Chapter 6 - The Man Behind the Order
The Moretti estate sat on a hill outside the city, its windows glowing against the storm.
Vincent had arrived before Luca.
He was already burning documents in the study fireplace when the front doors opened.
"You're too late," he said without turning.
Luca stepped into the room.
"Maybe."
Marco and two men spread out behind him.
Vincent threw another folder into the flames.
"You always were like your father. Too slow to understand what matters."
"What mattered to you, Uncle? Money? Power? Or making sure Gabriel never told anyone what you were doing?"
Vincent finally turned.
"Your brother was going to destroy everything."
"He found out you were stealing from the company."
"He found out the company was doing what it had to do to survive."
Luca stared at him.
"People died."
"People die every day."
The casual cruelty of the answer silenced the room.
Vincent walked to the bar and poured himself a drink.
"Your father built an empire that was already collapsing. He borrowed money, made promises, and pretended the books were clean. I kept the business alive."
"By burning warehouses?"
"By removing problems."
"And Gabriel was a problem."
Vincent's expression hardened.
"He was a boy who thought the world could be fixed by telling the truth."
Luca took a step forward.
"You ordered him killed."
Vincent lifted his glass.
"Your brother should have understood the price of betrayal."
Luca's voice became dangerously quiet.
"He was your family."
"So are you. Yet here you stand, threatening me over a dead man."
Luca's fists clenched.
Marco shifted beside him.
Vincent noticed.
"Go ahead," he said. "Arrest me. You think the police will believe you? Half the evidence is gone, and the other half implicates your father."
"Then we'll give them all of it."
Vincent laughed.
"You still don't understand. Your father signed the same contracts I did. He approved the transfers. He knew what was happening."
Luca felt the words cut deep.
"Did he order Gabriel's death?"
Vincent hesitated.
That hesitation was enough.
"No," he finally said. "But he knew what I was capable of. And when Gabriel disappeared, Antonio chose the company over the truth."
Luca closed his eyes briefly.
His father had failed them.
But Vincent had murdered his own nephew to protect his power.
A siren sounded outside.
Vincent's face changed.
"You called the police?"
"I did."
"You would destroy your own family?"
Luca looked at him.
"You destroyed it three years ago."
Vincent lunged toward the fireplace and grabbed a burning folder. He tried to throw it into a metal waste bin containing more documents.
Marco intercepted him.
The two men struggled, and Vincent fell against the desk.
A small pistol slid from his jacket.
Marco kicked it away.
Luca stood over his uncle.
"Where is Richard Sterling?"
Vincent spat blood onto the carpet.
"Ask Vanessa."
"We did."
Vincent's eyes flickered.
"Then you know nothing."
He smiled.
"Richard isn't hiding from the police. He's hiding from the people he cheated."
The front door burst open.
Police officers flooded the hallway.
Vincent was handcuffed and led away, still smiling.
As he passed Luca, he leaned close.
"Ask your father why your mother was really in that car."
Then he was gone.
Luca remained in the study, staring at the flames.
The murder case had reopened.
May you like
But the truth was larger than he had imagined.
And his mother's death might be the final piece of a nightmare that had begun long before Gabriel was killed.
