Chapter 9 - THE LAST CONFESSION
Damien returned to Chicago with Daniel.
The brothers barely spoke during the drive.
There was too much to process.
Their father had hidden a second family.
Richard had murdered him.
Their mother had known something about the crime.
And someone was still determined to prevent the truth from emerging.
When they arrived at the mansion, Elena was waiting in the foyer.
Lily ran toward Damien.
"Mr. Grumpy!"
He crouched and caught her.
"Careful. I have a sore shoulder."
Lily frowned.
"Did someone hurt you?"
"A little."
She examined the bandage.
Then she kissed his hand.
"Now it's better."
Damien smiled.
Elena watched them.
For the first time, she saw something in his face that she had never seen before.
Peace.
Daniel approached.
Elena introduced herself.
He smiled politely.
"You're the person my brother keeps talking about."
Damien looked at him.
"I don't talk about her."
Daniel raised an eyebrow.
"Of course not."
Elena blushed.
But the moment was interrupted by Harold.
"Sir, the woman you requested has arrived."
An elderly woman entered the foyer.
Her name was Margaret Hayes.
She had raised Daniel after his adoption and had recently discovered a locked compartment inside an old family trunk.
She carried a small envelope.
"I think this belongs to you."
Inside was a letter from Damien's mother.
It was dated three days before the accident.
My dear boys,
If you ever read this together, it means I failed to keep you safe.
Your father loves you both. He wanted to bring Daniel home, but Richard discovered the truth. He threatened to destroy our family.
I know what Richard is planning. I have hidden the evidence in a place he will never think to search.
The truth is not in the money. It is in the name.
Damien read the letter again.
"The name?"
Margaret nodded.
"Your mother left another document."
She opened the envelope.
Inside was a birth certificate.
It belonged to a child named Sophia Vescari.
The mother's name was listed as Isabella Moretti.
Damien looked up.
"Who is Isabella Moretti?"
Daniel frowned.
"Moretti?"
Harold went pale.
"Anthony Moretti's mother."
The room fell silent.
Damien examined the date.
The child had been born twenty-seven years earlier.
Three years before Damien's father died.
"Isabella had a child with my father?"
Margaret nodded.
"Your mother knew. She discovered the affair shortly before the accident."
Daniel stared at the document.
"Then Sophia is our sister."
Damien looked toward Harold.
"Find her."
Harold returned twenty minutes later.
He looked as though he had aged ten years.
"Sir, there's a problem."
"What?"
"Sophia Vescari died twelve years ago."
Damien felt his stomach tighten.
"How?"
"Officially, a car accident."
Daniel looked at him.
"Another accident?"
Harold nodded.
"But there's something else."
He placed a photograph on the table.
It showed a young woman standing beside Anthony Moretti.
The woman had dark hair and a small birthmark near her cheek.
Damien recognized her.
She had been in the mansion.
Not in a photograph.
In person.
He looked at the picture again.
"Who is she?"
Harold swallowed.
"Mrs. Whitmore's daughter."
Damien slowly turned.
"Evelyn's daughter?"
"Yes, sir. Her name was Sophia."
He remembered Mrs. Whitmore's confession.
Her daughter had died.
Richard had threatened her.
But the records showed something else.
Sophia had been involved with Anthony Moretti.
And she had been secretly communicating with Damien's father.
The pieces began falling into place.
The family had not simply been hiding a murder.
They had been hiding a child.
A child whose existence could destroy both the Vescari and Moretti families.
Damien returned to the study.
He opened his father's notebook and found a final page he had overlooked.
If Richard succeeds, the Morettis will believe they have won. But the girl will remain the key. She must never be allowed to inherit what was stolen.
There was an address.
A private medical facility outside Chicago.
Damien called the facility.
The administrator confirmed that Sophia Vescari had been admitted twelve years earlier under a different name.
She had never been discharged.
Damien drove there immediately.
At the front desk, he requested her medical file.
The administrator looked uncomfortable.
"Mr. Vescari, I don't think you understand."
"Then explain."
"Sophia Vescari was not the patient."
Damien stared.
"Who was?"
The administrator opened the file.
Inside was a photograph of a woman in her thirties.
The woman had dark hair.
A familiar birthmark.
And the same eyes as Damien's father.
"Her name is Isabella Moretti."
Damien's blood ran cold.
The woman who had supposedly died twelve years earlier was alive.
And she had been living under an assumed identity.
The administrator handed him a second document.
A visitor log.
One name appeared repeatedly over the last decade.
Richard Vescari.
But the final entry had been made only three days earlier.
The visitor's name was different.
Anthony Moretti.
May you like
And beneath it was a handwritten note.
Tell her the brothers have found each other.
