Chapter 7 - THE BROTHER WHO WORE THE WRONG FACE
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Dominic spun around.
A man stood in the doorway, tall and broad-shouldered, with dark hair and a familiar scar along his jaw.
For one impossible moment, Dominic looked into his own face.
The stranger smiled.
“Hello, brother.”
Lucy scrambled to her feet.
“Who are you?”
“Adrian Moretti.”
Dominic's weapon remained trained on him.
“That's impossible.”
Adrian shrugged.
“Apparently, our family has a talent for impossible things.”
Bianca lowered her gun, but she didn't put it away.
Dominic's voice was quiet.
“Did you poison me?”
“No. That was Bianca's mistake.”
Bianca flinched.
Adrian continued as though discussing the weather.
“She was supposed to keep you weak enough to make a mistake. Instead, she nearly killed you. I told her not to use anything she didn't understand.”
Lucy stared at Bianca.
“You knew?”
“I knew someone was trying to hurt him,” Bianca whispered. “I didn't know what they planned to put in the water.”
Adrian laughed.
“That's the trouble with loyal servants. They mistake obedience for innocence.”
Dominic took a step forward.
“You killed my brother?”
Adrian's smile vanished.
“No. Your brother died because your father made a choice.”
He glanced at Lucy.
“Andrew Parker discovered that Vittorio was using the family businesses to move money through medical foundations and private hospitals. He found records connecting those payments to a network that arranged illegal adoptions and falsified deaths.”
Lucy felt sick.
“My father tried to expose him?”
“He tried to expose everyone involved. Then he disappeared.”
“You said he died last month.”
“I said your father died last month. I didn't say which father.”
Lucy stared at him.
Adrian's expression softened into something crueler than anger.
“Andrew Parker was not your biological father, Lucy.”
She shook her head.
“No.”
“He raised you. He loved you. But he adopted you after your birth mother died.”
Dominic looked at Adrian.
“Stop playing games.”
“Your father had three children that night. Two boys and a girl. The girl was recorded as stillborn, but she survived. Andrew took her and raised her as his own.”
Lucy felt the room slipping away.
“Who was my mother?”
Adrian looked at Dominic.
“Elena Moretti.”
Silence fell.
Lucy stared at the photograph in her hand.
Her entire life had been built on a lie.
She was not merely the daughter of Dominic's missing brother. She was Elena's daughter, born the same night as the twins.
That made her Dominic's sister.
The realization struck her so violently that she stepped away from him.
Dominic's face crumpled.
“Lucy—”
“Don't.”
He stopped.
Adrian watched them with satisfaction.
“Now you understand why I needed you both alive. Dominic has the family name. Lucy has the documents your mother hid. Together, you can open the account Vittorio left behind.”
“What account?” Dominic demanded.
“The one that contains the names of every person involved in the hospital conspiracy.”
“And you want it.”
“I want what's mine.”
Dominic's expression turned cold.
“You're not getting anything.”
Adrian nodded toward Bianca.
She raised the gun again.
Lucy moved instinctively in front of Dominic.
“Don't!”
The gunshot came from outside.
Bianca dropped her weapon and clutched her arm. Raphael appeared in the doorway, his face streaked with rain.
“Everyone down!”
Two guards rushed past him.
Adrian lunged toward the window, but Dominic caught his coat. They crashed into the desk, sending papers flying across the floor.
Lucy reached for the gun.
Bianca seized her wrist.
“Listen to me,” Bianca whispered. “Adrian isn't the person you need to fear.”
Lucy stared at her.
“Who is?”
Bianca's lips trembled.
“The woman who told him where to find you.”
Then she pulled a small key from her pocket and pressed it into Lucy's palm.
“Your mother left you something. It will tell you why Andrew had to die.”
Outside, a vehicle engine roared to life.
Adrian had escaped.
Raphael ran to the window, but the car disappeared into the snow.
Dominic turned toward Lucy.
She opened her hand.
May you like
The key was engraved with a single word.
BELLINI.
