Chapter 3 - The Brother Who Was Supposed To Be Dead
The front door opened slowly.
No one touched it.
No one moved.
But it opened.
The sound of the lock turning echoed through the mansion.
Every person in that room froze.
The four boys stopped eating.
Elena grabbed them instinctively and pulled them behind her.
My hand moved toward my jacket.
Not because I wanted violence.
Because I had spent my entire life learning that hesitation was the reason people lost everything.
The man standing outside stepped into the entrance hall.
Slowly.
Confidently.
Like he had walked through those doors a hundred times before.
My guards were nowhere.
That was impossible.
My security team never disappeared.
Not unless someone made them disappear.
The man took another step forward.
The emergency lights reflected against his face.
And suddenly, the message on my phone felt heavier.
Ask Elena about your brother.
Because the man standing in my house was someone I had buried twenty years ago.
My brother.
Matteo Moretti.
I couldn't move.
For twenty years, I had carried the memory of my younger brother as a scar.
Not a wound.
A scar.
Something that had healed on the surface but still hurt whenever I touched it.
Matteo had vanished when he was twenty-two.
One night.
One phone call.
One abandoned car.
And then nothing.
The official story was simple.
He was gone.
Everyone told me to accept it.
My father told me to stop searching.
My mother stopped saying his name.
The world moved forward.
But I never did.
Because Matteo was not just my brother.
He was the only person who knew who I was before the name Moretti meant anything.
Before the money.
Before the power.
Before people looked at me and saw something to fear.
He knew the boy who dreamed about leaving everything behind.
The boy who believed family meant something.
Then he disappeared.
And now he was standing inside my home.
Alive.
Older.
Different.
But alive.
"Alejandro."
Hearing my name from his mouth felt impossible.
Elena made a sound behind me.
Not surprise.
Recognition.
That was the part that disturbed me most.
She knew him.
I turned slowly.
"You know him."
Elena looked down.
A mistake.
A terrible mistake.
Because silence was always an answer.
"Elena."
Her eyes filled with tears.
"I wanted to tell you."
"When?"
My voice became colder.
"When I found four children in my dining room?"
She flinched.
The boys looked at me.
I immediately lowered my tone.
I refused to let them see my anger.
Not them.
Never them.
I looked back at Matteo.
"You were dead."
He gave a small, sad smile.
"That was the idea."
The room went quiet.
"What does that mean?"
Matteo looked toward Elena.
Then toward the children.
Then back at me.
"It means Sofia was right to hide them."
My expression changed.
"You knew about Sofia?"
He didn't answer immediately.
And that told me everything.
I stepped closer.
"How long?"
"A long time."
"How long did you know about my wife and these children?"
His eyes moved toward the boys.
"Before they were born."
The words hit harder than I expected.
Before they were born.
My entire life suddenly felt like a story someone else had written.
Everyone knew the truth except me.
Sofia.
Elena.
Now Matteo.
Everyone.
Except me.
I looked at the letter still in my hand.
The letter Sofia had written before she died.
Someone close enough to touch your life without you noticing.
The words repeated in my mind.
"Was it you?"
Matteo looked confused.
"What?"
"Were you the person Sofia was protecting them from?"
For the first time, something changed in his expression.
Pain.
Not anger.
Pain.
"No."
The answer came instantly.
"I was the person trying to protect them from the people who wanted them gone."
I stared at him.
"Then explain."
He looked around the room.
At the walls.
The cameras.
The windows.
"The first thing you need to understand is that your house has never been as private as you thought."
I didn't like where this was going.
"Someone has been watching you."
"I know."
"No."
Matteo shook his head.
"You don't."
He walked toward the dining table.
Slowly.
Carefully.
Like he knew every step mattered.
"Five years ago, Sofia discovered something about your company."
"My company?"
"Not just your company."
He looked at the photograph.
"Your family."
I remained silent.
Because I knew that word.
Family.
People used it when they wanted to hide something.
"Who?"
Matteo looked at me.
"The same person who made sure I disappeared."
My jaw tightened.
"Who made you disappear?"
Before he could answer, Elena interrupted.
"Alejandro, you need to know everything before you choose what to do."
I looked at her.
"Choose?"
She nodded.
"Because after tonight, you won't be able to go back."
I almost smiled.
Go back?
My wife had hidden children from me.
My dead brother had walked into my house.
Someone had attacked my security system.
There was no going back.
"There is something else."
Matteo reached inside his coat.
My guards would have reacted instantly.
I reacted first.
But Matteo slowly removed something small.
A key.
An old metal key.
He placed it on the table.
I recognized it immediately.
My father's key.
The one he kept around his neck before he died.
I stared at it.
"Where did you get that?"
Matteo looked at me.
"Your father gave it to me."
I felt the room shift.
"My father died fifteen years ago."
"I know."
"Then how?"
Matteo didn't answer.
Instead, he looked at Elena.
And Elena closed her eyes.
Like she had been waiting for this moment.
"Your father wasn't the last person who knew the truth."
My breathing slowed.
"What truth?"
Matteo looked toward the four boys.
Then at me.
"The truth about why Sofia hid them."
I waited.
"The truth about who their father really is."
My eyes moved toward the children.
The room became silent.
"No."
Matteo didn't look away.
"Alejandro..."
"No."
Because I already understood what he was suggesting.
And I refused to accept it.
"They're mine."
The words came out before I realized I had said them.
Matteo nodded.
"Yes."
The answer should have relieved me.
Instead, it terrified me.
Because if they were mine...
Then Sofia hadn't betrayed me.
She had protected me.
From something.
Someone.
"What happened to Sofia?"
Nobody spoke.
That silence hurt more than any answer.
I turned toward Elena.
"You were with her."
Tears rolled down her face.
"Yes."
"That night?"
She nodded.
"Tell me."
Her hands trembled.
"Sofia called me."
"When?"
"The night before she died."
I stepped closer.
"What did she say?"
Elena looked at the boys.
"She told me to take them and leave."
"Why?"
"Because she knew someone was coming."
The mansion suddenly felt colder.
"Who?"
Elena opened her mouth.
But before she could answer, every screen in the dining room turned on.
The televisions.
The security monitors.
The wall displays.
All at the same time.
Static filled the room.
The boys covered their ears.
Then an image appeared.
A video.
A woman sitting in front of a camera.
My heart stopped.
Because I knew that face.
Sofia.
Alive.
The recording was old.
Her eyes were red.
Like she had been crying before she started.
She looked directly into the camera.
And then she spoke.
"Alejandro, if you are watching this..."
The entire room went silent.
Sofia took a breath.
"Then Elena failed to keep my secret."
Elena covered her mouth.
My hands tightened.
Sofia continued.
"But before you blame her, you need to understand something."
The screen flickered.
Then Sofia said the words that made everyone freeze.
"The person you trust the most is the reason I had to hide our children from you."
The video stopped.
The screen went black.
And behind me, Elena whispered a name.
May you like
A name I never expected to hear.
"Luciano..."
