Chapter 10 - The Last Coffin
“ELENA!”
Luca dropped beside his wife.
Blood spread across the shoulder of her dress.
Marco rushed forward and called for medical assistance.
Daniel began crying.
“Mommy!”
Luca pressed his hand against Elena's wound.
“Stay with me. Look at me.”
Elena struggled to breathe.
“Get… the children…”
“They're safe.”
She shook her head.
“Not yet.”
Her eyes moved toward the farmhouse.
“There's another room.”
Luca frowned.
“What room?”
“The nursery.”
Antonio's smile disappeared.
For the first time, he looked afraid.
“Don't listen to her.”
Elena grabbed Luca's wrist.
“Behind the wall. Your father kept the original records there.”
Luca looked toward Antonio.
“What's in the nursery?”
Antonio raised his weapon.
“Nothing.”
Marco stepped between them.
“Boss, go. I'll handle him.”
Luca hesitated.
“Get my wife medical help.”
“Go!”
Luca ran inside.
The nursery was at the end of the hallway.
A faded painting of two children hung above the fireplace.
Behind it was a small metal safe.
The silver key from the wedding coffin fit the lock.
Inside were several folders.
Hospital records.
Bank transfers.
Photographs.
And a sealed envelope bearing Luca's name.
He opened it.
The first document was a DNA report.
The second was a letter.
My son,
If you are reading this, then the people I trusted have failed you.
Antonio is not your biological father. But neither is Marco.
Luca stopped.
He read the next line.
Your biological father was a man named Gabriel Rossi. He was my first husband, and the only man I ever loved.
Luca stared at the letter.
His mother had been married before Antonio.
He had never known.
The letter continued.
Gabriel died when you were three. Before his death, he placed a portion of his fortune into a trust. The documents were hidden because Antonio wanted the money. You were the rightful heir.
Luca looked at the remaining papers.
The trust was worth hundreds of millions.
But there was something else.
A photograph.
Isabella stood beside a younger Gabriel, holding a newborn baby.
On the back were the words:
LUCA AND HIS BROTHER.
Luca's breath caught.
His brother.
He had believed he was an only child.
He turned to the final page.
There were two boys. One remained with me. The other was taken from the hospital. I was told he died. I never believed it.
The room suddenly felt too small.
Two twins.
Two children.
But Sofia and Daniel were not the only children whose identities had been hidden.
Someone else had been missing for decades.
Luca slipped the documents into his jacket and returned outside.
The yard had changed.
Antonio was on his knees.
Marco stood behind him, holding a weapon.
Isabella sat on the ground, crying.
Elena was being carried toward an ambulance.
Luca rushed to her.
“Stay with me.”
She opened her eyes.
“Did you find it?”
He nodded.
“Everything.”
“Then tell the children the truth.”
“I will.”
She touched his cheek.
“Promise me something.”
“Anything.”
“Don't become him.”
Luca looked at Antonio.
Then back at his wife.
“I won't.”
The paramedics took Elena away.
Luca turned toward his father.
Antonio was smiling again.
“You think you've won?”
Luca handed the documents to Marco.
“Take these to the authorities. Every record. Every name. Every account.”
Antonio's smile faded.
“You wouldn't destroy your own family.”
Luca looked at him.
“You destroyed it years ago.”
Antonio was arrested before sunset.
The investigation uncovered the illegal transfers, forged medical records, hidden accounts, and the staged deaths that had protected the Moretti family's secrets.
Isabella cooperated with investigators.
She confessed to her part in the hospital conspiracy and the attempted kidnapping of Daniel.
Victoria provided evidence against Catherine.
And Vanessa's true identity was finally established.
She had died months earlier in a private clinic under circumstances that remained under investigation.
But the most important discovery came from the hospital records.
Daniel and Sofia were confirmed as Elena and Luca's biological children.
The family was finally together.
Three months later, Elena recovered.
The children moved into a smaller house outside the city, away from the mansion and the memories attached to it.
Luca sold the weapons businesses and placed the remaining legitimate family assets into a protected trust for his children.
He also began rebuilding his relationship with Elena.
It wasn't easy.
There were nights when she woke screaming.
There were mornings when Luca couldn't look at the old wedding photographs.
But they stayed.
One evening, Sofia sat between her parents on the garden steps.
“Daddy?”
“Yes, sweetheart?”
“Are we going to have another wedding?”
Luca smiled.
“If your mother says yes.”
Elena looked at him.
“Only if there are no coffins.”
He laughed for the first time in months.
Daniel climbed into his father's lap.
“Can I wear a suit?”
“You can wear whatever you want.”
“And can Grandma come?”
The question silenced them.
Isabella had not been allowed to see the children since her arrest.
Elena looked toward Luca.
He considered the question carefully.
“Maybe someday,” he said. “When she's ready to tell the truth about everything.”
Daniel nodded.
That night, Luca tucked both children into bed.
Sofia held his hand.
“Daddy, are you afraid of coffins now?”
He kissed her forehead.
“Only when somebody knocks from inside.”
She giggled.
For a moment, the house felt peaceful.
But peace didn't last.
At 2:17 a.m., Luca received an anonymous package.
There was no return address.
Inside was a small black box.
He opened it.
A silver hospital bracelet lay inside.
The name had been scratched away.
Beneath it was a photograph of a newborn baby.
The child had dark hair and a small birthmark beneath his left eye.
Luca recognized the birthmark.
He had seen it on his own shoulder.
The photograph was dated thirty years earlier.
On the back, someone had written:
YOU FOUND TWO OF YOUR FATHER'S CHILDREN. YOU NEVER FOUND THE FIRST.
Luca stared at the message.
His phone rang.
An unknown number.
He answered.
For several seconds, there was only breathing.
Then a man's voice spoke.
“Hello, little brother.”
Luca froze.
“Who is this?”
The man laughed softly.
“Ask Isabella who she buried before Antonio.”
The call ended.
Luca stood alone in the dark hallway.
Outside, a black car was parked across the street.
Its headlights flashed once.
Then disappeared.
He looked down at the photograph again.
The baby wore a hospital bracelet.
And on the bracelet was a name.
GABRIEL MORETTI.
Luca slowly raised his eyes.
His father had been dead.
His mother had confessed.
His children were safe.
But somewhere in the world, another Moretti was alive.
And he knew exactly where to find Luca.
May you like
The family had survived one funeral.
But the next coffin had already been prepared.
