Chapter 9 - The Father Who Lied
Dominic watched the footage three times.
His father, Anthony Moretti, had died six months after Isabella's accident. The family had attributed his death to a heart attack.
Now Dominic was looking at him standing beside Isabella's car on the night she died.
“That's impossible,” he whispered.
Daniel paused the video.
“The timestamp is consistent with the accident report. But we need to authenticate the footage before drawing conclusions.”
Dominic barely heard him.
Anthony had been the one who told Dominic that Isabella's death was a tragic accident. He had personally arranged the funeral, dismissed the original security team, and advised his son to focus on Ethan.
If Anthony had been there, then he had known more than he admitted.
Dominic ordered an investigation into his father's final months.
The results came quickly.
Anthony had made several large payments to a private security company shortly before his death. The company had later dissolved, but one former employee was still alive.
His name was Peter Walsh.
Peter agreed to meet Dominic in a public parking garage.
“I was there that night,” Peter admitted. “Your father sent me to retrieve a package from Isabella.”
“What package?”
“A storage device. She said it contained evidence against Victor Sterling.”
“Did she give it to you?”
“No. She said she would only hand it over to you.”
Dominic's voice hardened.
“What happened after that?”
Peter looked away.
“Victor arrived. They argued. Your father tried to calm them down.”
“And the crash?”
“I heard tires screech. By the time I reached the road, Isabella's car had hit the barrier.”
“Who was driving the other vehicle?”
Peter swallowed.
“Victor.”
Dominic closed his eyes.
“Did my father help cover it up?”
Peter hesitated.
“Yes. He believed Victor would destroy the Moretti family if the truth came out. He also believed the evidence could expose illegal dealings involving people inside your organization.”
Dominic felt sick.
“My father chose a lie over my wife.”
“He thought he was protecting you.”
“By allowing me to bury her without knowing what happened?”
Peter had no answer.
Before leaving, he handed Dominic an envelope.
“Your father gave me this a week before he died. He told me to deliver it if anyone ever reopened the investigation.”
Inside was a handwritten confession.
Anthony admitted that he had arrived after the crash and found Victor attempting to remove a small device from Isabella's car. Rather than call the police, Anthony had ordered the scene secured until he could assess the consequences.
He had not admitted to causing the crash, but he had knowingly concealed evidence.
The confession ended with a sentence that chilled Dominic:
Vanessa told me the child had inherited more than money. If Ethan remembers what happened, all of us are in danger.
Dominic immediately called Marco.
“Find Victor. I want him alive and in custody.”
Marco's voice was strained.
“I have a location. But there's something else.”
“What?”
“The Sterling Foundation's accounts have been emptied. Someone transferred the remaining funds to an overseas account an hour ago.”
Dominic looked at the confession.
“Vanessa?”
“We think so.”
Then the lights in the parking garage went out.
A gunshot cracked through the darkness.
Dominic dropped behind a concrete pillar as Marco shouted for everyone to take cover.
When the emergency lights flickered on, Peter was gone.
A trail of blood led toward the exit.
Dominic rushed after him, but the garage doors were already closing.
His phone buzzed.
A video message appeared.
Vanessa sat in a dimly lit room. Her face was pale, and a man stood behind her with one hand on her shoulder.
“Dominic,” she said, “you should have left the past alone.”
The man stepped forward.
Victor Sterling.
Vanessa continued.
“You have the documents, the recordings, and your father's confession. But none of them will matter if you don't know what happened to Isabella's original evidence.”
Dominic stared at the screen.
“Where is it?”
Vanessa smiled weakly.
“Ask your son.”
The video ended.
A second message followed.
It contained a photograph of Ethan's bedroom.
His bed was empty.
Dominic's blood turned to ice.
He called the estate.
No answer.
Then Marco's voice came through the radio.
“Boss, the safe room has been breached. Lily is missing, too.”
Dominic stood in the dark garage, gripping his phone.
For three years, he had believed his enemies wanted money and power.
Now he understood that they wanted something far more dangerous.
They wanted the one thing Ethan might remember that could connect every betrayal.
May you like
And they had taken his son to make sure he would never tell.
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