Chapter 6 - The Daughter Of The Man Who Had Everything
The name on the document destroyed every thought in Alessandro’s mind.
Father: Alessandro Duca.
For several seconds, he simply stared.
The room around him disappeared.
The sound of the rain outside.
The ticking of the old grandfather clock.
The distant footsteps of guards moving through the mansion.
Everything became meaningless.
Because the impossible was sitting right in front of him.
A birth certificate.
Twenty years old.
A child.
A connection he never knew existed.
His name.
Alessandro Duca.
He read it again.
Then again.
Looking for the mistake.
A forged document.
A trap.
Anything.
Because accepting it meant accepting something much bigger.
It meant his entire understanding of his own life was wrong.
It meant someone had taken twenty years from him.
Someone had allowed him to believe his family was only made of lies, power, and loss…
While hiding a child connected to him.
A child who had been sleeping in the next room.
A child who had held his hand and asked him to save her mother.
Emma.
Alessandro slowly sat down.
For the first time in many years…
He looked completely lost.
Jonah entered the office moments later.
He immediately knew something was wrong.
Alessandro was not angry.
Not suspicious.
Not calculating.
Those emotions he understood.
This was different.
“What happened?”
Alessandro did not answer.
He simply turned the screen toward him.
Jonah read the document.
His expression changed.
“No.”
A single word.
A word filled with disbelief.
Alessandro looked at him.
“You know something?”
Jonah hesitated.
That hesitation was enough.
“Jonah.”
The security chief looked away.
“Your father suspected.”
Alessandro stood.
“What?”
“He suspected there was a connection.”
“Between me and Elena?”
Jonah nodded slowly.
“How long?”
“I don’t know everything.”
“Try.”
Jonah took a breath.
“Years ago, after Marco died, your father became obsessed with destroying every record connected to Elena Carter.”
Alessandro’s face hardened.
“Why?”
“Because Marco discovered the truth.”
“Which was?”
Jonah looked at the document.
“That Elena had a child.”
Silence.
“And your father believed the child could destroy the family.”
Alessandro looked toward the door.
Toward where Emma was sleeping.
“My father knew?”
“Yes.”
“And he said nothing?”
Jonah looked down.
“He was afraid.”
Alessandro laughed once.
A cold, humorless sound.
“My father was afraid of a child?”
“No.”
Jonah looked at him.
“He was afraid of what the child represented.”
Twenty years earlier.
That was the year Alessandro remembered most clearly.
The year everything changed.
Marco’s death.
His father’s transformation.
The disappearance of certain names from family records.
At the time, Alessandro was young.
Too young to understand.
He believed grief had changed his father.
Now he wondered if guilt had.
Because guilt made people do strange things.
It made them hide.
It made them destroy evidence.
It made them sacrifice innocent people.
Emma woke up at sunrise.
Alessandro found her sitting on the edge of the bed.
Her feet swinging above the floor.
The moment she saw him, her face relaxed.
That reaction surprised him.
She trusted him.
Completely.
A powerful man like Alessandro had spent his entire life surrounded by people who wanted something.
Money.
Protection.
Influence.
Status.
Everyone had an agenda.
But this little girl?
She wanted nothing.
She just wanted someone to keep his promise.
“Good morning.”
She looked at him.
“Did you sleep?”
Alessandro almost smiled.
“No.”
“Mommy says people need sleep.”
“She’s right.”
Emma nodded seriously.
“Mommy is usually right.”
That sentence made him pause.
“Is she?”
“Yes.”
Emma hugged her teddy bear.
“She knows when people are pretending.”
Alessandro looked at her carefully.
“Does she?”
Emma nodded.
“She says bad people smile the biggest.”
The words stayed with him.
Because suddenly, he thought about Vivian.
Vivian was waiting in the library.
She knew Alessandro would come.
The moment he entered, she understood.
He knew.
Her face changed.
Not surprise.
Not fear.
Recognition.
“You found it.”
Alessandro closed the door.
“You knew.”
Vivian looked down.
“I knew some of it.”
“Some?”
She swallowed.
“Alessandro…”
“Who is Elena Carter?”
Silence.
“Who is Emma?”
Another silence.
Then Vivian whispered:
“She is the reason I agreed to marry you.”
The answer was not what he expected.
His expression changed.
“Explain.”
Vivian looked exhausted.
Like she had been carrying something heavy for years.
“My father worked with your father.”
Alessandro said nothing.
“They knew each other for decades.”
“Rossi and Duca.”
“Yes.”
“And?”
“And your father made a deal.”
“What deal?”
Vivian looked at him.
“The Duca family would protect the Rossi family financially.”
Alessandro’s eyes narrowed.
“In exchange for?”
Vivian’s voice became quieter.
“Silence.”
“About Elena?”
She nodded.
“About the child.”
The room became colder.
“Why marry me?”
Vivian looked away.
“Because my father believed if I became your wife…”
She stopped.
“Then the truth would stay buried.”
Alessandro stared.
“You were never supposed to love me.”
The words came out quietly.
Not angry.
Almost disappointed.
Vivian’s eyes filled slightly.
“That wasn’t the plan.”
“But?”
She looked at him.
“But somewhere along the way, I started caring about you.”
A long silence.
Alessandro looked at the engagement ring on her finger.
A symbol that now felt completely different.
“Did you hurt Sophia?”
Vivian closed her eyes.
“No.”
“Did you try to steal the drive?”
“Yes.”
The honesty surprised him.
“Why?”
“Because my father ordered me to.”
“And now?”
She looked toward the window.
“Now I know he never planned to protect me either.”
Alessandro watched her.
“You know who attacked Sophia?”
Vivian did not answer.
That was an answer.
“Who?”
Her voice shook.
“Someone from your family.”
That afternoon, Sophia finally told Alessandro the truth.
Not everything.
But enough.
She sat in the hospital bed while Emma held her hand.
“I have to tell you something.”
Alessandro nodded.
“I’m listening.”
Sophia looked at Emma.
“When my sister Elena became pregnant, she believed Alessandro’s father would protect her.”
Alessandro said nothing.
“But after the baby was born…”
Sophia stopped.
“What happened?”
“Your father took the baby away.”
The words hit him.
“What?”
“He said it was for protection.”
Sophia’s eyes filled with tears.
“But Elena never saw her child again.”
Alessandro looked at Emma.
“No.”
Sophia nodded.
“Yes.”
“Emma is Elena’s child?”
“No.”
Alessandro froze.
Then what?
Sophia continued.
“Elena’s child was a boy.”
The room went silent.
A boy.
Not Emma.
Not the daughter on the document.
A different child.
A different secret.
Alessandro felt the pieces moving.
The birth certificate.
The hidden drive.
The lies.
Nothing matched.
“Then who is Emma?”
Sophia looked at him.
And whispered:
“My daughter.”
Alessandro stared.
“But the document says—”
Sophia interrupted.
“Someone changed the records.”
A pause.
“Someone wanted you to believe Emma belonged to you.”
Alessandro’s expression hardened.
“Why?”
Sophia looked at the door.
Because suddenly…
She looked afraid again.
“Because the person who changed those records…”
She lowered her voice.
“Is still inside your house.”
That night, Alessandro returned to the mansion.
Emma was asleep.
The guards were positioned everywhere.
The security system had been completely rebuilt.
But something bothered him.
A feeling.
A suspicion.
Someone was still moving pieces.
Someone who knew his family better than anyone.
He entered his office.
The hidden drive was gone.
Not copied.
Not damaged.
Gone.
Only one person had been inside the office.
Only one person had access.
Alessandro slowly looked at the security footage.
The camera showed a figure entering.
A woman.
Blonde hair.
Elegant clothes.
His fiancée.
Vivian.
But when the figure turned toward the camera…
Alessandro froze.
Because it was not Vivian.
It was someone else.
Someone he recognized.
Someone he thought was dead.
The person looked directly into the camera.
And smiled.
Then the screen went black.
A message appeared.
THE DUCA FAMILY HAS ALWAYS HAD THREE SONS.
A pause.
Then another line.
YOU WERE NEVER THE HEIR, ALESSANDRO.
His blood ran cold.
Because beneath the message appeared one final name.
MARCO DUCA.
May you like
His dead brother.
Was alive.
