Chapter 7 - THE WILL THAT WAS NEVER MEANT TO BE FOUND
Luca read the document in the garage while Michael watched him with the expression of a man waiting for a stranger to prove he was exactly as terrible as expected.
It was a photocopy of a confidential agreement dated six days after Elena's death.
Vittorio Moretti had authorized a payment to a private legal firm in exchange for the permanent removal of a child from the Moretti family registry. The document described the child as a potential threat to the inheritance of Luca Moretti and specified that all future claims of biological relationship should be challenged.
At the bottom sat Vittorio's signature.
Below it was another signature.
Luca recognized the name immediately.
Arthur Sterling.
Vanessa's father.
“Your father and mine were business partners,” Michael said. “My father died when I was young. My mother worked for the Morettis. She told me I was adopted, but she never explained why my original birth certificate had been destroyed.”
“Did she know who you were?”
“She died before I could ask her.”
Luca studied the agreement again.
“Why would my father consider you a threat to my inheritance?”
Michael laughed without humor.
“Maybe because you were the heir, and I was the second son. Maybe because he thought one Moretti was enough. Or maybe he was afraid that if people knew about me, they'd start asking questions about the money he stole from your mother.”
Luca looked up.
“My mother?”
Michael pulled another document from a drawer.
“Your father changed his will three months before Elena died. He moved a substantial portion of the family trust into a private holding company. My adoptive records show that the company funded my childhood placements.”
Luca examined the figures.
The amount was enormous.
He knew his father had built the Moretti fortune through ruthless negotiations and questionable alliances. But he had never imagined Vittorio had used the family's wealth to erase his own children.
“Where did you get this?”
“From a lawyer who worked for Arthur Sterling. He contacted me two weeks ago, then disappeared.”
“His name?”
“Peter Walsh.”
Luca called Marco immediately.
“Find Peter Walsh. Start with his office, his bank accounts, and every person he's contacted in the past month.”
Michael folded his arms.
“You still give orders as if the world belongs to you.”
“No,” Luca replied. “I give orders because people are disappearing, and I don't intend to let another one die before we learn why.”
Michael studied him for a long moment.
“You think finding me fixes everything?”
“No.”
“You think I'll walk into your mansion, hug my long-lost brother, and pretend I didn't spend my childhood wondering why nobody wanted me?”
“No.”
“Then what do you want?”
Luca lowered the document.
“To give you the truth. Whatever it costs me.”
Michael looked away.
For the first time, the anger in his face seemed to waver.
He had spent years imagining the man who might have been his brother. He had pictured a spoiled heir who never knew what it meant to be unwanted. He had imagined Luca enjoying a childhood filled with everything Michael had been denied.
Now, faced with a man who seemed genuinely horrified by the evidence, Michael didn't know what to believe.
“There's one more thing,” Michael said.
He removed a small black envelope from his toolbox.
“Someone mailed this to me. No return address.”
Inside was a photograph of Vanessa standing beside an older man outside a hospital. The date on the back was six years earlier.
The man was Arthur Sterling.
The hospital was the same facility where Elena had delivered the twins.
On the back of the photograph, someone had written:
ASK VANESSA WHO CARRIED THE SECOND BABY OUT.
Luca felt the room tighten around him.
“Did you ask her?”
“I tried. She refused to meet me.”
“Then we'll ask her together.”
Michael shook his head.
“I'm not walking into your house.”
“You don't have to. I'll bring her here.”
“No. I want the meeting somewhere she can't control.”
He glanced toward the garage entrance.
“There's an abandoned warehouse near the river. Arthur used it for storage. My mother once told me she found a box there with my original hospital bracelet.”
Luca nodded.
“Let's go.”
They arrived at the warehouse shortly before sunset. The building smelled of damp concrete and rust. Marco's men searched the interior before allowing Luca and Michael inside.
Behind a row of metal shelves, they found an old filing cabinet.
Inside lay hospital receipts, legal correspondence, and a sealed envelope bearing Elena's handwriting.
Luca opened it carefully.
If you are reading this, then my children may finally have a chance to find each other.
I tried to tell Luca what happened. I wanted to tell him everything. But Vittorio threatened to take Sophia away if I spoke.
I believed Vanessa was helping me. She promised she would protect the babies if I couldn't.
Luca's breath caught.
He read the next line.
But I heard her speaking to Arthur. She told him that one child was enough.
Michael's face darkened.
“Your fiancée helped them.”
“Apparently.”
“Don't defend her.”
“I'm not.”
Luca turned the page.
I don't know whether Vanessa changed her mind. I don't know whether she saved one of the children or helped take the other. I only know that she was there when the decision was made.
The letter ended with a final sentence.
If anything happens to both of us, find the woman who signed the second death certificate.
Luca searched the envelope.
There was no name.
Only a small folded slip bearing a hospital department number and a date.
Marco entered the room holding his phone.
“Boss, we located Peter Walsh's last known address. His apartment was searched yesterday.”
“By whom?”
“Someone using a private security company linked to the Sterling family.”
Luca looked at Michael.
“Vanessa?”
“Or someone who wants us to think it was Vanessa.”
Before Luca could respond, the warehouse lights went out.
A sharp metallic crash echoed behind them.
Marco shouted for everyone to get down.
A gunshot shattered the silence.
Luca grabbed Michael and pulled him behind the filing cabinet as bullets tore through the metal shelves.
The attack lasted less than a minute.
When the emergency lights flickered on, the attackers were gone.
Michael had a cut above his eyebrow, but he was conscious.
Luca checked him quickly.
“Are you hit?”
“No.”
Marco returned from the entrance.
“They escaped through the loading bay.”
“Did they take anything?”
Marco's face changed.
“The documents are here.”
“Then what were they after?”
Marco looked toward the back of the warehouse.
A metal cabinet stood open.
Inside was an empty space where a small evidence box had been stored.
Luca approached it.
On the shelf lay a fresh envelope.
His name was written across the front.
He opened it.
There was a photograph of Clara sleeping in a hospital bed.
A hand rested protectively over her pregnant belly.
On the back, someone had written:
ONE FAMILY SECRET IS ENOUGH. TELL MICHAEL TO STOP LOOKING, OR YOUR UNBORN CHILD WILL BE THE NEXT ONE TO DISAPPEAR.
Luca's expression turned deadly.
Because whoever had sent the message knew exactly where Clara was.
May you like
And that meant the enemy was already inside his home.
END OF CHAPTER 7
