Chapter 7 - The Man Behind the Funeral
"Mother!"
Luca dropped beside Elena.
Marcus rushed in from the loading bay.
"Get an ambulance!"
Emily pressed a folded cloth against the wound.
"Stay with me, Mrs. Moretti. Please."
Elena struggled to breathe.
"Emily..."
"I'm here."
"Your mother... she knew."
Emily leaned closer.
"Knew what?"
Elena's fingers tightened around hers.
"Alessandro's death. She kept the original evidence."
Luca looked up.
"Where?"
Elena tried to answer, but her eyes rolled back.
The paramedics arrived minutes later.
At the hospital, Luca paced outside the intensive care unit. He had not sat down once.
Emily approached with two cups of coffee.
"You should drink something."
"I'm not thirsty."
"Your mother would want you to stay standing."
He accepted the cup.
For a moment, neither spoke.
Then Luca asked, "Why did you become a maid at the mansion?"
Emily looked at him.
"My mother worked for your family. After she died, I needed a job. Mrs. Moretti hired me because she recognized my last name."
"She knew who you were?"
"Apparently."
Luca stared at the floor.
"I've spent my entire life thinking money could solve every problem. I couldn't even protect the people in my own house."
Emily shook her head.
"Being powerful doesn't mean you can control what people do. It means deciding what you do when the truth finally comes out."
He looked at her.
"You're not afraid of me."
"I've been afraid of you plenty of times."
That almost made him smile.
"Then why are you still here?"
"Because your mother needs someone who sees her as a person, not a Moretti."
A nurse emerged.
"She's awake. One visitor."
Luca entered.
Elena looked exhausted.
"Did you find Adrian?"
"No."
"Then listen carefully."
She pointed toward the old family photograph on her bedside table.
"Your father had a private room beneath the estate. There was a safe behind the portrait in the study."
Luca frowned.
"I've searched that room."
"Not the study. The old library."
"What's inside?"
"An audio recording. The night Alessandro died."
Luca leaned closer.
"Who poisoned him?"
Elena whispered a name.
Luca froze.
"Richard?"
"No."
She swallowed.
"Your father's personal physician."
Luca stared at her.
"Dr. Samuel Hayes?"
Elena nodded.
"He was working with someone else."
"Who?"
Elena closed her eyes.
"Adrian."
Luca stepped back.
"Adrian killed our father?"
"Your brother didn't act alone."
"Who helped him?"
Elena looked toward the door.
"Vanessa."
Luca's face hardened.
But Emily, standing just outside the room, heard something different in Elena's voice.
Not accusation.
Fear.
Later that night, Marcus discovered the physician had disappeared from his home.
His wife claimed he had left town three days earlier.
The security cameras showed a black sedan collecting him.
The registered owner was a company connected to the Moretti shipping empire.
Luca returned to the mansion before dawn.
In the old library, he moved the portrait and discovered the safe.
Inside were financial ledgers, photographs, and a small recording device.
He pressed play.
Alessandro's voice filled the room.
"If you're hearing this, I've made my final mistake. Richard believes the boy is dead. He isn't. The child was never taken from Sofia. He was taken from the hospital by someone I trusted."
A second voice interrupted.
A woman's voice.
Luca recognized it immediately.
Vanessa.
"Then what happens to Emily?"
Alessandro answered.
"She's the last person who can identify the child."
Luca stopped breathing.
May you like
The recording continued.
"Find her before she remembers what her mother did."
