Chapter 7 - The Night Giovanni Took Back His NameVictor Kane entered the estate carrying no weapon.
That made Lorenzo more suspicious.
He walked through the front doors with both hands visible while armed security surrounded him.
Victor was sixty, elegant, silver-haired, and calm enough to appear almost bored.
“I came to negotiate.”
Lorenzo stood at the opposite end of the foyer.
“You broke into my property.”
“Technically, one of your former employees opened a gate.”
Marco swore under his breath.
Lorenzo’s eyes hardened.
“Who?”
Victor smiled.
“That’s the problem with inherited loyalty, Lorenzo. You never know whether people serve the man or the name.”
Nora watched from the staircase.
Lorenzo had ordered her to remain upstairs.
She had ignored him.
Giovanni sat beside her in his wheelchair.
When Victor saw him, his smile faded.
“Giovanni.”
The old man stared back.
“Victor.”
Victor actually flinched.
“I heard rumors your speech had returned.”
Giovanni lifted his chin.
“Disappointed?”
Nora smiled.
Lorenzo almost did.
Victor recovered.
“Quite the opposite. It simplifies things.”
He opened his coat slowly and removed a document folder.
“Your father signed preliminary trust revisions years ago.”
Lorenzo laughed without humor.
“Forged revisions.”
“That remains disputed.”
“Not anymore.”
Marco lifted Giovanni’s recorder.
Victor’s expression tightened.
“We have recordings.”
“Recordings can be manipulated.”
“We have banking records.”
“Circumstantial.”
“Witnesses.”
Victor glanced toward Brody, who stood under guard.
“That one?”
Brody looked away.
Victor smiled.
“Good luck.”
Then Giovanni spoke.
“Nora.”
She stepped closer.
Giovanni pointed toward his bedroom wing.
“Book.”
“The notebook?”
One tap.
Nora retrieved it.
When she returned, Giovanni instructed her to open the back cover.
She did.
Nothing.
“Inside,” he said.
Nora examined the leather.
A narrow seam ran along the spine.
She pulled gently.
A hidden compartment opened.
Inside was a small memory card.
Victor’s face went white.
Lorenzo noticed.
“What is that?”
Giovanni looked directly at Victor.
“Insurance.”
Marco inserted the memory card into a laptop.
The first file was a video.
Five years old.
Giovanni appeared healthy, seated behind his desk.
Victor stood opposite him.
The video showed Victor offering an illegal financial arrangement.
Giovanni refused.
Victor threatened to expose Moretti family secrets unless Giovanni transferred control of several companies.
Giovanni ordered him out.
The video ended.
The next file had been recorded two days before Giovanni’s stroke.
Victor was speaking to Mrs. Gable in the east hallway.
“Once he’s incapacitated, the son won’t know which documents existed.”
Nora’s skin prickled.
Lorenzo stared at Victor.
“My father’s stroke.”
Victor said nothing.
Giovanni’s breathing changed.
Lorenzo crouched beside him.
“Dad?”
Giovanni struggled to speak.
“Tea.”
Nora frowned.
“What about tea?”
Giovanni looked at Victor.
“Before… stroke.”
Lorenzo slowly stood.
“You poisoned him?”
Victor laughed.
“That’s absurd.”
Mrs. Gable, brought from the guest wing, began crying.
Everyone turned.
Victor’s expression changed.
She whispered, “I didn’t know what it would do.”
Lorenzo went still.
Nora stared.
Mrs. Gable sobbed.
“Victor gave me drops. He said they would make your father sleepy. Confused. Just long enough for him to sign documents.”
“You put something in his drink?” Nora asked.
Mrs. Gable covered her face.
“I didn’t know.”
Giovanni’s eyes burned with anger.
Victor snapped, “Stop talking.”
Lorenzo moved between them.
“No. I think after five years, everyone should finally talk.”
Mrs. Gable crumbled.
She described the plan.
Victor had wanted Giovanni temporarily incapacitated.
Instead, Giovanni suffered a catastrophic stroke.
Panic followed.
They concealed the evidence.
Once they realized Giovanni could no longer speak, they gradually isolated him and manipulated medical records.
Brody joined years later.
Nora had been recruited because she was financially vulnerable and linked to Brody.
Victor intended to move missing funds into accounts tied to Nora, then accuse her after Giovanni’s death.
Lorenzo looked at her.
She suddenly understood how close she had come to losing everything.
Not just her job.
Her freedom.
Her daughter.
Victor’s calm finally cracked.
“You think this changes anything?”
“It changes everything,” Lorenzo said.
Victor smiled.
“No. Because you still have a traitor inside this house.”
The lights died.
Again.
But this time, gunfire sounded outside.
Security shouted.
Nora instinctively grabbed Giovanni’s wheelchair.
“Move!”
Lorenzo looked toward her.
“Take my father to the safe room.”
“What about you?”
“Nora.”
“No.”
His expression changed.
“You have Lily.”
“And Giovanni.”
“I have guards.”
“So do we.”
Another burst of gunfire echoed.
Marco appeared.
“North entrance breach.”
Lorenzo drew his weapon.
Victor smiled.
“They aren’t here for me.”
Lorenzo struck him.
Victor fell.
“Now they are.”
Nora pushed Giovanni toward the private elevator.
Halfway there, Brody appeared.
His guard lay unconscious behind him.
Nora froze.
“Brody.”
He held a gun.
Her blood went cold.
“Nora, come here.”
“No.”
“I’m getting you out.”
“With a gun?”
“I had to.”
Giovanni stared at him.
Brody’s hand shook.
“I never wanted this.”
Nora stood between him and Giovanni.
“Then stop.”
“I can’t.”
“Yes, you can.”
“Nora…”
“Put it down.”
He looked terrified.
“I owe Victor people money.”
“You owed everyone money.”
“If I don’t leave, I’m dead.”
“You think taking me helps?”
“You’re my family.”
Nora felt tears sting her eyes.
“No. Family doesn’t sell a pregnant woman’s medical records.”
Brody flinched.
“Please.”
“No.”
Brody’s grip tightened.
Then Giovanni did something no one expected.
He stood.
Only halfway.
Only for a second.
But he pushed himself out of the wheelchair and placed his body between Nora and the gun.
Brody froze.
Giovanni’s legs shook violently.
“Enough.”
The word filled the corridor.
Nora grabbed him before he fell.
Brody stared at the old man.
Then at Nora.
His gun slowly lowered.
Marco appeared behind him.
Brody surrendered.
The attack outside ended minutes later.
Victor’s hired men were arrested by state police who had finally reached the property through cleared emergency roads.
At dawn, Victor Kane was taken away.
Mrs. Gable followed.
Brody was placed in another vehicle.
Before leaving, he looked at Nora.
“I am sorry.”
She believed he meant it.
That did not erase anything.
“I hope you become better than what you did.”
He nodded.
“Tell Lily…”
Nora stopped him.
“One day, you can tell her yourself.”
Hope flickered in his face.
“If you earn that right.”
The door closed.
Nora returned upstairs.
Giovanni was asleep.
Lorenzo stood beside the window.
“You could have been killed,” he said.
“So could you.”
“That’s different.”
“Why?”
He turned.
“Because I couldn’t…”
He stopped.
Nora waited.
Lorenzo looked almost angry with himself.
“I couldn’t lose you.”
The room became very quiet.
Nora’s heart began beating faster.
Lorenzo stepped closer.
“I know this is complicated.”
“That might be the understatement of the year.”
He smiled faintly.
“I don’t expect anything.”
Nora searched his face.
“What do you want?”
His answer was soft.
“A chance.”
Before Nora could respond, Giovanni’s voice drifted from the bed.
“About… time.”
Nora covered her face.
May you like
Lorenzo looked toward the ceiling.
And for the first time in years, laughter filled Giovanni Moretti’s room.
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