Chapter 9 - THE LAST LIE OF THE MORETTI FAMILY
Luca stopped beneath the stone archway.
Anthony looked relaxed, almost bored. He wore a dark suit and polished shoes, as though he had arrived for a business dinner rather than a confrontation involving two missing children.
Vanessa stood beside Lily, her face drained of color.
“Where is Sophie?” Luca demanded.
Anthony smiled.
“Safe.”
“I want to see her.”
“First, the ledger.”
Luca held up the teddy bear.
“The evidence is inside.”
Anthony's eyes sharpened.
He took one step forward.
“Give it to me.”
“Not until I know the girls are safe.”
Anthony nodded toward Vanessa.
She led Lily behind the fountain.
A door opened in the garden wall.
Two guards emerged carrying Sophie.
She struggled against them.
“Daddy!”
Luca's expression hardened.
“Let her go.”
Anthony shook his head.
“Your father made the same mistake. He believed love was a weakness he could hide behind his business.”
“Salvatore is dead.”
“His body is dead. His system isn't.”
Anthony explained that Salvatore had created a network for moving money, identities, and people through legitimate businesses. Anthony had spent years maintaining it. He intended to sell the black ledger to the highest bidder and use the proceeds to establish his own criminal empire.
“The girls are valuable because their records connect three generations of Moretti secrets,” he said. “Once the ledger disappears, nobody can prove what happened.”
Luca stared at him.
“You're selling children to protect a criminal organization.”
“I'm protecting myself.”
Vanessa suddenly spoke.
“You promised you would let them go.”
Anthony turned toward her.
“And you promised to bring me the original hospital file.”
“I did!”
“You brought me half a document and a woman who might be dead.”
Vanessa flinched.
Anthony raised his pistol toward her.
Luca moved before the shot.
He hurled the teddy bear at Anthony's face and charged. The gun fired into the air. One guard grabbed Luca from behind, but Luca drove his elbow into the man's ribs and twisted free.
Vanessa pulled Lily away from the fountain.
Sophie broke loose from the other guard and ran toward her father.
Luca caught her.
“Stay behind me!”
A gunshot echoed through the garden.
Vanessa fell to the ground.
Lily screamed.
Anthony stood beside the fountain, holding a smoking pistol.
“Enough!”
He aimed at Sophie.
Luca froze.
Anthony smiled.
“Now give me the chip.”
Luca slowly reached into his pocket.
But before he could remove it, a voice sounded from the garden entrance.
“Anthony, put the gun down.”
Elena stood beneath the archway.
She looked exhausted, her face thinner than Luca remembered, but unmistakably alive.
Behind her stood Isabella and Rachel, followed by several federal agents.
Anthony's smile vanished.
“You're supposed to be dead.”
Elena stepped forward.
“You've been saying that about everyone for years.”
Anthony swung his weapon toward her.
Isabella fired first.
The bullet struck the pistol from his hand.
Federal agents rushed across the garden. Within seconds, Anthony was on the ground, handcuffed and shouting threats.
Luca barely noticed.
He was staring at Elena.
She stood only a few feet away.
Three years of grief, anger, and unanswered questions pressed against his chest.
“Elena.”
She looked at him.
“Luca.”
He wanted to run to her. He wanted to demand explanations. He wanted to ask how she could have allowed him to mourn her for three years.
Instead, he looked at Sophie.
Their daughter was trembling in his arms.
Elena approached slowly and knelt.
“Hello, sweetheart.”
Sophie stared at her.
Then she touched Elena's cheek.
“Are you really Mommy?”
Elena's eyes filled with tears.
“Yes, baby.”
Sophie threw herself into her mother's arms.
Elena held her tightly, sobbing into her hair.
Luca turned away, unable to watch without breaking.
Rachel approached him.
“The ledger is safe. The agents have enough evidence to dismantle the network.”
“What about Vanessa?”
Rachel looked toward the fountain.
Vanessa was alive but injured. An agent knelt beside her, applying pressure to her shoulder.
“She saved Lily,” Rachel said. “At the last second, she stepped between Anthony and the girl.”
Luca looked at the two children.
Lily stood beside Isabella, holding her hand.
The resemblance between the girls was impossible to ignore.
But the most shocking discovery came when the agents recovered Anthony's private files.
One document contained a list of children whose identities had been changed through Salvatore's network.
Most had already been located.
One name remained marked in red.
DANIEL MORETTI — STATUS: UNCONFIRMED.
Luca stared at the page.
His supposedly dead father had a private account that remained active until six weeks earlier.
And every payment had been authorized by someone using Luca's own signature.
He looked toward Elena.
“There's something else.”
She nodded slowly.
“I know.”
Before she could explain, an agent approached carrying a sealed envelope.
“We found this in Anthony's vehicle. It was addressed to you.”
Luca opened it.
Inside was a photograph of Salvatore Moretti standing beside a younger man.
The younger man had Luca's face.
On the back, a message had been written in black ink.
If you're reading this, the wrong brother is still alive.
Luca looked up.
Elena had gone pale.
“Luca,” she whispered, “we have to leave.”
“Why?”
She looked toward the road beyond the estate.
“Because Anthony wasn't working for your father.”
A black car appeared beyond the gate.
Elena took Sophie's hand.
May you like
“He was working for your brother.”
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