Chapter 5 - The Name in His Father’s File
Dr. Samuel Keller stepped into the library.
Adrian stared at him.
Keller stopped.
Nobody spoke.
Then Luca moved toward him.
“You have five seconds.”
Keller raised both hands.
“I came because Isabella called me.”
Adrian looked at his grandmother.
“You called him?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because Samuel knows what happened to your father.”
The room became silent.
Adrian slowly turned toward Keller.
“My father died from a heart attack.”
Keller looked at Isabella.
Then back at Adrian.
“That was the official cause.”
Adrian’s voice lowered.
“And the unofficial one?”
Keller removed his coat.
“Sit down.”
“No.”
“Adrian—”
“Talk.”
Keller breathed out.
“Your father contacted me four years ago. He believed someone was manipulating the family businesses.”
Adrian said nothing.
“He found unauthorized payments, altered contracts, and medical supply purchases hidden through Moretti Atlantic.”
“The same company Victor used.”
“Yes.”
“Why didn't you tell me?”
“Because your father made me promise.”
“My father died.”
“I know.”
“The promise died with him.”
Keller looked ashamed.
“It wasn't that simple.”
Adrian stepped closer.
“Make it simple.”
Keller glanced at Luca.
“Your father suspected someone inside the family was experimenting with compounds designed to impair judgment without creating obvious toxicity.”
Luca stared.
“Experimenting on whom?”
“Initially? Nobody knew.”
Adrian understood before Keller finished.
“Me.”
“Eventually, yes.”
Adrian looked at Isabella.
She opened the leather folder.
Inside were laboratory records.
Invoices.
Medical research.
A handwritten note from Antonio Moretti, Adrian’s father.
If Adrian becomes ill after I am gone, assume it is deliberate.
Adrian read the sentence twice.
His hands remained steady.
His voice did not.
“He knew.”
Isabella nodded.
“He suspected.”
“And said nothing?”
“He planned to.”
“But died first.”
“Yes.”
Adrian looked at Keller.
“Was he poisoned?”
“We never proved it.”
“That's not what I asked.”
Keller hesitated.
“I believe his heart attack was induced.”
Luca turned away and struck the bookshelf with his palm.
Adrian remained still.
“By the same compound?”
“No. Something faster.”
“Who had access?”
Keller looked at Isabella.
She answered.
“Family.”
That word had never sounded uglier.
Adrian examined the documents.
One name appeared repeatedly.
Dr. Elias Voss.
A pharmacologist formerly employed by Moretti Pharmaceuticals.
“Where is Voss?”
Keller looked grim.
“Dead.”
“When?”
“Three years ago.”
“How?”
“Car accident.”
Adrian almost laughed.
Of course.
“Who signed his consulting payments?”
Isabella looked at him.
“Victor.”
That seemed to settle it.
But Adrian had learned not to accept easy answers.
“Why would Victor weaken me?”
Luca answered.
“Control.”
“Victor already had influence.”
“Not enough.”
Isabella shook her head.
“No.”
Everyone looked at her.
“Victor is guilty of many things. But not this.”
Adrian narrowed his eyes.
“You said he didn't start it.”
“I also said he isn't the one you should fear.”
“Then stop protecting whoever is.”
Isabella’s expression hardened.
“I am protecting you.”
“Three years late.”
That hurt her.
Adrian saw it.
He didn't apologize.
Isabella opened another compartment inside the folder.
A photograph.
Antonio Moretti stood beside Victor and another man.
Adrian recognized him.
Daniel’s father.
Gabriel Moretti.
Adrian’s eldest uncle.
Dead for eight years.
“What am I looking at?”
“Turn it over.”
Adrian did.
Antonio had written:
GABRIEL KNOWS ABOUT PROJECT SOMNUS. VICTOR THINKS IT WAS TERMINATED.
Project Somnus.
Adrian looked at Keller.
“What is it?”
“A research program.”
“For insomnia?”
“The opposite.”
Keller explained.
Moretti Pharmaceuticals had once funded research into wakefulness compounds for military and emergency medical applications.
The goal was legitimate: keeping surgeons, pilots, and rescue workers alert safely.
But one experimental formula caused extreme sleep disruption.
The program was canceled.
Someone stole the research.
“Gabriel?” Adrian asked.
“Possibly.”
“Gabriel died eight years ago.”
Isabella nodded.
“But his son didn't.”
Daniel.
Adrian thought of Sofia.
Uncle Danny.
Luca paced.
“So Daniel continued his father's work?”
“Maybe,” Keller said.
“Why?”
Isabella looked toward Adrian.
“Because Gabriel believed Antonio stole the family from him.”
Adrian knew the history.
Gabriel had been the eldest brother.
Antonio had inherited control because their father considered Gabriel unstable.
Gabriel never forgave him.
After Gabriel died, Daniel remained close to Victor.
Almost like a son.
“Victor protected Daniel,” Adrian said.
Isabella nodded.
“Always.”
“Even now?”
“I don't know.”
Adrian’s phone rang.
Marco.
“Victor’s gone.”
Adrian’s eyes hardened.
“How?”
“Service exit. We found the guard unconscious.”
“Daniel?”
“No sign.”
Adrian looked at the photograph.
Two cousins.
One uncle.
One dead father.
One stolen research program.
“Track Victor’s vehicle.”
“Already did.”
“Where?”
Marco gave him the address.
Adrian knew it.
Moretti Memorial Hospital.
The private hospital founded by his father.
“Why there?”
“We don't know.”
Keller went pale.
Adrian noticed.
“What?”
Keller didn't answer.
“Keller.”
“There’s an archive beneath the research wing.”
“What archive?”
“Original Moretti Pharmaceuticals clinical records.”
Adrian headed for the door.
Luca followed.
Isabella called after them.
“Adrian.”
He stopped.
“Don't trust the records.”
“Why?”
“Because somebody changed them once already.”
Adrian looked at her.
“How do you know?”
“Because your father showed me the originals.”
“And?”
Isabella swallowed.
“The first human subject wasn't you.”
Adrian waited.
She looked at Luca.
“It was your brother.”
Luca stopped breathing.
“What?”
Keller closed his eyes.
Adrian stared at him.
“You knew.”
Keller said nothing.
Luca crossed the room and grabbed his collar.
“You knew?”
“Luca—”
“ANSWER ME.”
“Yes.”
Luca released him as though burned.
“When?”
“You were twenty-two.”
“I was sick for six months.”
“Yes.”
“Migraines. Panic attacks. I dropped out of Columbia for a year.”
Keller nodded.
Luca’s face emptied.
“You told me it was anxiety.”
“I was ordered to.”
“By who?”
Keller looked toward the doorway.
A phone began ringing.
Not Adrian’s.
Not Luca’s.
Isabella’s landline.
She answered.
Nobody spoke.
Her face changed.
She handed the receiver to Adrian.
A distorted male voice said one sentence.
May you like
“If you want Victor alive, come to the hospital alone.”
Then the line went dead.
