prepared.
A doctor examined her injuries and confirmed that she needed treatment, rest, and careful monitoring. Dominic stayed beside her while she slept, afraid that closing his eyes would somehow make her disappear again.
At dawn, Isabella woke and found him sitting on the floor beside her bed.
“You haven't slept.”
“I've had four years of practice.”
She reached for his hand.
“Dominic, there's something else you need to know.”
He looked up.
“The accident wasn't random. Anthony arranged it because I found a financial ledger hidden in his study. It contained payments to judges, police officers, hospital administrators, and people who made witnesses disappear.”
“Do you still have it?”
“No. I gave it to Eleanor before the accident. She hid it somewhere only you could find.”
“Where?”
Isabella smiled sadly.
“Your childhood piano.”
Dominic remembered the old grand piano in the mansion's music room. It had belonged to his mother and had remained untouched since her death.
“Why didn't you tell me before?”
“I wasn't sure whether the ledger was still there. And I was afraid Anthony had already found it.”
Dominic called Marcus.
“Get a team to the mansion. Search the piano, but don't remove anything until I arrive.”
Two hours later, Marcus called back.
“We found a hidden compartment beneath the keyboard.”
“What's inside?”
“A metal case. The lock is broken.”
Dominic closed his eyes.
“Open it.”
There was a pause.
“Dominic, you need to see this yourself.”
He drove back to the mansion with Isabella under heavy protection.
Inside the piano compartment lay the ledger, several bank statements, and a small cassette tape labeled in Eleanor's handwriting.
For my son, when he is ready to know the truth.
Dominic inserted the tape into an old player.
His mother's voice filled the room.
“My darling boy, if you are hearing this, then I have failed to protect you.”
Dominic gripped the edge of the piano.
“Your father has spent his life telling you that strength means control. It doesn't. Strength means knowing when to stop obeying someone you love.”
Eleanor paused.
“I helped Anthony hide Isabella because I believed he was protecting the family. When I discovered the truth about the baby, I tried to make things right. But Anthony threatened you. He said he would destroy everything you loved if I spoke.”
Her voice trembled.
“I have made terrible mistakes. I cannot ask you to forgive me. I can only ask you to stop the cycle.”
The tape clicked.
Then another voice emerged.
Anthony's.
“You should have left the child alone, Eleanor.”
Dominic froze.
His mother's voice replied, “She's innocent.”
“She is an heir.”
“She is a baby!”
“She is leverage.”
A struggle followed. A chair scraped across the floor.
Then came a sharp sound and silence.
Dominic stopped the tape.
For a long time, he couldn't move.
His mother hadn't died from a stroke.
She had been killed for trying to save his daughter.
Isabella held him while he cried.
When he finally looked up, his face had changed.
He was no longer the grieving husband searching for answers.
He was a father who had discovered the cost of the empire he inherited.
“We're ending this,” he said.
Marcus placed a folder on the piano.
“There's one more thing. Jonathan sent a message.”
Dominic opened it.
BRING THE LEDGER TO THE ESTATE TOMORROW NIGHT. COME UNARMED. IF YOU WANT ROSE TO SEE HER MOTHER AGAIN, DO EXACTLY AS I SAY.
Beneath the message was a photograph taken less than an hour earlier.
Rose was standing beside Elena in the garden.
A red circle had been drawn around the child's face.
Dominic looked at Isabella.
They both understood.
May you like
Jonathan wasn't merely challenging Anthony.
He had taken their daughter.
