Chapter 6 - The Truth Hidden Beneath My Father’s Name
The study door opened slowly:
“Alessandro.”
I saw the person standing outside holding the missing envelope from my mother.
But the face behind it was the last one I expected.
It was the man who had been protecting my family for twenty years.
For a few seconds, nobody moved.
The room was frozen between the past and the present.
The door opened wider.
And there he stood.
Thomas Russo.
My father’s oldest adviser.
The man who had been beside my family since before I was old enough to understand what power meant.
The man who taught me how to negotiate.
How to read people.
How to know when someone was lying.
I had trusted him more than almost anyone alive.
And now he was standing in my father’s study holding the one thing everyone had been trying to hide from me.
My mother’s letter.
Mateo immediately raised his weapon.
Thomas did not react.
He simply looked tired.
Older.
Like a man who had spent years waiting for this exact moment.
“Lower the gun, Mateo.”
Mateo looked at me.
I said nothing.
That was enough.
He kept the weapon raised.
Thomas looked at Sophia.
Then at Bear.
Then back at me.
“She looks like Elena.”
The sound of Elena’s name coming from him made my blood run cold.
“You knew.”
It was not a question.
Thomas looked down.
“Yes.”
The anger came before anything else.
I crossed the room.
“You knew about Elena.”
“Yes.”
“You knew about Sophia.”
A pause.
“Yes.”
The room became silent.
I wanted him to deny it.
I wanted him to give me a reason to believe he was still the man I thought he was.
But he didn’t.
He simply accepted the truth.
“How long?”
Thomas looked at the photograph on my father’s desk.
“Since before she was born.”
My hands tightened.
“Explain.”
He walked slowly into the room.
Mateo followed every movement.
Thomas placed the envelope on the desk.
“I was the one who helped your mother disappear.”
My expression changed.
“You helped her?”
“Yes.”
“Then why did everyone tell me she was dead?”
Thomas looked at me.
“Because that was the only way to keep you alive.”
I hated that answer.
Because everyone used the same excuse.
Protection.
Safety.
Survival.
Everyone claimed they were protecting me.
And somehow, every person who protected me destroyed my life.
“You all decided what I deserved to know.”
Thomas looked away.
“We decided what would keep you breathing.”
I laughed quietly.
“Do you know how many people I killed searching for answers?”
Thomas closed his eyes.
“How many enemies I destroyed because I thought Elena betrayed me?”
“I know.”
“How many years I lost?”
“I know.”
“Then don’t tell me it was for my protection.”
My voice became colder.
“It was for yours.”
Thomas looked directly at me.
And that stopped me.
Because there was no arrogance in his face.
No excuse.
Only guilt.
“Your father found something.”
I looked at the folder.
“What?”
“A network.”
“Inside the city?”
Thomas shook his head.
“Inside your family.”
The words repeated everything Victor had said.
Someone close.
Someone trusted.
Someone hidden.
“Who?”
Thomas hesitated.
That hesitation told me more than an answer.
“Thomas.”
He looked at me.
“Who?”
Before he could speak, Sophia suddenly moved.
She walked toward the desk.
She picked up one of the photographs.
Her face changed.
“What is it?”
She turned the picture around.
It showed my father.
My mother.
Elena.
And another person.
Someone standing behind them.
Someone whose face had been scratched out.
But not completely.
A small part remained.
A ring.
A symbol.
The same symbol from the locket.
Thomas saw it.
And for the first time...
he looked terrified.
“Where did you find that?”
Sophia looked confused.
“My father gave it to me.”
Thomas stepped closer.
“Your father had this?”
She nodded.
“He said if anything happened, I had to show it to Alessandro.”
I took the photograph.
On the back was a message.
Different handwriting.
Not my mother’s.
Not Elena’s.
A man’s handwriting.
The person closest to you is the one who will destroy you.
I looked at Thomas.
Then at Mateo.
Then at the empty doorway.
Everyone became a suspect.
Even myself.
Because I had spent twenty years believing I knew who I was.
A Moretti.
A king.
A survivor.
But what if my entire identity was built on lies?
Thomas walked toward the desk.
“There is something else you need to see.”
I did not move.
“What?”
“Your father’s final recording.”
My eyes narrowed.
“He recorded something?”
Thomas nodded.
“He knew he might not survive.”
He reached into his coat.
Pulled out a small device.
An old voice recorder.
My father’s.
I recognized it immediately.
I had searched for that recorder after his death.
I thought it was lost.
Thomas placed it on the desk.
“My father’s last words were hidden for twenty years.”
I pressed the button.
Static filled the room.
Then a voice.
A voice I had not heard since I was young.
My father.
“If you are hearing this, Alessandro, then I failed.”
My breathing stopped.
The recording continued.
“You are going to hate me when you learn the truth.”
I looked at Sophia.
Then back at the recorder.
“But hate is easier to survive than the truth.”
A pause.
Then my father said:
“Your mother did not abandon you.”
My chest tightened.
“She ran because she discovered the person who wanted to destroy our family was someone we loved.”
The recording became distorted.
Then his voice returned.
“Alessandro, listen carefully.”
The room became silent.
“The enemy is not outside the family.”
A pause.
“The enemy is the person I trusted with your life.”
The recording ended.
Nobody spoke.
Nobody moved.
Because everyone understood what that meant.
Someone had been protecting me.
Someone had been watching me.
Someone had been beside me.
Thomas looked at me.
“Your father knew.”
“Knew what?”
“That the person responsible would never leave your side.”
My phone suddenly vibrated.
Everyone looked at it.
Unknown number.
A message.
I opened it.
One sentence.
You finally found the truth.
Then another message appeared.
A photograph.
My blood turned cold.
It showed me.
Standing inside this exact room.
Taken moments ago.
Someone had been watching us.
The final message arrived.
Look behind you.
Slowly...
I turned.
May you like
Because the study door was already open.
And someone was standing in the hallway.
