Chapter 9 - The Last Moretti Secret
Luca moved between Gabriel and Emily.
“Put the gun down.”
Gabriel laughed.
“You always did think you could protect everyone.”
“I'm not fighting you.”
“You already did.”
Gabriel's eyes were filled with thirteen years of pain.
“You had the mansion. The family. The name. The woman I loved. And I had a locked room.”
Luca shook his head.
“I didn't know.”
“You didn't ask.”
The words struck harder than a bullet.
Luca lowered his weapon.
“I can't change what happened. But I can help you now.”
Gabriel stared at him.
“Help me?”
He laughed bitterly.
“Your father took my childhood. Richard took my freedom. And Vanessa took my daughter.”
“Vanessa saved Sofia.”
Gabriel's expression changed.
“She saved Sofia?”
“Yes.”
For the first time, Gabriel looked uncertain.
Emily slowly removed the silver bracelet.
“Gabriel, your uncle wants this because it contains the original trust key.”
Gabriel lowered his gun slightly.
“What?”
Emily turned the bracelet over.
A tiny compartment opened.
Inside was a small metal strip.
“It was hidden there by my mother.”
Gabriel stared at it.
Then he looked toward Elena.
“Why?”
Elena's eyes filled with tears.
“Because she knew Anthony would come for you.”
Gabriel shook his head.
“Don't pretend you protected me.”
“I know I failed you.”
“You let them bury me!”
Elena began sobbing.
Luca stepped forward.
“Gabriel, please.”
Gabriel pointed his gun toward the ceiling.
“Don't tell me what to feel.”
A gunshot rang out.
Everyone ducked.
When Luca looked up, Gabriel had disappeared.
***
Vanessa arrived an hour later.
She was carrying Sofia.
The little girl had dark curls and a small scar above her left eyebrow.
Luca couldn't move.
He had imagined this moment a thousand times.
But nothing had prepared him for seeing his daughter.
Vanessa approached slowly.
“Her name is Sofia.”
Luca knelt.
“Hi, sweetheart.”
Sofia studied his face.
“Are you my dad?”
He nodded.
“Yes.”
She looked at his eyes.
“You look like Uncle Gabriel.”
Luca smiled sadly.
“I've heard that.”
Sofia held out a small drawing.
It showed a family standing beneath a large house.
Four people.
Luca.
Vanessa.
Sofia.
And a fourth man with a scar.
“Uncle Gabriel drew it,” she explained.
Vanessa looked at Luca.
“He wanted her to have a family.”
Luca took Sofia's hand.
“I want that too.”
But before they could say anything else, the front doors opened.
Richard Moretti walked into the mansion.
Two men stood behind him.
He held a folder.
“Beautiful reunion.”
Luca stood in front of Sofia.
“Get out.”
Richard smiled.
“I came for the bracelet.”
Emily stepped forward.
“You won't get it.”
Richard looked at her.
“Margaret's daughter. You've caused enough trouble.”
He opened the folder.
Inside was a legal document.
It named Richard as the rightful guardian of the Bellini trust.
Luca laughed.
“You forged it.”
Richard shrugged.
“Prove it.”
Then he placed another document on the table.
A DNA report.
It showed that Gabriel was not biologically related to Elena.
Luca stared.
“What?”
Richard smiled.
“Your mother has been hiding another truth.”
Elena slowly rose from her wheelchair.
“That's enough.”
Richard looked at her.
“Tell them.”
Elena's voice trembled.
“Gabriel was never my biological son.”
The room went silent.
She continued.
“Your father brought him to me as a newborn. He told me the child's mother had died.”
Gabriel's voice came from the hallway.
“You knew?”
He stood in the doorway.
Elena began crying.
“I loved you as my own.”
Gabriel's gun was raised.
“Who was my mother?”
Elena looked at Richard.
Then she whispered:
“Your mother was Vanessa's mother.”
Vanessa gasped.
Gabriel stared at her.
Richard smiled.
“Now you understand.”
The truth was worse than anyone imagined.
Gabriel and Vanessa were half-siblings.
And the man who had kept them apart for thirteen years had known all along.
Vanessa collapsed into a chair.
Luca turned toward Richard.
“You knew this?”
Richard nodded.
“Of course.”
“Why didn't you tell them?”
Richard placed the folder down.
“Because the truth would have destroyed the only people who could unlock the inheritance.”
He looked at Emily.
“And now, the final heir is standing right in front of me.”
Then he raised his gun.
May you like
But his target wasn't Luca.
It was Sofia.
